Judge’s Ruling to Further Delay Landfill Expansion : Sunshine Canyon: The Superior Court action virtually assures that the dump’s fate will be decided by newly configured Board of Supervisors.

A Superior Court judge has further delayed any expansion of Sunshine Canyon Landfill above Granada Hills, saying that the public did not have sufficient opportunity to comment on changes in environmental review documents.

The ruling virtually assures that the fate of the dump will be decided by a newly configured county Board of Supervisors.

Judge Ronald M. Sohigian, in a ruling issued late last week, said three of his requirements from an earlier ruling must be opened to 45 days of public comment. After that, they must be reconsidered by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

By then, at least one--and perhaps two--of the expansion’s longtime supporters on the board will have been replaced, because Supervisor Kenneth Hahn is retiring and Supervisor Deane Dana is involved in a tough reelection bid against Rolling Hills Mayor Gordana Swanson.

Dump opponents heralded the decision as reassuring.

“It really does put the public back in the loop again,” said Mary Edwards, secretary of the North Valley Coalition of Concerned Citizens. “It also seems like it’s going to take more time and that’s always good.”

Edwards said she hoped new and old board members alike would look at the expansion anew “and say, ‘This is not right, we’re losing so much by losing that ecosystem.”’

However, representatives of Browning-Ferris Industries, the landfill’s owner, downplayed the significance both of the court decision and of the possible need to gain the support of a new board member or two.

“Of course, we’re disappointed with the ruling; we wish we did not have to recirculate,” said Arnie Berghoff, director of government affairs for Browning-Ferris’ Southern California operations. “But we view it as just another bump in the legal road to getting this thing under construction.”

Berghoff said that persuading new board members to back their plan should not be a problem because “we feel we have a good project.”

Browning-Ferris is seeking to nearly double the size of the landfill onto 200 acres of oak-filled canyon that is outside city limits and therefore under county jurisdiction. The board first approved that plan in February, 1991--with only Supervisor Mike Antonovich objecting--and reiterated its approval earlier this year, after Sohigian required numerous changes in the project’s environmental impact report.

Citing environmental concerns, the Los Angeles City Council has repeatedly denied Browning-Ferris’ bid to expand onto land it owns within city limits. The city joined the citizen coalition in filing the lawsuit--aimed at overturning the board’s approval--which first landed in Sohigian’s courtroom more than a year ago.

Appeals of Sohigian’s original ruling have been filed by both parties, leaving open the possibility that an appellate court judge could overturn the judge’s recent ruling regarding additional public and governmental review.

Specifically, in his ruling issued late Friday, Sohigian required three areas to be opened to the added scrutiny:

* The history of Browning-Ferris’ operating violations under its city permit, an issue raised by Councilman Hal Bernson. The landfill was cited several times by the city for violations ranging from dumping outside its boundaries to creating too much dust. Browning-Ferris attorneys maintained in court that those violations were subsequently resolved to the city’s satisfaction.

* Comments made by a county advisory committee about inadequacies they perceived in the original environmental review. The county’s Significant Ecological Area Technical Advisory Committee raised myriad concerns about the extensive damage the landfill expansion would inflict on one of the county’s designated Significant Ecological Areas. Browning-Ferris attorneys said in court that those concerns were clearly part of the record reviewed by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.

* Browning-Ferris’ decision to exclude city trash from the landfill unless the City Council reverses its previous decision and allows expansion onto land within the city of Los Angeles. The exclusion is to begin in July, 1992, for municipal garbage trucks and a year later for all other trash collected within city limits.