Only Opposition to Trash Import Plan Is Dropped

The only opposition to bankrupt Orange County’s proposal to raise revenue by letting other counties dump trash here evaporated Monday as San Juan Capistrano officials announced they would no longer try to block the plan.

An agreement forged by city and county officials lets the county import trash to the Prima Deshecha Landfill, but not until 1997. The accord, which goes before the Board of Supervisors for approval today, also calls for the county to connect Antonio Parkway to Ortega Highway by 1999 instead of 2010.

San Juan Capistrano officials said Monday the two county concessions would help shield residents from increased truck traffic expected under the plan. In May, city officials staged a protest on a two-lane stretch of Ortega Highway, assailing the county’s trash plan as insensitive and heavy-handed.

“We think it’s a victory,” City Manager George Scarborough said.

San Juan Capistrano is the last of three Orange County cities to approve a “memorandum of understanding” with the county over the plan, said Cymantha Atkinson, spokeswoman for the county’s Integrated Waste Management Department.

Atkinson said the agreement with San Juan Capistrano was the “last step in the administrative process” for the county as it prepares to accept trash from haulers in Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura counties.

Orange County hopes to generate $22 million a year to help dig out of its bankruptcy. Six trash firms from outside the county want to send rubbish to landfills next to San Juan Capistrano, Irvine and Brea. The companies are negotiating with county officials over price.

Although the Prima Deshecha Landfill would not receive imported trash until 1997, the Bowerman Landfill near Irvine and the Olinda Landfill near Brea could begin receiving out-of-county rubbish as early as January under agreements with the county, Atkinson said.

Each of the three cities would receive 81 cents for each ton of imported trash, Atkinson said.

For San Juan Capistrano, such a “host fee” would mean a boost of $440,000 annually to city coffers, Scarborough said.

The city intends to use some of the money to step up enforcement of the speed limit on Ortega Highway and install more traffic signals. The busy stretch of highway leading to the Prima Deshecha Landfill runs through a residential area.

Scarborough said that connecting Antonio Parkway to the Ortega Highway would cut traffic by 34%. Over 15 years, the move would be a reduction of nearly 11.5 million vehicle trips, Scarborough said.

But until the road connection is finished, the city can expect about 200 additional round trips by tractor-semitrailers hauling trash on Ortega Highway, according to city traffic projections.

In a related development, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote today on a plan that would double the fees charged landscapers, contractors and others who use county landfills to dump small amounts of waste. The new fees would apply to people who transport trash to the landfills in cars and small trucks.

The proposal comes two months after supervisors voted to raise the fee paid by large trash haulers from $22.75 to $35 per ton.

County officials said both fee hikes are needed to make up for a decline in landfill business and increased regulatory costs. The moves are not related to the county’s bankruptcy, officials said.

Times correspondent Shelby Grad contributed to this report.