OJAI : Landfill Report Review Is Extended

The public will have an additional five weeks to review the environmental report for the Weldon Canyon landfill proposed by Waste Management Inc., Ventura County officials decided at a public hearing Wednesday.

Public review of the document had been scheduled to end Wednesday, but the county’s Environmental Report Review Committee voted unanimously to extend the review period until Jan. 15.

The committee scheduled another public hearing for Jan. 15 and is expected to decide then whether the report is technically adequate and ready for review by the Board of Supervisors.

If approved by the committee, the report could come before the Board of Supervisors as early as May, county planner Scott Ellison said.

However, the committee could decide that the report needs to be recirculated for further comment from state agencies and the public, thus lengthening the review process, Ellison said. In that case, the supervisors would not be able to vote on the issue before next fall, he said.

Waste Management Inc. spokesman Jim Jevens, who spoke against a proposal to extend the review period to Jan. 29, said he was satisfied with the decision.

“The county has done the proper thing,” Jevens said.

“We want to move into the next forum, where we’ll be put on the spot about addressing environmental concerns brought up in the report,” Jevens said. ‘We want to put our mitigation measures on the table to be scrutinized and see if they pass muster. We believe they will work. If they don’t, we’re out of there.”