Hacienda Heights : Landfill Permit Renewed
The county’s planning agency Wednesday gave final approval to plans to keep the Puente Hills Landfill open for 10 more years, allowing it to expand eastward through canyons near Hacienda Heights homes.
The Regional Planning Commission renewed the operating permit for the landfill. It had been scheduled to shut down in November, leaving 60 cities without a place to dispose of trash.
Homeowners opposed to the expansion have vowed to appeal the decision to the County Board of Supervisors.
The landfill’s managers, the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, had asked to keep the landfill open until the year 2013 and to dump trash within 1,250 feet of homes.
The commission prohibited trash disposal within 2,000 feet of residences. But members did allow an earthen barrier to be constructed 1,750 feet from homes to block the landfill from residents and the removal of soil for landfill cover within 1,250 feet of homes.
The operating permit requires the districts to compensate homeowners for any loss of property value, to enter into an agreement with the city of Whittier to provide funds for a wilderness park, and to pay the county Parks and Recreation Department to turn the landfill into a park after it is closed.
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