County OKs Expansion of Sunshine Landfill : Wastes: A long list of conditions is tied to the addition of 200 acres. The company will now push the council for more dump capacity on city land.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday granted final approval to expand Sunshine Canyon Landfill onto 200 acres above Granada Hills, but not without a long list of requirements the dump operator must fulfill.

On a 4-1 vote, with Supervisor Mike Antonovich dissenting, the board allowed Browning-Ferris Industries to enlarge the garbage dump above Granada Hills by 17 million tons now--and up to 100 million tons if the Los Angeles City Council agrees to expansion within city limits.

They required Browning-Ferris to pay for a countywide environmental study, to set aside up to 724 acres for parks and to help pay for household hazardous waste collections.

“I think we’ve added some conditions that mitigate some of the concerns of the surrounding neighbors,” said Supervisor Ed Edelman, who through redistricting now represents some of the areas near the dump.

Antonovich, whose redrawn district continues to include the landfill, had pushed for even more stringent conditions, including reserving most of a 10% dump tax for purchase and improvement of parks.

Although community activists considered some of the added conditions victories, they said they were not sufficient to deter them from plans to file a lawsuit against the county and Browning-Ferris.

They accused the supervisors of being influenced by campaign contributions the landfill company has given them over the years.

“We always knew we were up against tremendous amounts of money going into the supervisors’ coffers,” said Mary Edwards, spokeswoman for the North Valley Coalition which has fought for several years to close the dump.

“We’ll have to take our case to someone who is not on the take.”

Browning-Ferris had originally asked for permission to dump 70 million tons of garbage on county land, but the county Regional Planning Commission recommended starting with the lower tonnage, in part to pressure the city to also allow expansion.

As supporters patted him on the back, Lynn Wessell, a public relations consultant working for Browning-Ferris, said Tuesday’s action was workable.

The company will return to the City Council to seek further expansion, he said.

The council has adamantly opposed enlarging the landfill and Councilman Hal Bernson has threatened to file a lawsuit against the county alleging that it did not give the proposal adequate environmental review.

As added incentive for the city to change its mind, the supervisors’ approval included provisions to bar city garbage trucks from the dump beginning in July, 1992, and to tie part of the open-space dedication required of Browning-Ferris to city approval.

Under the county approval, Browning-Ferris must:

* Pay for a countywide study of the status of 61 Significant Ecological Areas, identified by county planners in 1980 as land that should be preserved as wilderness whenever possible. The dump expansion sits inside a tree-dotted Significant Ecological Area. The company is to pay $400,000 now and $75,000 a year for the study, although the county included a provision to require other developers who infringe on the ecological areas in the future to share some of that cost.

* Dedicate 524 acres of open space for public use in an area adjacent to the dump known as East Canyon and purchase another 200 acres in Bee Canyon for open space either when the city approves 20 million tons of landfill growth or in 1999, whichever comes first.

* Co-sponsor with the county five household hazardous waste collections, one in each supervisorial district. Browning-Ferris would pay half the estimated $300,000 expense of each collection.

* Put 1% of the garbage tipping fees collected at the landfill into a fund that could be used to solve any problems that may occur as a result of the expansion. If Browning-Ferris does not cause any problems, the money would be refunded after the landfill is filled and closed.