Planners Reject Landfill Request

Ventura County planning commissioners turned down a request Thursday to increase the amount of trash dumped in the Toland landfill near Santa Paula after a dozen people protested the proposal.

Immediately after the unanimous vote, officials from the Ventura Regional Sanitation District vowed to appeal the decision to the Board of Supervisors.

“We fully expected this to happen,” said Bill Smith, general manager of the district, a public agency that owns and operates the 124-acre dump. “We knew this would eventually end up before the Board of Supervisors.”

Steve Onstot, a farmer who owns property near Toland, was among the residents who expressed outrage over the proposal. Under the operator’s plan, Toland would expand from 15 to 65 tons a day the amount of trash accepted from Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County.

Onstot said allowing the increase would begin a dangerous trend.

“Hell, this is a political issue of significant importance,” an angry Onstot told commissioners. “I mean, good God, folks, we don’t know what we’re going to end up with here.”

He and others noted a Toland report that showed the dump was already receiving garbage from areas in Santa Barbara County outside Carpinteria. Landfill officials contended that the report--written by Harrison Industries, which hauls the trash from Santa Barbara County to Toland--was incorrect.

District officials want an increase because they say the tonnage listed on the dump’s permit for Carpinteria was unrealistically low and a clerical mistake. Instead of reading 15 tons, the permit was supposed to read 50 tons, landfill officials say.

Under its permits, the landfill may not accept trash from a city outside Ventura County other than Carpinteria. The beach town, with a population of 14,500, was already using the landfill when the 30-year permit was issued nearly three years ago, so an exception was made.

Before casting their votes, several commissioners chided Toland and Harrison officials for failing to monitor the amount of tonnage received from Carpinteria, which landfill officials admit routinely exceeds 15 tons.

“I’m very concerned that monitoring hasn’t been taking place, and they’ve exceeded the 15-ton limit,” Commissioner Daryl Reynolds said. “It’s mind-boggling to me.”