$1-Million Study for Toland Dump Approved : Trash: Sanitation board votes 5 to 4 to begin the review which may lead to a tenfold expansion of the landfill near Santa Paula.

A regional trash authority approved a $1-million study to expand the Toland Road Landfill near Santa Paula on Thursday while two other officials independently urged local government to get out of the trash disposal business.

City leaders on the Ventura Regional Sanitation District board voted 5 to 4 to launch the environmental study, which could clear the way for a tenfold expansion of the Toland dump so it could handle west Ventura County trash after Oxnard’s Bailard Landfill closes.

“It’s imperative that this agency goes ahead,” said Oxnard Councilman Andres Herrera, chairman of the district’s board of directors. “We’re running out of time, and someone must take responsibility.”

Meanwhile, Supervisor John K. Flynn and Fillmore Councilman Roger Campbell held a press briefing to announce their opposition to the Toland Landfill expansion and the on-again, off-again proposal to put a dump in Weldon Canyon north of Ventura.

“It needs to be given a final burial,” said Flynn, who vowed to fight any resurrection of the Weldon Canyon dump. Flynn’s announcement is important because he is considered the swing vote on the five-member Board of Supervisors.

With three supervisors now in opposition, Taconic Resources, the firm pushing the Weldon Canyon dump is left with only one option: taking the matter to the county’s voters via an initiative petition. An earlier ballot initiative put forward by Taconic Resources was declared invalid in court.

“We are certainly not going to abandon the project,” said Richard Chase, a general partner of Taconic Resources.

“Obviously, supervisors come and go, and the trash goes on forever,” he said. “We will proceed through the county or through an initiative or a combination of the two.”

For their part, Flynn and Campbell said they believe that the Chiquita Canyon Landfill near Magic Mountain offers a long-term option for cheaply disposing of west county trash and nullifying the need for local governments to build or to expand landfills.

Further, they urged their local-government colleagues to quit trying to control the flow of waste to landfills and instead allow private businesses to determine the cheapest and best burial place for trash that cannot be recycled.

“If we stick with this bureaucratic, top-dominated regime, we are not going to make any headway,” Flynn told a collection of reporters and representatives of local trash agencies. “We’ve failed. We need to let the private sector work and get out of their way.”

In their plan unveiled Thursday, Flynn and Campbell called for:

* Sending all west county trash to the two competing recycling centers planned for Ventura and Oxnard. After picking out recyclable materials, the center administrators should have the power to decide whether to truck the remaining waste to Chiquita Canyon or to haul it elsewhere

* Encouraging all cities and communities to form joint-power authorities that will allow them to pool their trash tonnage and negotiate with landfill operators for better rates.

* Covering Bailard Landfill with attractive landscaping, so that once it closes it will provide an appropriate gateway to Oxnard and the Channel Islands Harbor.

* Abolishing the Ventura County Solid Waste Commission, which advises the county Board of Supervisors on waste-disposal policy.

“When a government agency no longer serves the public interest, it must be abolished,” Campbell said.

He and Flynn said the commission has spent needless time and money studying waste issues with little to show for the effort. They suggested that its functions could be transferred to joint-power authorities like the one established among east county cities or the more recent group formed by Ventura, Ojai, Fillmore and the county.

Flynn said he believes shutting down the commission could also save money. “I could foresee some reduction of staff,” he said.

All the talk about cutting government and about free-market practices inspired one waste-disposal manager to rush up to Flynn shake his hand after the presentation.

“I’d like to congratulate the Newt Gingrich of local waste control,” said Gerard W. Kapuscik, general manager of an agency that handles trash disposal for Silver Strand, Hollywood Beach and Hollywood-by-the-Sea.

“I think the ratepayer ultimately wins,” Kapuscik said later. “If government plays its cards right, we’ll be able to shop the marketplace of landfills and get the best price.”

Flynn’s and Campbell’s proposal received mixed reactions.

Supervisor Susan Lacey said she didn’t hear anything new in the proposals, and board Chairwoman Maggie Kildee applauded the two officials for reaching the same conclusion she had about ditching Weldon Canyon.

Supervisor Frank Schillo of Thousand Oaks said he would consider any proposals that do not clog Simi Valley Landfill with west county trash or increase trash fees for his constituents.

He said he had supported a Weldon Canyon landfill because he feared it was the only realistic alternative to keep west county trash from ending up in Simi Valley. “But I’m not sure it is absolutely necessary for a Weldon Canyon landfill.”

Clint Whitney, director of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, said that Flynn and Campbell were prejudging the benefits that the Toland Landfill expansion can bring to the county.

“We believe that Toland is the best solution to the trash problems we have in the western part of the county,” he said.

The regional sanitation board narrowly approved the environmental assessment Thursday after several members argued the vote was premature and they needed more time to consult with other city council members.

Once the environmental study is completed, the district’s board will have to approve it and then pass it on to the Board of Supervisors for final approval, Whitney said. A final draft is not expected to be completed until February, 1996.

The plan for Toland calls for expanding the perimeters of the 40-acre dumping site by 10 acres and its height by 80 feet. The expansion would enable Toland, which now accepts 130 tons of trash a day from Santa Paula and Fillmore, to receive the 1,200 to 1,500 tons of the western county trash that goes into Bailard each day.

Those supporting the study were Herrera, Camarillo Councilwoman Charlotte Craven, Port Hueneme Councilman Orvene Carpenter, Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Judy Lazar and James Acosta, representing unincorporated county areas.

Board members who voted against the proposal were Santa Paula Mayor Alfonso C. Urias, Ventura Councilman Gary Tuttle, Ojai Councilwoman Nina Shelley and Fillmore Councilman Donald Gunderson.