The Czar of Elsmere : Jeff Kolin Leads the City’s Charge Against Plan for Canyon Landfill

Jockeying past a crowd of thousands of Santa Clarita residents who turned out to protest plans for a giant garbage dump just outside the city, Jeff Kolin couldn’t help but smile.

Kolin, after all, had been named the city’s point man in fighting the Elsmere Canyon landfill. He had spent hundreds of hours preparing the city’s official response to the proposal, and he helped organize the huge turnout--about 3,000 showed up--at the public hearing held by county planners in May. So when he was asked if all the work had been worth it, Kolin replied with the bravura of a star quarterback: “Damn right.”

It was an apt reply for Kolin, Santa Clarita’s special projects director, better known in these parts as the Czar of Elsmere.

With his slightly overgrown blond hair and a mustache--not to mention his slim build--Kolin looks something like a Beach Boy who wandered into City Hall by mistake. His easygoing nature notwithstanding, Kolin is known throughout city government for his ability to get a job done, and done right.

“He kind of has the Midas touch,” said Gail Ortiz, the city’s public information officer. “Whatever he’s working on turns out very well.”

Added City Manager George Caravalho, “He’s hard-working and he’s very task-oriented.”

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Kolin was hired by the city just after it incorporated in 1987 as director of parks and recreation, a position he held for three years. Among other things, Kolin built Santa Clarita’s first municipal park, Canyon Country Park, Ortiz said, “and he did it in record time and under budget.”

He then took on the job of director of public works and was charged with leading the city’s fight against plans by BKK Corp. of Torrance to build a 190-million-ton landfill in Elsmere Canyon, just east of the Antelope Valley Freeway. By May of this year, the fight had become so time-consuming that Caravalho named Kolin director of special projects so that he could battle the landfill full time.

He calls the task “an awesome responsibility.”

Mayor Jo Anne Darcy said that in a survey by the city, 92% of community residents said they were absolutely opposed to the landfill. “We had to give it everything we had,” she said.

Kolin spearheaded the campaign to have as many residents as possible show up at the May hearing held by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission. He hired a public-relations firm to print thousands of flyers, postcards and door hangers to get the word out. He also met with local environmental groups who went door-to-door in their neighborhoods, collecting pledges from people to be there. The city even advertised the hearing on pizza delivery boxes.

But no one knew how many would show up for the May 31 hearing on the draft environmental-impact report on the landfill plans. Most people around City Hall figured perhaps 1,000.

“As I drove [to the hearing] and saw all the cars, I thought, ‘Where are these folks going?’ ” Caravalho recalled. “Then I realized they are going the same place I was. Jeff put the information out and the people responded.”

Many had to watch the hearings outside on a large monitor in the back of a pickup truck.

Kolin’s second major task was to compile the city’s official comments on the EIR, comments that totaled 800 pages and questioned the mammoth draft report point by point.

BKK says the landfill will be safe. Kolin, working with 10 experts and consultants, takes a contrary view. They say the landfill would pollute the air and ground water, attract vermin and destroy a natural wildlife corridor. The city’s response to the EIR also made sure to discuss possible alternatives to simply burying trash, such as building recycling and composting plants.

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Aside from the long hours, the Elsmere fight has changed Kolin’s life in other ways. Now, he said, his family recycles religiously.

“We’re like any typical Santa Clarita family,” said Kolin, who lives with his wife and children in Saugus. “We participate in recycling.”

He added, “We’ve started composting in the back yard, and we haven’t put any grass in the trash can for a year.”

But the battle is far from over. Kolin predicted that the Regional Planning Commission would take at least six months to make a decision on the conditional land-use permits. Then the proposal must go before the County Board of Supervisors. But appeals could go on for years.

“The kids ask me, have I won yet?” said Kolin, referring to his two daughters. “But it’s hard for 7- and 9-year-olds to understand why Dad just can’t fix it.”

But city officials agree that Kolin always keeps his cool despite the complications and delays he has endured in the fight over Elsmere.

“When he gets frustrated, he doesn’t show it,” Ortiz said. “He just laughs and takes it all in stride.”

“He’s always soft-spoken,” Darcy said. “And he’s creative, and that’s what I like about him. He doesn’t force anything and instead lets people think of what they want to do.”

Kolin enlisted local environmentalists, for instance, for their expertise to teach him about landfills. “They are a tremendous resource, very committed, competent people,” he said.

“We’ve had any number of meetings,” said Marsha McLean, an anti-dump activist. “He’s committed to keeping the community aware.”

Kolin was already an outdoorsy type when he started with the city, often taking camping trips with colleagues.

“He’s very much what I would consider to be an environmentalist,” Darcy said.

She recalled an excursion to Elsmere Canyon she took with Kolin in his four-wheel-drive vehicle. Admiring the canyon’s landscape, he turned to Darcy. “How,” he asked, “could anybody destroy this beauty?”

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Profile of Jeff KolinPosition: Santa Clarita special projects director.

Age: 43.

Family: Lives in Saugus with his wife, Patty, 39, and his daughters, Cherie, 9, and Elyse, 7.

Education: Bachelor and master’s degrees in sociology from Cal State Long Beach.