Dump Report Review Period Extended

Neighbors of Chiquita Canyon Landfill near Santa Clarita have won an extra 90 days to review the draft environmental impact report for expanding the dump, a proposed tenfold expansion that some leaders hope could one day accommodate western Ventura County’s trash.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved expanding the public review period to 180 days after several residents told the board that the original 90 days allotted for formulating a response to the report was not near enough.

“This just isn’t enough time to review this massive project,” Ruth Griffin, president of the Val Verde Civic Assn., told the supervisors. “[The extension] is only fair because of the effect this is going to have on our community. This report took many years to complete.”

Jeff Kolin, Santa Clarita’s deputy city manager, said his city had not had time to review the report either. “We want 90 days so we can look at, and analyze any potential impact on our community,” he said.

Some Ventura County leaders have looked toward the expansion project as an alternative to developing a new landfill in the west county. With Bailard landfill in Oxnard expected to close sometime next year, the cities west of the Conejo Grade have no firm plan for dumping their trash.

Representatives from Chiquita Canyon, just across the L.A. County line on California 126, have offered to take the trash into an expanded landfill.

But the proposed expansion has generated widespread opposition in the Santa Clarita Valley. Originally, the 592-acre dump was scheduled to close in 1997. The expansion would extend its life to at least 2005.

The draft environmental report said that enlarging the dump would significantly worsen local air quality and flatten ridgelines.

Laidlaw Waste Systems, the dump’s operator, applied for a county permit to expand the landfill in 1989.

Two public hearings will be scheduled for citizens to discuss the proposed dump expansion, which must ultimately be approved by the county Board of Supervisors.