Decision on Landfill Is Disputed

Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro ordered an updated analysis of the costs of dumping the city’s trash Tuesday, but rejected efforts to delay a final vote on a controversial proposal to expand a landfill in Granada Hills for more than a week.

After a sharp exchange of words with Councilman Joel Wachs, a landfill opponent, Ferraro’s order headed off, at least temporarily, demands by Wachs and others for a longer delay. The council favored the landfill on a 9-5 vote on Oct. 26; final action is scheduled for Tuesday.

Unless the council reverses itself, Browning-Ferris Industries will be allowed to accept 55 million tons of trash at Sunshine Canyon dump during the next 26 years.

Wachs failed in a bid Tuesday to indefinitely delay expansion of Sunshine Canyon until another survey of alternative landfill operators could be made. Wachs’ motion could not be considered because, Ferraro ruled, the council president had already delayed the final vote until next Tuesday.

“It doesn’t preclude discussion,” Wachs objected. “You are wrong, John, and you know it.”

Afterward, an infuriated Wachs charged that Ferraro had acted improperly and was putting the interest of the landfill’s lobbyists over the health concerns of people living near the facility.

“It’s the most outrageous thing I have ever seen,” Wachs said. “I am so [expletive] mad. It’s just arrogance of power. It’s the classic case of big money talking. It’s just doing the bidding of the lobbyists.”

“He [Ferraro] had every right to disagree with the motion but no right to stop it from being discussed,” Wachs added. “The process is so sleazy that it almost becomes more important than the substance of the issue.”

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Key backers of the Sunshine Canyon expansion, including Ferraro and City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, said they are willing to consider any new information on whether cheaper alternatives exist for dumping Los Angeles’ trash, but they want to move ahead with the zone change as a separate land-use issue.

One-third of the trash to be dumped at Sunshine Canyon would be collected by the city. More is generated by commercial haulers, and other communities.

The dump operated near the proposed site from 1958 to 1991, when it shut down. BFI has continued to operate the dump on adjacent land across the boundary line in Los Angeles County.

“I support looking at other alternatives and the cost of disposing of city trash,” said Miscikowski, who represents portions of the south Valley. “I don’t know that that necessarily negates the need of Sunshine Canyon. The land use issues stand on their own.”

Ferraro agreed.

“If we could figure out where to put our trash without using Sunshine Canyon I would be happy to do that,” Ferraro said.

Ron Deaton, the council’s chief legislative analyst, said later that the report ordered from him by Ferraro is expected to show that the least expensive alternative to using Sunshine Canyon, trucking the trash out to Lancaster, would cost the city about $8.4 million extra annually.

That information was discussed last week when the council first voted to approve the expansion.

Opponents of the expansion say that taking trash by rail to a landfill near San Bernardino would add only $4 million annually to the city’s disposal costs.

But Deaton told the council last week and reiterated Tuesday that the distant landfill’s operators have been unwilling to commit to the price. Deaton also said that San Bernardino County policy currently prevents the distant landfill from accepting trash from out of the county. Gerry Newcombe, who oversees landfills in San Bernardino County, confirmed that the county does not accept trash from outside the county, except for small cities along the county line.

The majority of the council has said that any additional costs for taking the city’s trash out of the city would pose a hardship for many residents.

Wachs said Deaton’s one-week study is not enough. There should be new competitive bids, he said.

The city last sought competitive bids for its trash disposal in 1996, when the operators of Sunshine Canyon and the Bradley Landfill turned in by far the lowest bids, half as much as Waste Management Inc. bid to accept trash at its landfill in Lancaster.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area and has long opposed the dump’s expansion, said he believes it would be worth the wait to get a more accurate picture of the costs.

“They are just playing guessing games about what the actual cost is. They don’t know,” Bernson said.

But Arnie Berghoff, a spokesman for BFI, said the city has done a detailed analysis of alternatives so the proposal by Wachs is “unnecessary.”

Mary Edwards of the North Valley Coalition, which opposes the expansion, welcomed even the one-week delay to study changes made to the ordinance approving the zone change.

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Some opponents are already lobbying Mayor Richard Riordan to veto the ordinance. But Riordan earlier this year approved an amendment to the city’s General Plan, its growth policy, to allow for the development of the landfill.

In an interview Tuesday, Riordan said he is still studying the matter and has not yet decided whether he will sign or veto the zone-change ordinance.

Asked if he is aware of concerns voiced by neighboring residents of the landfill about traffic, dust and health issues, Riordan said, “We will weigh everything.”