BREA : Meeting Tonight on Landfill Plan

Residents with concerns over the proposed expansion of the Olinda Landfill will have an opportunity to discuss them tonight during a special meeting at City Hall.

County officials who have worked on the landfill project will be on hand to answer questions about the dump proposal and consider residents’ recommendations. The meeting, which was called by the City Council, is an attempt to get concerns on the record.

Over the objections of several residents, the council last week approved an agreement with the county aimed at addressing environmental problems if the landfill is expanded. Residents complained that they had been shut out of the process and asked that the vote be delayed until they had a chance to study the environmental document.

Despite the pleas, the council approved the agreement on the advice of city staff, who said they didn’t want to jeopardize what had already been accomplished. The staff also noted that the Board of Supervisors was expected to consider the item early next month.

Expanding the Olinda Landfill is among the options being considered by the county to solve its growing trash problems. If approved, the dump--originally slated to close in 1995--would stay open until 2020. The expansion is the cheapest plan and considered the most likely to be approved.

For some, the meeting tonight is seen as a last-minute attempt to change the county’s mind. “Why does the county assume that Brea should suffer the impact of everyone else’s garbage problems?” asked Nancy Wright, vice president of the Olinda Village Homeowners Assn., which is leading the opposition. “Our children are breathing that stuff. That scares me.”

Some of the environmental issues can still be negotiated, said Tim Neely, manager of the environmental planning division of the county’s Environmental Management Agency. But county staff will be recommending that the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 11 approve the landfill expansion, he said.

Even so, Neely said, the county will work with residents and consider their concerns.