Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Proposal to Expand Dump Would Do Little Harm, Report Says : Trash: Document says concerns such as pollution and traffic to Chiquita landfill can be lessened by its operator.

A proposal to expand the Chiquita Canyon Landfill to more than 10 times its current capacity would significantly worsen local air pollution and flatten ridgelines, but overall the bigger dump would do little harm, according to a county report released Thursday.

A draft environmental impact report on the proposed expansion indicates that concerns such as increased traffic on the road leading to the landfill, odor, and water pollution can be lessened by Laidlaw Waste Systems, its operator.

The proposal is no worse than, and in some cases a significant improvement over, other proposals to expand county landfill space, said Kim Glasgow, project manager for Ogden Environmental and Energy Services Co. Inc. of San Diego. Ogden oversaw the study for the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning.

“The trash has got to go somewhere,” said Glasgow, who predicted existing county dumps will face a critical space shortage by 1998. “The problem is, if you don’t build you are going to have trash in your streets.”

The dump is located west of Santa Clarita, near the unincorporated Val Verde area. Some residents living near the landfill said they strongly oppose the proposal, stating they prefer alternatives such as waste reduction to expanding landfills or building new ones.

In addition, they said some of their concerns about the Chiquita landfill are being overlooked.

“The thing I think most people in this area are aware of is the smell,” said Barbara Wampole, 42, who has lived near the dump for the past 23 years.

Wampole said trucks carrying trash routinely back up traffic on the two-lane California 126, the only major road to the landfill, and litter from the landfill is commonly strewn along the highway.

Laidlaw applied in 1989 for a county permit to expand the dump. The expansion is also being sought by some Ventura County authorities who want to avoid expanding their landfills.

Laidlaw General Manager Rodney Walter estimates that a couple hundred tons of trash a day come from Ventura County to Chiquita, located six miles east of the county line, but the Ventura contribution could grow to 3,000 tons daily after the expansion.

The 592-acre landfill is scheduled to close in 1997 unless the expansion is approved, allowing it to remain open until at least 2005. The existing landfill has a capacity for 3 million tons of trash on 154 acres, while the proposed expansion would make room for 32 million tons of trash on 423 acres.

The amount of trash that could be brought to the landfill would double from its current maximum of 5,000 tons per day. Authorities estimate about 1,750 tons are brought daily to the landfill now.

Also, the expanded landfill would have additional operations such as composting and recycling.

Emissions from vehicles during construction and operation of the expanded landfill would cause air pollution to exceed South Coast Air Quality Management District standards, according to the study. However, authorities who prepared the report said they do not know how noticeable the impact would be, since the Santa Clarita Valley already has some of the region’s highest air pollution.

“It’s one of thousands of sources,” Glasgow said.

But Wampole said it is senseless to overlook the landfill’s impact on air pollution, especially since pollution from development and other new projects are having a cumulative effect on the area.

“If we don’t look at the three or four [high pollution days] this will contribute to, when will we look at the impact?” she said.

The only other significant impact of the expansion would be the loss of some ridgelines in the landfill area, according to the report. However, Supervising Regional Planner Frank Meneses said the grading would occur in places few people see.

“There are ridgelines in front [of the landfill space], so you won’t be able to see the ridgelines that are being removed,” he said. “When you drive by, it won’t look any different than you see now.”

Other concerns could be remedied by Laidlaw, the report concluded. Traffic backups, for example, could be avoided by putting a lane for trash trucks near the highway’s turnoff point and installing a traffic signal.

Public input on the draft version of the environmental impact report will be accepted until Aug. 17, Meneses said. He said at least one public hearing is scheduled by the county in August and Laidlaw plans to hold at least one meeting before then.

A final environmental impact report could be ready by October for the County Board of Supervisors, who must approve the proposed expansion, Glasgow said.