GRANADA HILLS : Panel Blocks Use of Landfill Access Road

In the latest of a series of battles surrounding the soon-to-be-reopened Sunshine Canyon Landfill, the Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals has voted to disallow garbage trucks to enter the dump through an access road within city boundaries.

Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), the landfill operator that last year won approval to expand into the Los Angeles County side of the facility, was granted a zoning variance from the city in January allowing trucks to resume using the only existing road leading into the area.

The Los Angeles City Council opted in 1991 to close down operations on the portion of the landfill located within the city, partially because of protests from neighboring residents.

On Tuesday, after reviewing what it considered to be a questionable record by the garbage handler when it operated on the city’s portion of the dump, the board told BFI that it is not satisfied that the company would meet variance requirements, and denied the access. The area containing the road is not now zoned for activities related to waste disposal.

Opponents of the landfill consider the board’s decision a major victory in their attempts to block Sunshine Canyon’s expected August reopening.

“This victory (will be) part and parcel to our getting a further review on the seismic problems that currently exist at the landfill,” said Rosemary Woodlock, attorney for the North Valley Coalition of Concerned Citizens, which filed the appeal against the city’s granting the variance.

“The Sunshine Canyon area was one of the hardest hit by the Northridge quake . . . and BFI has had a history of not abiding by the conditions set down by the city,” Woodlock said. “They were continually being held in violation (by city inspectors).

“Now, they can’t say they will open by the end of (summer).”

BFI spokesman Arnie Berghoff, however, downplays the significance of the board’s denial of the variance.

Berghoff said the company is confident that an appeal to the City Council will overturn the board’s decision, especially in light of a court settlement reached by the city and BFI last year after Los Angeles failed in legal attempts to stop the proposed expansion.

In the settlement, Berghoff said, the city acknowledged BFI’s need to have access to the county portion of the landfill and, barring violations, agreed to promptly process company applications seeking to obtain that access.

“Our application was found to have met all conditions set forth by (the city) for a variance to be granted,” Berghoff said. “Though we’re not sure why the board of appeals chose to go against that finding, we knew this proposal would ultimately be decided by the City Council.

“If it were to be denied, we’d wind up back in court with the city, which (after four years of litigation surrounding the expansion project) nobody wants to do.”

At least one council member, however, may be willing to take that risk.

Speaker against granting the variance, Councilman Hal Bernson said the estimated 2,700 daily truck trips that would ensue from BFI’s use of the road goes against previous city plans to convert the slightly woody area into parkland.

“How can we, as a city, allow anyone to continually ignore our laws?” Bernson said.

“If this road is approved it means our zoning laws are useless and a joke.”