Panel Opposes Expansion of Toland Landfill

Citing a host of environmental and traffic concerns, the Ventura County Planning Commission on Thursday voted against a tenfold expansion of the Toland Road Landfill near Santa Paula.

After a marathon 11-hour hearing, the commission ignored the advice of county staff and voted 3 to 1 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors reject the expansion. The panel’s recommendation will go next to the board, which will consider the matter May 21 and make a final decision.

During a hearing attended by more than 300 opponents of the expansion, commissioners listed numerous concerns about increased traffic, air pollution, noise and potential contamination of ground-water supplies around the landfill.

Commissioner Michael Wesner opposed the project because of worries that the expanded landfill would create serious dust and water problems for local growers.

“We have some very significant priorities in this county, and one of them is agriculture,” he said. “Either we’re going to support our farming community and deal with water issues, or we’re not.”

Even though the Planning Commission’s decision is not binding, Santa Paula Mayor John Melton said the action was a major victory for residents and business owners who would be most affected by the project.

“This was very significant,” he said. “This was the first time we got a fair shake on the people issue.”

The Ventura Regional Sanitation District wants to expand the Toland Road dump to take the place of the Oxnard-based Bailard Landfill, which will close this summer. The plan calls for increasing the amount of trash that the Toland dump can accept from 135 tons a day to a maximum of 1,500 tons.

A county staff report to the Planning Commission recommended support for the expansion, stressing that the landfill already exists and that enlarging it would ensure a low-cost, publicly controlled west county disposal site for 31 years.

The staff’s recommendation echoed that of the project’s environmental impact report, which concluded that the expansion would do less environmental harm than shipping trash to landfills in Simi Valley or Los Angeles County.

Ed McCombs, general manager of the sanitation district, said after Thursday’s hearing that he remains confident that county supervisors would support the project, based on the findings by county staff and the project’s environmental study.

“We are looking forward to going to the Board of Supervisors,” he said. “We believe we will be able to make the point that this is an environmentally sound project, that it is the best project for the west county.”

But local officials and residents vowed to continue to fight the expansion, which they said poses a serious threat to the area’s agriculture industry and its growing tourism business.

The cities of Santa Paula and Fillmore recently filed a joint lawsuit against the county and the sanitation district, claiming that the project’s environmental study is inadequate. The Santa Clara Elementary School District and a group of local ranchers and growers have filed similar suits.

All but five of the 50 people who testified before the commission Thursday spoke against the project, which some referred to as “Mount Trashmore” and a “toxic time bomb.”

One of those who spoke was Santa Paula resident Linda Bartelson, who said her main concern was about increased traffic the project would create along California 126. She noted that she had survived a head-on collision with a truck on the heavily traveled highway.

“This will only increase traffic, and lives will be lost,” she said. “Injuries and [death] cannot be mitigated.”

Despite the findings in the landfill’s environmental impact report, Melton said that sending the west county’s trash to other landfills in the region is still the best disposal option.

“There’s a lot of landfills outside the county that want the county trash,” he said. “There is a place for the trash. There is no trash crisis.”

But McCombs said that expanding Toland Road would be advantageous because it would guarantee local control by a public agency.

He said it would also provide healthy competition within the county, noting that the proposed $18-per-ton disposal fee offered by the expanded landfill would be the lowest in the region.

“We have confidence that the Board of Supervisors will see the importance of dealing with the need for a landfill in the west county,” he said.

Commissioner Daryl Reynolds voted for the project. Commissioner Zelma Wilson was absent.