Lake View Terrace : Decision Expected on Fate of City Dump

The Los Angeles Planning Commission is expected to make a decision on extending the life of Lopez Canyon Landfill at a meeting Thursday.

Although public comments will be allowed, the meeting is not a public hearing, commission officials said. The commission is expected to rule on the city’s recommendation to extend by one year the operation of Lopez Canyon, the last working city-owned dump.

Neighbors of the 400-acre dump in Lake View Terrace say it should be closed in February, when its operating permit expires. Councilman Richard Alarcon, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) and Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) also have been strong critics of an extension for the facility, which has been cited for numerous environmental violations over the years.

City sanitation officials say keeping the dump open longer would be cheaper than dumping city trash in privately owned landfills or hauling refuse by rail to remote landfills. Sanitation officials requested a five-year extension, but the city Board of Public Works recommended running the facility for only one additional year.

Most of the 5,000 tons of garbage collected daily in the city ends up in city-owned Lopez Canyon. Sanitation officials say the dump will have room for more than 3 million tons of trash when its current permit expires.

A Planning Commission spokeswoman said the Lopez Canyon issue will not be discussed until sometime after 11 a.m., although the meeting begins at 9:30 at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys.

Alarcon, Katz and Berman signed a letter sent to Planning Commission President George Lefcoe, asking him to hold Thursday’s meeting in the evening, so more people could attend. But the meeting remains as scheduled.