Hundreds Pack Chamber to Protest Landfill Sites

More than 300 North County residents packed the county Board of Supervisors’ chambers Tuesday and about 60 of them trashed proposals to open new landfills in the fast-growing area.

After hearing three hours of nothing but negative comment on six landfill sites that the county is considering developing to replace the nearly full San Marcos dump, the board voted unanimously to put off a decision on whether to pursue further studies on one or more of the locations until March 17.

Fallbrook and Rainbow residents renewed their protests to county consideration of landfill sites on Aspen Road and in Gregory Canyon. Twin Oaks Valley and Lawrence Welk Village speakers scorched proposals to build a landfill on Merriam Mountain on the west side of Interstate 15 across from the retirement community.

Opposition to a landfill site on 4S Ranch south of Lake Hodges came from speakers in surrounding communities of Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch.

And Gopher Canyon speakers protested they would not put up with another landfill near the Vista Valle Country Club after suffering through nearly three decades of dust, debris and truck traffic from the now-closed Bonsall dump.

Oceanside opponents were not present after learning that county public works’ staff had proposed dropping a candidate site in the Loma Alta area of the city, but supervisors put the landfill location back into contention Tuesday, even though the Oceanside City Council voted its opposition to the site earlier this month.

The Merriam Mountain South site, ranked as the best location for a future landfill in the most recent of three consultant studies, is also the site of a proposed quarry operation by the H.G. Fenton Materials Co.

Bruce Warren, spokesman for Fenton, urged supervisors to consider other areas, pointing out that the I-15 site “is almost entirely granite rock and there is little available fill dirt for a landfill operation.”

Warren said the 500-acre quarrying operation will be brought before supervisors for approval in April. The Fenton proposal was voted down earlier this month by the county Planning Commission but supervisors could reverse the commission’s decision.

Scott Harvey, representing the Campo Band of Indians which is planning to open a landfill on reservation land in southeastern San Diego County, suggested supervisors consider abandoning a North County site search and use the Campo site.

Campo “is a willing host” for the North County’s discards and will be in operation by 1993, Scott said. The cities of Oceanside, Carlsbad and Escondido which generate about 70% of North County’s trash, are presently negotiating with the Campo Indians independently of the county for use of the landfill.

The county board members asked public works staff to investigate the status of a major landfill being developed at Eagle Mountain in Riverside County.

The Riverside site is now being eyed by Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties as a possible regional solution to the growing problem of trash disposal.