Key Business Groups Oppose Elsmere Canyon Dump

After several months of debate, the city’s two largest business organizations announced Thursday their opposition to the proposed Elsmere Canyon landfill, delighting dump foes who have long urged them to take a stand on the area’s most heated issue.

The boards of the Canyon Country and Santa Clarita Valley chambers of commerce voted separately over the last nine days to oppose the dump, representatives of the two organizations said, with neither group acting unanimously.

A majority of both boards, however, voted against the dump, although representatives indicated that there was substantial support for other options, including supporting the landfill, staying neutral on the issue and waiting for an environmental impact report to be released.

Previously, both organizations had chosen to wait until after the environmental analysis before taking a stand, but representatives said repeated delays in the release of the report prompted the groups to go forward with their decision.

“The release of the EIR has been a moving target,” said Marlee Lauffer, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce. “Now we feel like we have enough information to make a responsible decision without the EIR.”

For the last several months, the two chambers and the Valencia Industrial Assn. have held joint hearings on the pros and cons of a landfill, which would be the fourth in the area.

“The way to attract businesses and jobs to the Santa Clarita Valley is through the quality of life,” Lauffer said, “and when we viewed everything together, we felt Elsmere Canyon landfill would have a negative impact on the quality of life.”

“The big picture is that we just don’t think that it fits into the image we want to have for the Santa Clarita Valley,” said Canyon Country chamber President Bob Kellar.

Thomas Rogers, a consultant to landfill developer BKK Corp. who lives and works in Santa Clarita and is a member of both chambers, said the decision was “disappointing, but not surprising,” and blamed “pressure from the city and other community groups” for the vote.

“Those people have to do business in this city, and it’s unfortunate that this is the kind of environment that we have to live in that forces them to make that decision,” Rogers said. “It doesn’t deter us.”

BKK Corp. Chief Administrative Officer Ronald Gastelum said that “the city mounted an intense lobbying effort to make the chambers do what they really said they didn’t want to do.”

By making their decision now, Gastelum said, the chambers are taking a position “before all the facts are known.”

But dump opponents said BKK’s asking people to postpone taking a stand on the dump until the environmental reports are released is hypocritical since BKK has simultaneously worked to promote the landfill for several years.

Dump opponents said the chambers’ weighing in against the landfill will help bring in money and people to oppose the project, calling their decisions “nothing but good.”

“Hopefully, this will loosen up some purse strings and some minds,” said Marsha McLean, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Canyons Preservation Committee, who hopes chamber members will now participate in anti-dump fund-raising campaigns.

The chambers’ opposition to the dump may also work to persuade organizations in Los Angeles to come out against the project.

The Valencia Industrial Assn. remains the last major group in the Santa Clarita Valley that has not come out against the dump. Gary Johnson, president, said the group will probably take a position at its June 30 board meeting.