Expansion of Sunshine Canyon Dump OKd : Trash: The now-idle landfill could resume operations by spring. But opponents vow to continue legal attacks.

After years of legal wrangling, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved plans Thursday to expand the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in a sensitive oak woodland north of Granada Hills.

The board’s 4-1 vote allows Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. to expand the now-idle garbage dump west of the Golden State Freeway by 17 million tons as part of a 10-year plan to increase the county’s waste disposal capacity.

But in the protracted legal and political fight over the future of Sunshine Canyon, nothing is as simple as it seems. Even as BFI lawyers claimed victory in their decade-long struggle to expand the dump, opponents vowed to continue legal attacks on various fronts.

Thursday’s decision must now be reviewed by a judge, who will determine whether the environmental impact report is adequate. The review was prompted by a lawsuit by dump opponents who said earlier versions of the report were insufficient.

BFI attorney Steven W. Weston said that review could come as early as next month. Construction could then begin early next year, with the first trash trucks dumping their loads in the spring, Weston said.

Further expansions would require additional county approval.

“This is one more step for us,” Weston said as dozens of protesters on the steps of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration chanted, “No more trash.”

Residents in the nearby communities of Granada Hills and Sylmar fear that reopening and expanding the dump will create health hazards in their neighborhoods and threaten the water supply at Van Norman Reservoir, just south of the landfill.

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, one of the harshest critics of the 215-acre dump, complained that supervisors made their decision hastily, despite other options at their disposal.

Bernson said he and local residents have been trying to find ways in recent weeks to reduce environmental destruction of the dump, which straddles the city-county border. One idea put forward would have the dump expand in the city portion, thus preserving more sensitive reaches of the canyon.

“The county was not willing to listen to anything,” Bernson said in an interview. “They had made up their minds. We asked them to continue the thing so we could have some meaningful conversations, but they wanted nothing to do with it.”

Asked whether nearby communities were given short shrift by county officials, Bernson responded: “Granada Hills got the shaft today. That’s a good headline.”

Supervisor Edmund D. Edelman said the county is still interested in negotiating with opponents to reduce the dump’s effect on surrounding communities. But, he added, the county had an obligation to consider BFI’s request in a timely way.

Yet that desire to move forward with the plans may return to haunt the county, predicted environmental attorney Rosemary Woodlock, who represents the North Valley Coalition. By not considering all alternatives to the proposed expansion, the board failed to act in good faith, she said.

Over the past decade, the dump has been the battleground for fights between Los Angeles city and county officials as well as pitting environmentalists against BFI, one of the nation’s largest waste management companies.

BFI initially proposed in 1984 to increase the landfill’s capacity by 70 million tons, but that plan was scaled back to 17 million tons and approved by supervisors in 1991.

In that same year, the dump ceased operations after its city permit expired. It has not reopened and BFI’s request approved Thursday permits dumping only on county land.