Walnut : Waste-by-Rail Site Opposed

City officials have notified the county Sanitation Districts that they support the concept of transporting waste to the desert by rail, but not if the waste transfer station is within a half-mile of homes in Walnut.

In a letter sent to the county Sanitation Districts last week, City Manager Linda Holmes expressed the City Council’s concern about a report by the Southern California Assn. of Governments (SCAG), which identified a 36-acre parcel in Industry as “perhaps the most promising site for a loading yard.”

Holmes wrote in the letter that council members are worried about the odors and increased traffic that could result if the station were located at the site, less than half a mile from residential areas in Walnut and Diamond Bar.

“Although the City Council supports the study of innovative alternative methods of disposing of waste, the council feels it is inappropriate to construct a major waste transfer station within a half mile of a residential area,” Holmes wrote to Sanitation Districts engineer Charles Carry.

County sanitation officials have set a May 31 deadline for plans to be submitted for a waste-by-rail transfer station. The city of Walnut has asked that a thorough environmental impact report be prepared if the Industry site is to be seriously considered.