Landfill Expansion Plan Heading for Council Vote

A proposal for expansion of the Sunshine Canyon landfill onto city property in Granada Hills chugged its way through another hurdle Tuesday.

A City Council planning panel voted 2 to 1 to accept the proposal, meaning the entire council is set to vote on it Sept. 14.

The Planning and Land Use Management Committee gave its approval to send the proposal to the City Council but also agreed to consider changes that take into account the concerns of a vocal group of residents, and to consider adding their suggestions to alter the development at next week’s committee meeting.

The landfill proposal, given the go-ahead by the Planning Commission in February, would allow Sunshine Canyon’s operator, Browning-Ferris Industries, to operate a 494-acre dump within half a mile of residential neighborhoods in Granada Hills. The fill, which BFI says would operate for 25 years, would add to Sunshine Canyon’s 216-acre dump already being operated on the Los Angeles County side of the same swath of land.

In its approval, the committee amended the original proposal at the request of the city Bureau of Sanitation and Environmental Affairs.

The amendments provide for additional air and water monitoring of the dump, ask that BFI use trucks with alternative fuels, call for planting hundreds of trees around the site to shield neighborhoods, call for the city to take the lead role in overseeing the site, and ask that a study be done on converting landfill gases to fuel.

The landfill proposal could face further changes next week when the committee will hear detailed suggestions from the North Valley Coalition, a group of Granada Hills residents who turned out in force at the meeting to show their strong opposition.