City Rejects Offer to Settle Suit Over Sunshine Canyon

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday rejected a settlement of a lawsuit challenging the expansion of Sunshine Canyon Landfill, but agreed to give further consideration to health concerns over the dump.

The North Valley Coalition had offered to drop its lawsuit if the city agreed to order a study of the dump’s health implications for surrounding neighborhoods. The residents also wanted the city to keep the dump 50 feet below a ridgeline in the portion that lies within Los Angeles, and asked for an analysis of alternatives, such as taking trash to the desert by rail.

The council rejected the offer on a 10-3 vote, with Councilmen Hal Bernson and Dennis Zine, who represent parts of the Valley, joined by Councilman Nate Holden in favoring an agreement.

“I was disappointed, but I won’t say I was surprised,” said Bernson, adding that a majority of his colleagues rejected the same requests from the coalition in 1999 when the council approved expansion of the landfill into Granada Hills from an unincorporated area of the county.

“This has been the trend of the council, not to care that much about the San Fernando Valley,” Bernson said.

A Superior Court judge has dismissed the coalition’s lawsuit, but it has been appealed.

The council authorized its attorneys to negotiate a counterproposal that might offer more air-quality monitoring in the area, but such a deal would fall far short of the comprehensive health study the coalition requested. In approving the expansion in 1999, the council relied on a university study that found no significant increases in cancer near Valley landfills. At the time, the council agreed to monitor air quality at nearby Van Gogh Street Elementary School.

Arnie Berghoff, a spokesman for landfill operator Browning Ferris Industries, said the council was right to reject the settlement.

Coalition members “have lost in court, and they have minimal chance of winning on appeal,” Berghoff said. The council looked at health issues in 1999 and at alternative dumping locations, officials said. But Wayde Hunter, president of the North Valley Coalition, said those analyses were superficial.

The current design for the landfill allows it to peak in 25 years just above a ridgeline overlooking neighborhoods, but mostly keeps trash below the ridgeline, Berghoff said. The coalition’s demand to keep the landfill 50 feet below the ridgeline might jeopardize a design that was approved with the aim of minimizing negative environmental effects, he added.

Browning Ferris hopes to begin work in the city part of the dump this summer.