Judge Orders Board to Review OK on Landfill

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ordered the Board of Supervisors to reconsider its approval of a zoning permit to expand the Chiquita Canyon Landfill.

Judge Paul Boland issued a 22-page ruling Monday, saying the supervisors failed to properly consider the environmental impact of sedimentation basins needed for the expansion. The basins prevent landfill-tainted water and silt from fouling the local water supply and environment.

Boland said the proposal’s environmental impact report does not address the basins, even though construction of the basins will require the removal of about 36,000 cubic yards of earth.

Proposed expansion of the facility, which is near the unincorporated community of Val Verde, has pitted environmentalists and neighbors against landfill operators and the county. If completed, it would more than double capacity of the landfill through 2019, adding space for 23 million new tons of trash.

The landfill’s operator, Chiquita Canyon Landfill Inc., is seeking permission to use 103 acres of the property’s 592-acre landfill.

Both sides claimed victory last month when Boland issued a tentative ruling ordering reconsideration of the expansion by the Board of Supervisors. Dump operators called the ruling a temporary setback.

“Obviously there are questions to be answered,” said Joel Moskowitz, the attorney for landfill opponents who brought a lawsuit against the expansion last year. “It’s really satisfying that at least the Board of Supervisors will look at it again.”

Jim Arnone, an attorney for the dump, said he had not seen the ruling and could not comment.

Last May, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the zoning permit needed for expansion of the dump.

In exchange for the expansion, the landfill has agreed to make annual payments to a community fund. The payments begin at $250,000 a year, increasing to $280,000 by 2019.

Residents are split on the issue. Opponents have joined forces with Clean Water Action, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, which has joined the lawsuit.

Debate over the expansion dates to 1989, when Laidlaw Waste Systems Inc. applied for a permit. The landfill now belongs to USA Waste Inc. and is operated by the firm’s subsidiary, Chiquita Canyon Landfill Inc.