Soil Transfer From Warner Ridge to Pierce Farm Is OKd

Despite protests from neighbors, Los Angeles Community College District trustees Wednesday approved the removal of 30,000 truckloads of dirt from the Warner Ridge development to the Pierce College farm in exchange for $2.1 million for the cash-needy school.

After a four-hour public hearing at the college, frequently interrupted by opponents who heckled supporters of the plan, the board unanimously endorsed an environmental report stating that a massive soil transfer of 425,000 cubic yards of dirt will cause only a temporary increase in noise and dust and will not permanently harm the surrounding area.

“The negative environmental consequences characterized as insignificant by the (report), even if magnified tenfold, would still pale compared to the needs of thousands of students,” said community college board President David Lopez-Lee.

The decision was a blow to many Woodland Hills residents and representatives of several environmental groups who have held rallies and petitioned the board to oppose the deal.

Opponents at the hearing contended that the extra dirt could cause mudslides and harm the winter habitat of hundreds of Canada geese that winter in the valley.

Although the trustees had been expected to approve the dumping, some opponents of the project said they were surprised that the panel did not delay the project.

“We’re very disappointed,” said Margo Murman, president of Coalition to Save Pierce College Farm. “I really thought they might reconsider because the input from the agricultural and environmental communities were so obviously brushed aside.”

Some opponents have expressed fears that the soil transfer involving 42 acres of the 220-acre farm could be the first step toward developing the parcel. College administrators say their apprehensions are groundless.

“The college has no interest in using the farm for development,” said Pierce College President Lowell Erickson.

Erickson said the school, which has a budget that is $1.3 million out of balance, desperately needs the extra revenue to help restore some of the 130 classes cut from the fall semester.

The dirt will be moved from Warner Ridge to the adjacent Pierce pasture, which is mostly used for grazing cattle and sheep. The existing topsoil will be removed, then replaced atop the Warner Ridge dirt and planted with new grasses and trees.