Plans for city landfill spark area scrutiny

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Regional and state waste management officials expect to finish a draft environmental impact report this year on a possible expansion of Scholl Canyon Landfill, and neighboring residents are eagerly awaiting its findings.

The 40-day window for submitting public comments on a preliminary environmental study closes in less than two weeks — more than a year after the City Council appropriated $750,000 for the study.

Without an expansion, the landfill is forecast to reach its capacity and close in 2020.

At stake for Glendale are millions of dollars in annual revenue in the form of landfill tipping fees and the luxury of not having to pay market rates to dispose of municipal waste.

But for Glenoaks Canyon residents, the two expansion alternatives may take the impact of living near a landfill too far.

“Most people are lucky enough not to have a landfill in their own backyard,” said Joan Morris, president of the Glenoaks Canyon Homeowners Assn. “Residents in Glenoaks Canyon, unfortunately, do have a landfill in our own backyards, and we will be vigilant to make sure that the landfill does not impact our lives in a negative way.”

One proposal to be studied in the draft environmental impact report would expand the landfill’s elevation 175 feet, producing an extra 11 million cubic yards of capacity — enough room for 5 million tons of trash, according to the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, the lead agency preparing the report.

That plan would add 12 years to the life of the landfill, according to the agency.

An alternative would also add 200 horizontal feet to the project area, increasing capacity by an extra 3 million cubic yards — or enough room for 6 million tons of waste — and add an additional three years to the landfill’s extended life span.

“There will be more visibility from the west and remote locations to the east, so that’s something we’ll certainly be evaluating the aesthetics of,” said Charles Boehmke, head of planning for the county sanitation districts.

In either case, the expansion would come replete with trees and landscaping to reduce the visual impact, he said.

Although engineers are still in the early stages of preparing the draft environmental impact report, nearby residents are concerned about what the eventual effects of an expansion of an already dominant landfill will mean for their neighborhood.

The project could have a potentially significant impact on air and water quality, wildlife, aesthetics, traffic and other environmental issues, according to a preliminary checklist for the environmental report.

They are all quality-of-life issues that the Glenoaks Canyon Homeowners Assn. will examine when the report is finally prepared, Morris said.

But the alternative of non-expansion would certainly have a citywide effect, City Manager Jim Starbird said.

Of the $8 million that the landfill is expected to generate for the city this year, nearly $3 million will be transferred to the city’s general fund to support civic services, and about $3.5 million will go toward capital improvement projects, he said.

State law also requires the city set aside an average $1.5 million annually to prepare for post-landfill closure maintenance, he added.

Without the landfill, not only would Glendale lose that income, it would also have to pay to haul its waste somewhere else on the open market, he said.

Those benefits — in addition to the methane gas the landfill produces for the city’s Grayson Power Plant — are not lost on the homeowners association.

“A landfill is a necessary evil in our society,” Morris said. “I think [Scholl Canyon] is as energy-conscious as it can be for a landfill.”

Concerned neighbors won’t be the only group weighing in on the environmental report’s findings. To proceed with any expansion, the report must be approved by five state and county environmental agencies, which will likely extend the process into 2009, Starbird said.

“There’s a very long road ahead to get an expansion approved,” he said.

 JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.