Confidence in Landfill Expansion Remains

Although their expansion plans were snubbed by the county Planning Commission, Toland Road Landfill officials said Friday they are confident the Board of Supervisors will still approve the project.

“There’s so much common sense involved in expanding an existing landfill I can’t believe the board will not support it,” said Ed McCombs, general manager of the public agency that runs the Toland Road dump.

But McCombs and a battery of landfill experts failed to convince the Planning Commission after an 11-hour hearing Thursday that the benefits of the project far outweigh any environmental concerns.

Ignoring the advice of its own staff members, commissioners voted to recommend that county supervisors reject expanding the 161-acre Toland Road Landfill near Santa Paula to handle all west county trash after Bailard Landfill in Oxnard closes this summer.

If the expansion is approved, the landfill’s box-shaped canyon would be filled with 15 million tons of solid waste over three decades.

Among the commission’s concerns was how an enlarged dump--which would increase its trash volume from 135 tons a day to 1,500--might cause serious dust and water problems for area growers.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t support a mountain of trash that is going to destabilize ground water and create hazards in an agricultural community,” Commissioner Michael Wesner said Friday in defending his vote. “Those effects are long-term.”

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McCombs said he and his staff members at the Ventura Regional Sanitation District hope to do a better job of assuring county supervisors that the $31-million landfill expansion is environmentally sound and will not harm the local agriculture industry.

He noted, for instance, that the district plans to take a number of steps to guard against dust, such as watering down landfill surfaces as well as paving and vacuuming roads in and around the dump.

As for potential water problems, McCombs said there is no aquifer beneath the landfill site. And runoff from surrounding slopes would be collected at the landfill’s periphery to keep it from getting into nearby streams or ground water wells, he said.

“We believe very strongly that we will not adversely impact the ranchers,” he said. “We know that agriculture is important to the county’s economy.”

The Planning Commission’s vote was only an advisory action. The Board of Supervisors is expected to make a final decision on the landfill expansion at a hearing scheduled for May 21.

So far, only Supervisor Maggie Kildee, whose district includes the Toland Road dump, has voiced strong opposition to expanding the landfill. She said it makes more sense to ship the trash to other landfills in Simi Valley and Los Angeles County.

“There is no trash crisis,” she said. “We do not need to expand Toland.”

Supervisor John Flynn, once opposed to the landfill expansion, said Friday he is now “leaning toward voting for it.” Supervisors Frank Schillo, Judy Mikels and Susan Lacey have not taken a formal position.

But Schillo has long said he believes the west county should continue to have its own landfill. He also opposes the shipment of more west county trash to the Simi Valley Landfill because of increased truck traffic through his hometown of Thousand Oaks.

“I haven’t changed my mind on that,” he said.

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Schillo, however, said he plans to take a tour of the Toland Road Landfill with expansion opponents next week. He said he also plans to meet with sanitation district officials.

“I’m going to be listening to both sides,” he said.

Some supporters of the landfill expansion said the vote they will be watching most closely will be that of Supervisor Susan Lacey, whose district includes the city of Ventura and most of the Ojai Valley.

Ventura has joined the cities of Thousand Oaks and Port Hueneme in formally endorsing the Toland Road expansion effort.

“I would think [Lacey] would put a great deal of emphasis on how the city of Ventura feels about this,” Councilman Gary Tuttle said. “This is a big issue.”

Lacey could not be reached for comment.

But Ojai Councilwoman Nina Shelley provides a good example of how difficult and complex the landfill issue can be.

As a member of the sanitation district, Shelley voted against the Toland Road expansion earlier this year.

Yet at Thursday’s Planning Commission hearing, she signed a card indicating her personal support for the project as a citizen.

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Shelley said her anti-landfill vote as a sanitation district board member was because she believed that she was representing the position of her constituents.

But she said her personal view is that the landfill expansion would provide the best economic answer to the west county’s trash needs, adding that the proposed $18-per-ton disposal fee is the cheapest available.

“I simply could not say in good conscience that Toland Road is a bad deal,” she said. “I think it’s a very good deal for the west county.”

Shelley also said supervisors should keep in mind that while voters in March rejected a proposal to develop a new west county dump at Weldon Canyon, north of Ventura, Waste Management Inc. retains control of the property and could develop another plan to create a landfill there. The landfill initiative was strongly opposed by Ojai and Ventura residents.

“I don’t know what Susan is going to do about Toland,” Shelley said. “But one of the things I hope she will consider is that Waste Management still has a nine-year lease on Weldon Canyon, which is in her district.”