County Regains Ex-Landfill From Homeowners Group

A federal magistrate approved a settlement Monday in a lawsuit that returns an abandoned landfill to the control of San Diego County authorities and ends a lengthy legal battle for a Paradise Hills homeowners association.

Magistrate Leo S. Papas approved the transfer of the Old Sweetwater Landfill from the Hillsborough Master Assn. to the county. Although the association, which is a collection of several groups representing 680 homeowners, will pay the county $3.5 million, an attorney said the residents will save millions in the long run.

Gary J. Aguirre, who represented the association in the federal action and several state court lawsuits, said it would have cost the residents as much as $18 million to maintain the abandoned dump for the next 70 years.

“We gave (the county) enough money to make the repairs, and they’re responsible for the long-term maintenance,” Aguirre said.

The county will now improve the system used to collect the potentially dangerous methane gas that flows from the dump. The county operated the landfill from 1948 to 1962 and issued permits that allowed construction of the homes in the area.

The landfill came to the attention of residents in the development, which was constructed in the mid-1980s, when the Air Pollution Control District levied fines because methane gas was leaking from the dump.

This was a surprise to the homeowners, who said the developer, Treetops Unlimited, never told them about the landfill. The group won another $12-million lawsuit against the developer for failing to disclose this information, as well as for construction defects.

After years of legal wrangling, Hillsborough has collected nearly $19 million in damages.