Weldon Landfill Foes Claim Victory in 10-Year Battle

Opponents of a measure to build a landfill at Weldon Canyon, which county voters thoroughly trashed in Tuesday’s election, say they have finally won the 10-year battle against the dump.

“I think this vote has driven a stake through its heart,” said Chris Westphal, a member of Citizens Against Measure T. “We beat them at the Board of Supervisors, in the courts and now we’ve beat them at the ballot box. I think they’ll fold up their tent and go away . . . and I don’t think they’ll be back.”

Officials from Taconic Resources, the San Diego-based investment firm that sponsored the measure, said that although they continue to hold a lease on the Weldon Canyon property between Ojai and Ventura, they would not resurrect the plan to build the dump there.

“Not as far as we’re concerned,” said Richard Chase, general partner at Taconic Resources. “Somebody else may want to but we’re ending our involvement.”

Other supporters, such as newly elected Moorpark City Councilwoman Eloise Brown--who worked for months pushing for the initiative--contend that without a new dump the county will end up struggling to replace Bailard Landfill in Oxnard when it closes this summer.

“I believe we’ll be paying for this decision in the coming years,” Brown said. “Now the Simi Valley Landfill will be the logical target as well as little Fillmore [site of the Toland Road Landfill]. I just don’t see the wisdom of trucking trash all around the county.”

The semiofficial results from Tuesday’s election had 71% of Ventura County voters who cast ballots coming out against the landfill initiative.

The results--with eastern and western Ventura County voters equally opposed to the measure--surprised those on each side of the landfill issue.

Much of the debate on the Weldon Canyon initiative centered around trucking western Ventura County trash to eastern Ventura County landfills. The last two mailers sent out by Taconic harped on that theme, deriding opponents of the measure as “Ojai elitists” and “Not in my backyard” snobs.

“It obviously did not work,” said Ojai City Councilwoman Nina Shelley, who said she was elated by the vote.

The county and several west county cities are looking over various proposals to replace Bailard, including expanding the Toland landfill, signing a long-term agreement with the Simi Valley Landfill and taking trash there, and possibly shipping trash to dumps outside of Ventura County, Shelley said.

Taconic, which had initially spent $104,000 getting the landfill measure on the ballot, spent much less than expected.

Taconic Resources had pledged early in the campaign to spend more than $400,000 pushing the initiative, but since January only spent a fraction of that amount on two mailers.

“I don’t think spending any more money would have made a difference,” Taconic’s Chase said.

Jim Jevens, a Camarillo-based consultant who worked on the campaign for the company, said the decision was a financial one.

“I haven’t talked to Mr. Chase about it, but Taconic is run all on investments,” Jevens said. “And one has to assume he couldn’t raise any substantial funding.”