Public Works Board OKs Cutting 940 Oaks for Valley Dump

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved a landfill operator’s request to cut down 940 mature oak trees to make room to expand the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills.

The approval was one of the last hurdles to develop a 450-acre landfill operated by Browning-Ferris Industries within Los Angeles city limits. The existing landfill occupies 1,100 acres in unincorporated territory in the north San Fernando Valley.

Under the plan, all trees would be cut down at the expansion site and twice as many new trees would be planted elsewhere.

The size, health and location of most of the coast live oak trees would prevent their relocation, however a dozen trees in good condition would be transplanted at nearby parks.

Younger coast live oak trees would be planted in a 100-acre buffer zone between the landfill and a residential area, according to the report. Those trees would be tagged, mapped, identified and assessed for size, condition, health and vigor by the landfill operator and Street Tree Division inspectors.

Federal and state law stipulates that the earliest the trees can be removed from the site is Aug. 31, the end of the nesting bird breeding season.

At the City Hall meeting Wednesday, representatives of several environmental groups voiced their opposition to the staff recommendation, contending that removing the aged oaks would destroy a significant ecological habitat and eliminate a buffer against the effects of air pollution.

After the session, Wayde Hunter, president of the North Valley Coalition, which opposes the dump expansion, lamented the board’s decision.

“It will be 75 years until you get to the point where the new trees equal what is there now,” he said. “We are losing an immense amount of oak trees with this project and with other developments in north Los Angeles County.”

BFI, a subsidiary of Allied Waste Industries, initially had sought permission to remove 510 oak trees based on surveys conducted in 1995 and 1997, officials said. However, a second count conducted last month determined that the number of trees had increased to 940, a discrepancy attributed to an undercount in the previous survey, officials said.

The project is now expected to receive permits from the state Department of Fish and Game and the Army Corps of Engineers. However, approval of the project in December by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board is being challenged at the state level.