State Panel Approves Tripling Size of Landfill to 9.3 Acres

Overcoming protests from the city of Oxnard, Ivy Lawn Cemetery and other neighbors about additional traffic, noise and foul odors, a state trash board gave Gold Coast Recycling the go-ahead to triple the size of its rapidly filling landfill.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board approved the expansion--to a total of 9.3 acres--Nov. 20 after almost a year of deliberations.

The board, which oversees landfills in the state, is made up of six members appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson.

Already the biggest trash-recycling outfit in Ventura County, Gold Coast now collects about 440 tons of trash daily. The expansion will enable the company to eventually handle as much as 1,500 tons. But Nan Drake, Gold Coast’s public relations director, was quick to address fears that more garbage would instantly come flooding into Ventura.

“A permit is what you’ve got,” Drake said. “We are not anywhere near that [1,500-ton limit] amount. And we are not going anywhere to find more trash. . . . This will be the same trash we have been handling.”

Ivy Lawn Cemetery, which sits next to the site of the planned expansion, had threatened to sue Gold Coast. But Drake said that all the possible lawsuits had been settled.