GRANADA HILLS : Judge to Give OK for Dump Expansion

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that he will give operators of the Sunshine Canyon landfill the green light next week to begin a planned expansion of the dump north of Granada Hills.

But a neighboring homeowners coalition that has fought the expansion plan for years has already filed a new lawsuit against the project and has promised to appeal the judge’s ruling.

In a ruling issued last week, Judge Robert H. O’Brien said a court order halting the expansion will be lifted May 14. The project has been on hold for three years while a protracted legal battle over the dump has been fought.

The city of Los Angeles and the North Valley Coalition have filed a lawsuit and other legal challenges to halt the expansion proposed by Browning-Ferris Industries and approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1991.

The lawsuit and most of the other challenges have been resolved, with Browning-Ferris and the county forced to address many environmental concerns raised by the city and the homeowners group.

But in his latest decision, O’Brien ruled against the final two challenges to the project and said he will lift his order that halts the project.

But Rosemary Woodlock, an attorney representing the homeowners coalition, said she has filed a new lawsuit and plans to file an appeal.

One of the new issues that her group will raise, she said, is a belief that the proposed expansion may be located over an earthquake fault. Federal law prohibits operation of a landfill over an active fault.

The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to meet Friday to consider what further legal action to take in its fight against the project.