Landfill Hearing Veers Off Road Issue

In what many Granada Hills residents considered a last stand against the expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill, opponents and operators of the facility squared off Monday afternoon as zoning officials considered whether to allow garbage trucks to use a city road leading to the hotly debated landfill.

Despite a constantly beeping egg-timer used to limit testimony to four minutes, the hearing dragged on for three hours as resident after resident gave impassioned speeches arguing against permitting the dump’s operator, Browning-Ferris Industries, to use and widen the city road.

The hearing was eventually called to an indecisive end by associate zoning administrator Daniel Green. The Office of Zoning Administration will continue to accept written testimony for the next 10 days.

Cellular phones rang and babies cried as residents of the surrounding areas and environmental activists offered testimony against the Sunshine Canyon Landfill, landfills in general, and the integrity of BFI. Very little argument was made against the use of the road itself. About 65 people attended the hearing at the Sherman Oaks Woman’s Club.

The portion of Sunshine Canyon Landfill that lies within city boundaries has been closed since 1991. However, BFI received approval last November to begin a 17-million-ton expansion into county territory. The original dump, which had been in operation since 1958, straddles the boundary between city and county land.

The road, which runs past the now-closed city portion of the dump, offers access to the new and approved county dump from the Golden State Freeway. BFI seeks use of the road to haul trash to the dump on county land, as well as to continue their ongoing closure and post-closure activities of the landfill on city land.

Under the proposal, the road would be widened to 80 feet and eventually realigned, or straightened out. Arnie Berghoff, BFI spokesman, said the company is prepared to take all necessary measures to control any ground water contamination that could occur if the landfill is disturbed during grading for the road.

Chris Funk, an attorney representing BFI, read from an 18-page transcript, alleging that opponents to the proposal were clouding the road issue by raising environmental issues that have already been dealt with.

Linda Waade, of the Coalition for Clean Air, one of the few to address the narrow issue of the road, said it increased truck traffic into the dump would increase air pollution. She cited a report published by the California Air Resources Board which identifies diesel exhaust as a carcinogen and says that 60% of all air pollution results from diesel emissions. Diesels would probably constitute most or all of BFI’s traffic on the road.