San Marcos Now Says No Landfill Expansion : Environment: City’s reversal follows judge’s rejection of the EIR. Meeting of trash crisis team is called.

Throwing San Diego County trash officials into yet another eleventh-hour tizzy, a rebellious San Marcos City Council has rescinded its permission to expand the landfill there.

San Marcos Mayor Lee Thibadeau said the city will reconsider its decision if the county fixes a flawed environmental impact report but that he, for one, no longer wants the San Marcos landfill expanded, period.

The 15-year-old landfill is expected to reach capacity by Oct. 1, and if permission to expand it isn’t won by then, county officials say, North County’s trash will have to be trucked to county landfills east of Santee, at Otay Mesa or out of the county altogether.

County officials don’t want to pay the higher cost of hauling trash farther, nor do they want to confront the political nightmare of deciding where to send the trash. The opening of a new landfill in North County is years off.

The San Marcos City Council’s decision to rescind its approval of the expansion, reached unanimously late Tuesday night, left other city officials in North County shaking their heads and prompted the scheduling this afternoon of yet another meeting of the county’s so-called trash crisis team.

George Bailey, chairman of the County Board of Supervisors, questioned the legality of San Marcos reneging on its previous approval, and suggested that the city’s action was simply a venting of its frustration over the issue.

San Marcos had previously approved the expansion and said that, in exchange, it wanted trash haulers from the areas being served by the landfill to pay $5.50 per ton of garbage to compensate San Marcos for wear and tear on its streets.

That demand for a so-called host fee prompted the cities of Escondido, Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside to sue San Marcos, claiming that the fee is illegal and shouldn’t be assessed of haulers, only to be passed on to those cities’ residents.

In an unrelated development, San Diego Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell beckoned both sides in a legal dispute over the landfill’s expansion to meet in her chambers this morning.

McConnell has thrown out the county’s environmental impact report on the expansion, saying it was improperly circulated for review by various agencies and fails to discuss the consequences of using a clay liner so another 200 feet of garbage can be heaped atop the existing 750-foot-high pile of trash.

Attorneys for the county and Christward Ministry, which challenged the adequacy of the environmental report, have different interpretations of McConnell’s fix-it order, and said that this morning’s meeting is an effort by the judge to better explain her ruling and what exactly is expected of the county to repair the EIR.

On Tuesday night, the San Marcos City Council decided that, because the environmental impact report is flawed, the city had no choice but to rescind its approval of the county’s expansion plans because that approval was based in part on the EIR.

The council said it would reconsider its approval for the expansion of the landfill, which is just inside the city limits, after a new-and-improved EIR is approved by the judge.

But Thibadeau said that, even if the county produces a satisfactory EIR, he (and probably a council majority) is no longer willing to approve the expansion.

The mayor said he and his colleagues are tired of being cast as the region’s villains for wanting to assess the $5.50-per-ton host fee.

With an estimated 800,000 tons of garbage expected to be dumped into the landfill this year, the fee would generate $4 million for the city, with another $400,000 earmarked specifically for the Elfin Forest neighborhood that abuts the landfill site.

Not only have four other North County cities sued San Marcos over the host fee, but Christward Ministry sued the city, claiming the city acted illegally by allowing the landfill expansion based on a legally flawed EIR.

San Marcos is tired of being battered by both sides, Thibadeau said, and he wants the city to get out of the garbage business altogether by blocking the landfill’s expansion.

“The landfill just isn’t worth it anymore,” Thibadeau said. “It’s polarized the entire region. I can’t even get people together to discuss gang problems in North County because they’re all so angry over the landfill issue.”

Councilman Corky Smith said he wouldn’t commit himself to how he will vote on expanding the landfill if the EIR returns to the city for approval--but he said he is frustrated that the city has seemed doomed to a no-win situation with its neighbors.

“No matter what we do, we get sued by one side or the other,” he said. “No matter which way we turn on this issue, we seem to be the bad guys. But, over the years, we’ve been the only ones trying to come up with a solution.”

Councilwoman Pia Harris said she doesn’t favor a landfill expansion--even if a satisfactory EIR is adopted and the city assesses a host fee. “I don’t know if the money will make up for the inconveniences and the hard feelings the landfill has spawned over the past few years,” she said.

Escondido Mayor Jerry Harmon said he takes Thibadeau “at his word” that he no longer wants the landfill expanded.

But Harmon also speculated that San Marcos is posturing so the other cities will agree to pay the host fee in exchange, once again, for San Marcos allowing the landfill expansion.

Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis said: “They’ve got to do what they think is best for their city. I have no idea if it’s a political ploy. I’ll wait and see what the county does next.”

Encinitas Mayor Maura Weigand said that, if San Marcos decides to block the landfill expansion, the effect would be “devastating.”

But, like county Supervisor Bailey, Weigand said she wonders if the city’s decision is legal. “The county has some rights, which they have to examine more closely. They can probably take some action to protect the (expansion) permit,” she said.

San Marcos City Atty. Dan Hentschke said it is well within the city’s rights to revoke the expansion permit--even if the county returns to the city with a valid EIR.

“If the City Council, after a public hearing, determines it’s no longer in the best interest of the city to approve the expansion of the landfill, it can say, ‘No,’ ” he said.

For their part, county staff officials said they weren’t ready to react to San Marcos’ action until after they meet this afternoon in private to study its impact and what options are left the county.