Supervisors to Try Again on Expansion of Landfill

Believing they have fixed legal flaws in their plans to expand the San Marcos landfill, county supervisors on Tuesday revised an environmental impact report thrown out by a San Diego Superior Court judge two weeks ago.

Opponents of the landfill responded to the supervisors’ action by claiming that the changes county lawyers made in the EIR are insufficient to justify the county’s plan to add another layer of trash to the nearly full dump.

The county wants to pile another 200 feet of garbage on top of the existing 750 feet of trash at the landfill. But in a statement issued June 22, Judge Judith McConnell said the county’s EIR was flawed because it failed to address the environmental consequences of using a clay liner to separate the existing landfill from its new top layer. In addition, the judge said, the county responded inadequately to public criticisms of the EIR and didn’t adequately distribute the document for public review.

At issue is where to dump North County’s trash while the county searches for a new landfill site. At the current rate of dumping--the equivalent of 300 or so garbage trucks arriving five days a week--the San Marcos landfill is expected to reach its capacity by September. With approval to increase the dump’s height, the county expects it will have enough space to last five to seven years.

The county’s plans for expansion, however, have been opposed at almost every step by Christward Ministry, which operates a 640-acre religious retreat near the landfill. A lawsuit brought by the organization prompted Judge McConnell’s recent decision.

Soon after the judge’s ruling, county officials said a new EIR would take six to nine months to prepare. But Tuesday, they asserted that they were able to revise the document--which supervisors approved unanimously with Leon Williams absent--simply by clarifying responses to comments that Christward Ministry alleged were inadequate.

One of the primary concerns noted by the judge was that the county had not studied pollution, traffic and energy impacts from trucks hauling clay to the site for construction of the liner. While the county staff conceded that fact, it said that even with the clay-haulers added to the usual flow of garbage trucks, traffic flow would not exceed previously approved levels. It also included a resolution, approved by the supervisors, that the number of trucks would not exceed the set limits.

Michael M. Hogan, a Christward Ministry attorney, contended after the supervisors’ vote that the EIR revisions were inadequate to correct the flaws cited by Judge McConnell.

“We will just have to go back to McConnell and say the county is acting improperly,” he said.

County lawyers have filed a request for a hearing with the judge to present their response to her decision, said Deputy County Counsel Mark Mead. A date has yet to be set for that hearing.

In the meantime, county officials are going ahead with efforts to seek state approval for the expanded landfill. Deborah Castillo, a Department of Public Works spokeswoman, said the application for a permit is expected to be submitted within days to the Integrated Waste Management Board in Sacramento.

The county has been searching for an answer to its trash-flow problems for 10 years, with its various proposed solutions repeatedly running into opposition from residents, organizations and municipalities. The frustration of the drawn-out search, compounded by the urgency of the San Marcos space limitations, prompted scathing comments from Supervisors Brian Bilbray and Susan Golding.

Bilbray, saying the county has been “harangued and harassed” by various obstructionist interests, directed the county staff to prepare a report listing the individuals and groups that have opposed the search for ways to handle the county’s garbage.

After the meeting, Hogan criticized Bilbray’s remarks. “If it isn’t McCarthyite,” he said, “it is at least ill-advised.”