Report Saying Dump Operator Has Met Conditions Is Criticized

Describing flying dust, increased traffic and littered roadways, Santa Clara Valley property owners Tuesday denounced a county staff report that indicates that the operator of the Toland Road Landfill has met the requirements of its expansion permit.

About a dozen residents told county supervisors about the nuisances and hazards they have had to put up with since the landfill near Santa Paula began taking more truckloads of trash six months ago.

Also Tuesday, Santa Clara School District officials said they are working on plans to move the 100-year-old Little Red Schoolhouse, on California 126 near the landfill, because of increasingly heavy traffic on the roadway. And they said it is only going to get worse because of the 25,000-home Newhall Ranch development proposed in nearby Los Angeles County.

“It’s a very dangerous situation,” Supt. Tamera McCracken said. “This comes up in every one of our board meetings where parents are present.”

McCracken said she has been talking with Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R-Los Olivos), whose district includes the school site, to get state assistance for moving the building. The historic one-room school serves 34 students in the first through sixth grades.

“Everybody feels the same way I do,” McCracken said of the possible move. “It’s sad that it has to happen. But we certainly don’t want to see anybody killed.”

Increased traffic along California 126 was not the only concern raised Tuesday.

At the supervisors’ meeting, Gordon Kimball told officials that his avocado ranch was littered with about 2,000 pieces of wind-blown trash from the nearby dump during November and December, and that he has not been reimbursed for cleanup costs.

“We found toilet paper, trash bags and bank ledger sheets,” Kimball said later. “We have never had this before in the 25 years that the landfill has been there. Like any industrial operation, we would like them to keep their operation on their property.”

He said landowners will continue to demand that county officials hold the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, the public agency that operates the dump, accountable for nuisance problems created by the landfill.

“We will not give up,” Kimball said. “We will not go away. Our farms, our heritage and our land is to important to us.”

Mark Zirbel, an attorney for the sanitation district, said the district is willing to work with Kimball and others to resolve any problems. But he stressed that the landfill operator has met all of its permit requirements as noted in the county staff report.

“We are gratified that the county staff has investigated all complaints and concluded that the landfill is operating in compliance with every permit condition,” he said.

Zirbel also dismissed allegations that Newhall Land & Farming Co., the developer planning a massive housing project in Los Angeles County, had contacted the sanitation district about possibly shipping trash to Toland. He noted that the district had agreed not to take any more trash from outside the county as part of the conditions of its expansion permit.

“As far as I’m concerned, we would be prohibited from taking it,” he said.

In addition, Zirbel said the sanitation district is willing to provide some financial assistance to move the Little Red Schoolhouse if the district decides that is what it wants to do.

Despite the findings of the county staff report, Supervisor Kathy Long said she had serious questions about whether sanitation officials are doing all they can to control dust and other environmental problems.

And Supervisor John K. Flynn, one of three supervisors who supported the landfill expansion, also expressed concerns about the accuracy of the county staff report. He said the landfill’s expansion permit could be revoked if problems with the dump’s neighbors persist.

Long, whose district includes the landfill, said she would be willing to work with property owners and the landfill operator to resolve the problems. But Long later acknowledged that she would have to “tread lightly” in such negotiations because of a pending lawsuit.

The cities of Fillmore and Santa Paula, the Santa Clara School District and surrounding property owners filed a joint lawsuit against the county and Regional Sanitation District over the adequacy of the landfill expansion’s environmental impact report.

The lawsuit was submitted shortly after the supervisors approved a tenfold expansion of the Toland Road Landfill last summer following closure of Bailard Landfill in Oxnard. Toland is now receiving about 1,200 tons of trash a day, but it is permitted to accept up to 1,500 tons for the next 30 years.

The case is expected to go to court by the end of the year.