GRANADA HILLS : Judge Extends Delay of Dump Expansion

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge extended an order Tuesday halting expansion of Sunshine Canyon Landfill pending a hearing next month on a lawsuit brought by dump opponents.

Judge Diane Wayne ordered Browning Ferris Industries Inc., which operates the Granada Hills dump, to stop work on the controversial project June 27, just four days after the company was granted permission to start the first phase of a 17-million-ton expansion.

The judge set Aug. 5 for a hearing on a lawsuit filed by the North Valley Coalition of Concerned Citizens, which opposes the expansion.

Attorneys from both parties were also ordered to meet before the hearing and determine which issues in the lawsuit have not been previously litigated.

“We see absolutely nothing new,” said Arnie Berghoff, a spokesman for BFI.

“We disagree,” said Rosemary Woodlock, an attorney for the North Valley Coalition. “That’s what makes lawsuits.”

The recent skirmishes over the landfill are part of a decade-long fight between Los Angeles city and county officials, as well as between environmentalists and BFI, one of the nation’s largest waste-management companies.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the judge also granted a request by the city of Los Angeles to intervene in the case and join the North Valley Coalition in its lawsuit, Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritsker said.

“We’re downwind and downstream from the proposed project,” Pritsker said. “It’s a nuisance.”

BFI earlier was granted permission to remove an estimated 1,800 oak trees from the expansion site. The trees were cut down before the order to halt the project was issued last month.