Hacienda Heights : Dumping Extension Asked

Realizing that permits cannot be obtained from regulatory bodies for the expansion of the Puente Hills Landfill before its original Nov. 1 closure date, the county Sanitation Districts has asked that it be allowed to continue dumping in its existing area after that date.

Grace Chan, Sanitation Districts supervisor of planning, said that while the county supervisors granted a new permit for the expansion and operation of the site to the year 2003, getting permits from a number of other regulatory bodies will take beyond Nov. 1.

In the meantime, the Sanitation Districts applied to the California Integrated Waste Management Board to keep dumping at its current landfill, which has 12 more months of capacity, Chan said.

A hearing on extending the landfill’s permit is slated for Sept. 14 or Sept. 15 before a subcommittee of the board in Sacramento. The full board will review the request at the end of the month, said Liza Smith, spokeswoman for the Integrated Waste Management Board, which oversees landfills in California.

On Sept. 14 a Los Angeles Superior Court judge will hear a lawsuit by Hacienda Heights homeowners and school district challenging the landfill operator’s environmental study of its expansion plans. If homeowners succeed it would delay the expansion.