Landfill Gets Extension Despite Nuns’ Protest : Environment: Board says sanitation district must work to resolve some of Bailard dump’s problems or risk its closure.

Despite health concerns and other issues raised by a group of nuns who neighbor the Bailard Landfill in Oxnard, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to extend for three more years the life of the dump.

After more than four hours of debate, the board voted 4 to 1 to keep the dump open. Supervisor John K. Flynn, whose district the landfill is in, opposed the extension.

The nuns of Sister Servants of Mary argued that the noise, odor and dust from the landfill were a health risk. They asked the board to force the Regional Sanitation District, the dump’s operator, to pay for their relocation.

Sister Nieves Consel, 88, who has served in the order for 69 years, said that those who come to the Oxnard convent for religious training spend a lot of time outdoors, and that she worries that their health may be harmed because of the dump.

“I am pleading with you to relocate the sisters,” Consel said. “I’m not asking for me, because I am old and will die in not too many years, but for the young sisters. Take care of them so they can take care of the sick.”

Showing their support, more than 50 nuns, many of them from the order’s Newbury Park convalescent hospital, crowded the board’s meeting.

Agreeing that the nuns’ concerns must be addressed, the board ordered the Regional Sanitation District to work out an agreement over the next 45 days to resolve some of the problems or risk closure of the dump.

While sympathizing with the nuns, most of the board members Tuesday said there was no practical alternative immediately available for dealing with the more than 1,000 tons of trash dumped daily at Bailard other than to keep the landfill open.

But Flynn accused his fellow supervisors of lacking leadership for failing to come up with another solution, reserving especially harsh words for Supervisor Maria VanderKolk.

“She’s just as phony as hell,” he said in an interview after the meeting. “Claiming to be an environmentalist and then voting for a landfill on a river.”

For her part, VanderKolk said her decision was a matter of responsibility.

“I don’t see any other choice,” she said before her vote. “We all want to close Bailard, but it’s a matter of what’s reasonable. Hopefully we can come up with a alternative in the next 3 1/2 years.”

After nearly three decades of living near the dump, the nuns argued that the odor and noise generated from the 180-acre landfill had become unbearable and presented the board with a petition with 9,000 signatures demanding that the landfill be closed or the convent be relocated at county expense. The nuns recently hired an attorney to assist them in their fight.

“We’re not interested in money,” said Stanley Cohen, the Oxnard attorney representing the nuns. “Our primary concerns are that the impacts of extending the dump be mitigated. Right now, I don’t see how they can mitigate the impacts without moving the sisters.”

Cohen said he was not surprised by the board’s decision.

“They really had already made up their mind about extending the dump,” he said. “The question now is whether the (sanitation) district is prepared to relocate the nuns.”

Whether the two sides can come to an agreement is still an open question. While sanitation district officials said they would abide by the board’s order to work out an agreement with the nuns, they also said they would not pay for their permanent relocation.

“As long as we make a reasonable offer and negotiate in good faith, I’m sure that we can work something out with the nuns, but permanent relocation is not an acceptable alternative,” said Mark Zirbel, an attorney representing the sanitation district. He said the district could not afford to pay for such a move.

Zirbel and Clint Whitney, general manager of the sanitation district, argued to the board that the landfill met every existing environmental standard. They said they believed that building a sound wall around the convent and installing an air filter inside the building could solve the nuns’ concerns.

However, Consel said such measures would only make the nuns feel like prisoners because they would be forced to stay inside their convent.