Officials Seek Alternatives to Weldon Dump : Waste: Planning Commission may delay hearings on site while other solutions to the county’s trash problem are explored.

As the Ventura County Planning Commission today considers delaying public hearings on the Weldon Canyon landfill proposal, county officials reiterated the need to look at other ways to dispose of the county’s trash.

Commissioners will decide whether to postpone hearings on the proposed landfill, at the request of landfill operators Waste Management of North America. Weldon Canyon is located between Ventura and Ojai.

But county officials said regardless of the decision, it is important to further explore other possibilities, such as hauling trash out of the county, expanding recycling efforts or diverting trash to other landfills.

“We are in an ongoing process of looking at all kinds of ways to handle waste disposal in the county,” said Kay Martin, director of the county’s Solid Waste Management Department. “Weldon is only a small part of the total waste picture.”

If the Weldon project is delayed or defeated, several proposals would move to the forefront of the search for alternative means of trash disposal.

Among the alternatives under consideration are extending the life of the Bailard Landfill in Oxnard and creating a new countywide waste management authority to make all policy decisions on trash disposal.

The 32-year-old Bailard Landfill, which takes in most of the west county’s 1,400 daily tons of trash, is scheduled to close in December.

But a group of local officials are asking the county to postpone the Bailard Landfill’s closure until May of 1997. The requested extension will probably come before the Planning Commission in the fall, said Lori Norton, principal analyst for the Ventura Regional Sanitation District.

Support for extending Bailard’s operations would be strengthened if the supervisors reject the Weldon landfill proposal, Norton said. “It would further our case that we should use all existing landfill capacity,” she said.

In a related development, city officials across Ventura County are considering their endorsement of proposed state legislation that would create a countywide waste authority to deal exclusively with trash policy. A draft of the legislation is scheduled for review by the county waste commission at its June 17 meeting.

Supervisor Maggie Kildee, who supports the countywide authority, said the drawn-out process for approving a landfill prompted the legislation. “We need to find better, more comprehensive and far-reaching ways to deal with our waste problems,” she said.

Meanwhile, if planning commissioners agree to delay the hearings scheduled for today, landfill opponents said they will appeal to the Board of Supervisors to reverse the decision and bring the proposed dump to a final vote. Opponents believe that three supervisors will vote to reject any sized landfill in Weldon Canyon.

“We are prepared to make an immediate appeal,” said Andrew Stasse, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Weldon Canyon Dump. “We are all ready to get this matter resolved.”

Stasse said he expects several hundred landfill opponents to attend today’s Planning Commission meeting. Whether the commissioners decide to proceed with the hearings or grant a delay, the matter will go to the Board of Supervisors, said County Counsel James McBride.

“Either way, the ultimate decision is with the board,” McBride said. “The board has the final word on any landfill-related issue.”

Earlier this week, county planners issued a report recommending approval of the dump, provided it shrinks to a third of its original size.

But Supervisor John K. Flynn, who favors the landfill, said he advised Waste Management to postpone a decision by the Board of Supervisors for more than a year. At that point, he said, the landfill may be received by a more sympathetic board.

Although Flynn did not specify any names, Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, a Weldon Canyon landfill opponent, will complete her first term next year. She has not indicated if she will seek reelection.

Flynn said he suggested the postponement after Supervisor Maggie Kildee, considered the deciding vote on the Weldon project, announced last week her doubts about opening another landfill in the county.