ANNEXATION MAY IMPEDE PLAN FOR DUMP.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

The city is preparing to annex 537 acres in Whitney Canyon that area leaders say could help in the battle to prevent Los Angeles County from putting a landfill in Elsmere Canyon.

The city's prezoning for the property, known as Whitney Canyon Ranch, would allow for open space and a maximum of 185 homes on two-acre lots, city Associate Planner Laura Stotler said. In the coming weeks, the City Council will consider the prezoning, which is required before annexation proceedings.

The prezoning jibes with the city General Plan, which designates 373.5 acres for residential estates and 163.5 acres in Angeles National Forest jurisdiction as open space.

Although the development company, ARM, is in the process of buying the property and has requested the annexation, the company has not presented plans to build on the land, Stotler said.

That doesn't bother city officials, however.

Bringing any land into city control that borders Elsmere Canyon is a benefit to the community, council members said.

``Proximity is everything,'' said Mayor Jan Heidt.

Added Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy, ``We would have more say-so on the greenbelt, on development there. It would be easier for us to protect the environment.''

Dump opponents lost a battle in January when the county Board of Supervisors approved a state waste management plan that included Elsmere as a future dump site.

Browning-Ferris Industries, which owns 1,200 acres in Elsmere, still would have to submit an application to develop the landfill.

Area leaders, meanwhile, have been taking steps to eliminate the threat and have watched proceedings surrounding Elsmere carefully.

State Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster, proposed a bill in March that would have added Whitney and Elsmere canyons to the Rim of the Valley Corridor, a valuable swath of mountain ranges from Moorpark to Sierra Madre overseen by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Runner and area leaders who supported the bill, which was defeated, saw the designation as an opportunity to bring attention to the land and its environmental significance. In addition, it would have permitted the conservancy to purchase land in those areas if park money became available.

Though Runner's bill failed, city leaders have made it clear that bringing neighboring Whitney Canyon land into city control could help in battling the dump.

The county could face more public opposition if land surrounding the proposed dump is turned into a recreation and nature preservation area, some have said.

``We want all that. We want to have a greenbelt, and there can be homes and development,'' Darcy said. ``The open space would make great parkland and a great recreation area.''

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MAP: Whitney Ranch site