Environmentalists Win One, Lose One in Valley

Despite protests from conservationists and neighbors, the Los Angeles Board of Public Works on Wednesday recommended opening septic waste dumping sites in the Sepulveda Basin and three other locations throughout the city.

Conservationists and neighbors oppose the Sepulveda Basin site, saying the facility is likely to create traffic and odor problems in the middle of a popular recreation area.

“We don’t want any part of this project in the Sepulveda Basin recreation area,” said Jill Swift, a Tarzana member of the Coalition to Save the Sepulveda Basin.

But the selection of the Sepulveda Basin came as no surprise because the city has already spent $2.5 million to build a facility in the basin to accept septic waste from from septic tanks, cesspools and portable toilets.

The other recommended sites are in Sunland at a city refuse collection yard, in downtown Los Angeles and near Los Angeles International Airport.

Under the plan, the city would monitor dumping at the sites and charge private waste haulers for the cost of dumping into the city’s sewer system.

The city currently allows private trucks to dump sewage into seven maintenance holes, most of which are located beneath city streets. The city charges an annual permit fee of $1,704 per truck, giving the waste haulers unlimited access to the city’s sewers.

In an effort to centralize the operations and charge waste haulers a new per-gallon fee, the city built a facility in the Sepulveda Basin in 1993 near the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant. But the facility was never opened because neighbors and others protested that it was built without an environmental review.

In response to the protest, the city launched a study that said the Sepulveda Basin site and four other locations would create no significant adverse impacts on surrounding areas.

Nonetheless, Swift and other opponents urged the Board of Public Works to keep the Sepulveda Basin site closed.

Bill Jasper, president of the Encino Property Owners Assn., called the location of a septic waste site in the basin an “outrageous act” and urged the board to use other locations.

“We feel there are many other sites in Los Angeles that can be used for this purpose,” he said.

Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents the basin, said it was a mistake to build the facility there. But if it is to be used, he said, the city should limit the hours of operation and the number of trucks that can use the site.

To reduce the traffic impacts, city staff have recommended extending Hayvenhurst Avenue south into the basin to provide truck access to the dump site.

J.P. Ellman, president of the Board of Public Works, said she recommended the basin and the three other sites so that the facilities would not be concentrated in one area of the city.

But she said she also made the recommendations so that the city can close the other three dump sites, which are in city streets and near neighborhoods where children play.

“This is a matter of public health and welfare,” she said.

The board considered adopting fees for the septic waste haulers but delayed a final decision due to concerns that low-income residents with septic tanks won’t be able to afford an increase in the fees.