Critics Assail Mailer Urging Landfill Expansion

A month before the city Planning Commission considers the expansion of Sunshine Canyon Landfill, the dump’s operator has warned 60,000 San Fernando Valley residents of potential tax increases and city service cuts if the project is not approved.

Denounced by critics as a scare tactic, the full-color mailer by Browning Ferris Industries asserts that the expansion of the landfill onto 494 adjacent acres in Granada Hills is essential to keeping down the city’s cost of trash disposal.

“This decision will have an effect on the level of services that the city can provide and how our tax dollars are spent,” wrote Daniel Tempelis, district vice president for BFI, in a letter reprinted in the eight-page brochure, which went out last week.

Trash services in Los Angeles are paid for by the city’s taxpayer-supported general fund, notes the mailer, which cost BFI about $50,000. “Increased trash disposal costs could reduce the city’s ability to provide other essential services, such as police and fire protection, libraries, recreational facilities, park programs, street repairs and street lighting,” according to the mailer.

Critics of the expansion proposal, including City Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents Granada Hills, said the mailer exaggerates the impact of a denial of the project.

“This is typical B.S. propaganda trying to influence the public,” Bernson said. “We don’t have to truck trash out of the area. They have plenty of room in the county portion of the landfill. It’s not going to increase taxes.”

Bernson and many homeowners in the north San Fernando Valley oppose the expansion, citing its proximity to homes, and impact on air pollution and truck traffic.

“It would be within 1,700 feet of homes,” said Mary Edwards of the North Valley Coalition, a group of area homeowners.

The city Planning Commission will meet Feb. 25 at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys to consider a General Plan amendment changing 494 acres owned by BFI in Granada Hills from a designation of open space to industrial uses.

About 194 acres of the property would be used as a landfill, with other sections devoted to a buffer zone and roads, city planners said. An adjacent area within the city limits was used as a dump until about 1990; a second adjacent area, just outside city boundaries, is now being used for trash disposal under permits issued by Los Angeles County.

The expansion would allow BFI to increase the amount of trash dumped at its landfill from 6,000 tons per day to 11,000 tons per day, according to Jim Aidukas, director of environmental affairs for BFI.

The brochure states that other area dumps, including Lopez Canyon Landfill and BKK Landfill have closed in recent years, creating a need for alternative disposal options.

It costs about $19 per ton to dispose of trash at Sunshine Canyon, versus $35.50 per ton in Lancaster, $40 per ton to truck it to Arizona and more than $50 per ton to send it by rail to Arizona, Aidukas said.

“The message we wanted to get out [with the mailer], is this is a good site that will keep rates down,” he said.

But Bernson said the BFI landfill has space in the county portion of its dump for another million tons of trash, so it will not cost more for the city if the expansion is rejected by the Planning Commission.

He said the expansion of the landfill west of the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeway interchange would mean neighboring residential neighborhoods would be subjected to dust and blowing trash, and the landfill could threaten city water supplies at nearby Van Norman Reservoir.

“It’s just a terrible place to put a landfill,” Bernson said.

Some of the same concerns were cited when the city decided in 1990 to shut down part of the landfill that operated within city limits, Bernson said.

The county has allowed BFI to expand operations in the county portion of the landfill, which Bernson said is sufficient to handle the immediate demand for dump space for Los Angeles.

“If they have concerns, people should come out and see the site,” Aidukas said. “It doesn’t affect the neighbors.”

Edwards said she was frustrated by the well-financed campaign in favor of the expansion.

“It’s the power of money to persuade that we’re up against,” she said.

Opponents are planning their own counter-measures, including a “people’s alternative” public hearing to provide an opportunity for testimony not allowed during the 20 minutes given to the public during an Oct. 29 planning hearing.

Edwards said anyone can speak during the alternative hearing to be held Feb. 17 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Van Gogh Elementary School in Granada Hills.

“We’re going to tape record all of the testimony and give it to the Planning Commission,” Edwards said.