Landfill Case Delayed; Big Trucks to Roll

The day many Santa Clara Valley residents have long dreaded arrives Monday when the Toland Road Landfill begins accepting hundreds of tons of additional trash each day from throughout western Ventura County.

A Superior Court judge on Wednesday postponed a hearing to determine whether to grant a preliminary injunction to prevent the expanded use of the landfill. Judge Joe Hadden said he would delay the Friday hearing by one week to give him time to review the voluminous and complex legal documents the contentious case has generated.

The judge’s decision means that trucks hauling about 24 tons of trash at a time--up to four times more than the smaller trucks now using the landfill--will begin trash deliveries next week.

“We open the gates at 6 o’clock Monday morning and transfer trucks will be arriving at that time,” said John Conaway, solid waste director with the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, which operates the landfill. “Instead of [the usual] 135 tons, we think we’ll get about 600 to 700 tons on Monday to start with.”

Toland, which is midway between Santa Paula and Fillmore--the two cities it primarily serves now--will be allowed to receive up to 1,500 tons a day. The combined waste stream from Toland and Bailard Landfill near Oxnard--which closes Saturday--is about 1,300 tons a day, Conaway said.

As a result, Santa Clara Valley residents can expect an additional 20 to 25 trucks on the road Monday, about one every 20 minutes, Conaway said.

Three lawsuits have been filed in a last-ditch effort to stop the landfill expansion. The plaintiffs include the cities of Fillmore and Santa Paula and the Santa Clara Elementary School District, which runs the historic Little Red Schoolhouse at the intersection of Toland Road and California 126.

It is the second time within a week that a judge has postponed a legal proceeding regarding the landfill. On Friday, Municipal Court Judge Ken Riley withdrew from the case because of his friendships with a couple of Santa Paula and Fillmore council members.

The legal delays have meant there is no way opponents can prevent the start of the landfill’s expansion.

“This is exactly what we tried to prevent from happening,” said Roger Myers, Fillmore city attorney.

Mark Zirbel, a sanitation district attorney, stopped short of calling the judge’s decision a victory, but did not criticize yet another delay.

“We think that the interests of all concerned are best served by the court’s thorough review of all the material,” he said. “The court should take the time it needs.”

Citrus grower Gordon Kimball, who is among the most vocal opponents of industrial development in the valley, had a different view.

“I suppose psychologically it makes it harder for the judge next week to close a landfill that’s already open,” he said.

Toland Road resident Don Hopkins, 57, whose 10-year-old son died in 1972 after he was struck by a car as he crossed California 126 going to the one-room schoolhouse, worries about the dangers of additional trucks making a left turn at the intersection of the heavily traveled highway.

“I think this is going to be extremely hazardous,” he said. “This is an accident waiting to happen.”