Elsmere Proponents Want Other Landfills Shut : Waste management: Officials tell backers there is no guarantee that opening one dump will lead to closure of another.

Proponents of a landfill at Elsmere Canyon testified Wednesday that they support opening the dump, which would be located just east of Santa Clarita, in the hope that landfills in their own neighborhoods would be shut down.

The testimony came during the first in a series of public hearings before the Los Angeles County Planning Commission, which will make its feelings about the controversial project known before the County Board of Supervisors makes the ultimate decision.

On Wednesday, the public meeting was limited to those who support the landfill, which would be situated on private and U. S. Forest Service land near the junction of the Antelope Valley and Golden State freeways.

A meeting for opponents is scheduled for May 31 in Valencia.

About a dozen people, mostly from the east San Fernando Valley, told the commission that if the county opens the 1,643-acre Elsmere Canyon dump--which would have a life span of 50 years--that landfills in the Northeast Valley should be closed.

“We have tolerated the Lopez Canyon dump long enough,” said Edward Kussman, a 40-year resident of Pacoima and vice president of its chamber of commerce. “We are anxious to see another facility opened that would take some pressure off. Pacoima seems to be a dumping ground for things that no one else wants. Elsmere will give us some peace.”

But there is no guarantee, county officials said, that the opening of one dump will lead to the closure of another. While Lopez Canyon is operated by the city of Los Angeles, the Elsmere Canyon landfill would be operated by the privately owned BKK Corp.

At times, the hearings made for strange allies.

San Fernando Valley community activist Cynthia Valdez, who sided with environmentalists over the fight to expand a landfill near Granada Hills, said she supports the Elsmere Canyon dump.

“(The environmentalists) were asking, ‘How can you? How can you?’ ” Valdez said. “We just have to agree to disagree.”

But, she added: “One of the good things about Elsmere Canyon is that it will never be a residential site.”

Others speaking in support of the project were Zedar Broadous, president of the San Fernando Valley branch of the NAACP, and Rose Castaneda, a community activist and former aide to Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City).

BKK officials handed out “Yes on Elsmere Canyon” buttons and placards to supporters before the meeting, and treated them to a lunch of burritos and soft drinks afterward.

Since BKK Corp. proposed the dump in 1987, it has drawn opposition from the city of Santa Clarita, environmentalists, community activists and business leaders in the Santa Clarita area.

But county Department of Public Works officials said that the county studied more than 100 sites for a new dump before settling on Elsmere Canyon. Jack Michael, the department’s special assistant for waste management programs, said Wednesday that if the county does not build a new dump--and if existing landfills are shut down as scheduled--the county could have a shortfall of 11,000 tons of trash a day by 1999.

“The need cannot be met through expanding existing landfills,” he said. “It is likely the last alternative site.”