Supervisors Delay Action on Road to Dump

In the latest skirmish over the idle Sunshine Canyon Landfill, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors delayed a decision Thursday over whether to accept ownership of the main road into the controversial dump.

Browning-Ferris Industries Inc., which owns the northern San Fernando Valley landfill, hopes turning its privately owned road over to the county will allow the waste-management company to resume trucking waste to the dump.

On Thursday, county supervisors voted 4 to 1 to direct legal staff to determine whether the proposed property transfer would be legal. Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area and has been a longtime opponent of the dump, cast the lone dissenting vote.

“It’s no question that it’s going to be an uphill battle (to stop the landfill),” Antonovich aide Dave Vannatta said after the vote.

The 215-acre site straddles the boundary between city and county property about a half a mile southwest of the interchange between the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways.

The city--which opposes the landfill and closed its portion of the dump in 1991--and the county, which in the past has supported its expansion, have repeatedly squared off over the issue.

The city recently prohibited garbage trucks from using the access road. BFI officials maintain that passing control of the road to the county would override the city ban and allow the dump to reopen.

“We need this landfill,” said Arnie Berghoff, BFI’s director of community affairs. “And I believe the county will do the right thing as far as (accepting) the access road.”

A key player in future county decisions regarding the landfill could be Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who was elected to the board last year and has said he has not made up his mind about the dump.

Last month, BFI filed a $400-million claim against the city for barring company trucks from the road. A claim is the first step toward filing a lawsuit.

The supervisors are scheduled June 8 to vote whether to accept ownership of the access road.