Planner Backs Sunshine Canyon Dump Expansion

Sunshine Canyon Landfill should expand into 494 acres in Granada Hills, but only gradually with reviews to make sure the dump is not a nuisance to neighbors, a city official has recommended.

R. Nicolas Brown, a hearing examiner for the city Planning Department, also recommended that landfill operator Browning-Ferris Industries be required to maintain a 100-acre buffer zone between the dump and residential areas to the south.

The Los Angeles Planning Commission next Thursday will consider the report, which quickly drew criticism from some neighbors of the site.

“We’re discouraged,” said Mary Edwards of the North Valley Coalition. “We had hoped they would have scaled it back. Nobody wants to live next to a landfill of this magnitude.”

“I’m very disappointed,” said City Councilman Hal Bernson, who has consistently opposed expansion. “Unfortunately, it looks like we’re getting this shoved down our throat again.”

BFI can live with most of the conditions, said a company spokesman. Proponents assert that expansion is essential to provide a place for Los Angeles to dump its trash after the closure of Lopez Canyon and other landfills.

“If you look at the region, we’re one of the last close-in landfills in the area,” said Chris Funk, an attorney for BFI.

Sunshine Canyon straddles the city/county border in the north San Fernando Valley. BFI already has county permission to dump 6,000 tons of refuse daily in the county portion of the property.

If approved, the zoning changes from open space to heavy industrial would allow the firm to dump an additional 5,000 tons per day in the city portion of the landfill, accessible from San Fernando Road.

Of the 494 acres subject to plan changes, 194 acres would be used for actual trash disposal, with the rest designated for buffer areas, roads and support services. BFI operated a landfill on a portion of the acreage until 1991 when the city shut it down out of concern for residents of the area.

Brown’s recommendation is based on environmental study that sets 200 conditions to reduce the effect of traffic, noise, dust and air pollution.

Even so, the environmental impact report said significant problems of dust and air pollution will remain.

“I think we’re going to be railroaded on this one,” Edwards said, adding that the project can be appealed to the City Council, where Bernson can fight it.

Brown said in an interview that he has walked the site and is convinced the concerns of neighbors based on the previous landfill operation will be addressed by the new operation.

“They [BFI] have gotten their act together,” Brown said. “From the number of times I’ve been out there and the mitigation measures that are proposed, I have concluded that there are few impacts to the surrounding community.”

Brown’s recommendation would allow BFI to dump 55 million tons of trash in the city portion of the landfill during the next 26 years but, in response to neighbors’ concerns, he proposed that it be done in two phases.

BFI would be allowed to dispose of 16 million tons on 72 acres in the first phase, which should take about five years, Brown said. When the first phase is completed, the Planning Department will conduct a review of the operation with six years to make sure it complies with conditions set by the city and other regulatory agencies, Brown said.

Bernson said the conditions are insufficient.

Conditions include limits on the tonnage dumped daily and hours of operation, including a requirement that the landfill be closed on Sunday.

BFI will also be required to maintain a 100-acre buffer zone that contains 10,000 trees. On the rest of the property, the permit restricts the removal of oak trees.

The landfill will be sited in a canyon area not visible from residential areas, Brown said.

BFI officials say the alternative is to ship trash out of the area to Lancaster and beyond, which could double or triple the cost of disposing of waste.

The Planning Commission meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Airtel Hotel in Van Nuys.