COUNTY PANEL ENDORSES LANCASTER LANDFILL GROWTH.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

A plan to nearly triple the size of the Lancaster Landfill moved a step closer to reality Wednesday when the Los Angeles County Planning Commission tentatively approved the project, and directed staff to prepare its final findings and conditions for a permit.

Waste Management Inc. seeks to expand the landfill from 102 acres to 276 acres and to increase its daily intake limit from 1,000 tons of trash to 1,700.

The landfill, at 600 E. Ave. F, also would be allowed to accept 10 tons of sewer sludge every day and to handle asbestos, a suspected carcinogen.

No date was set for when the permit would go back before the commission for final approval.

``We tentatively approved it, but we're working on some conditions,'' said Commissioner Pat Russell.

Among the conditions the commission would like to see include having Waste Management cap off the existing landfill as soon as possible, replanting the area with native plants, and establishing a community advisory panel to deal with problems, Russell said.

The permit would extend the life of the landfill through the year 2010. The permit application also requests extending the hours of operation from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday to 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Waste Management revised its request to pile trash another 25 feet higher than what is now permitted. Under the revised request, it asked to raise the top of the dump 5 feet above the current limit, which is about 78 feet above the surrounding terrain.

The permit application is raising concerns among members of the environmental group High Desert Citizens Against Pollution, who believe the expansion would put Waste Management in a position to bid to bring waste from outside the Antelope Valley.

The landfill accepts at the most 600 tons a day, below the already permitted level of 1,000 tons.

The 1,700 tons a day figure was derived by estimating the Antelope Valley's growth going into the early part of the next century, officials said.

While the landfill has accepted waste for Los Angeles, Edwards Air Force Base and San Bernardino County, the increased tonnage request is to handle local growth, Waste Management officials said.

The Lancaster Landfill was permitted to accept trash imported for El Cajon in 1994 over objections from environmental groups about the impact on traffic and air pollution, and groundwater quality. The landfill has not accepted any El Cajon trash for over a year.

Another concern raised by High Desert Citizens Against Pollution is the acceptance of sewer sludge. If the landfill is to accept sludge, the citizens group wants to make sure that Lancaster is not accepting wastes from other areas.

The landfill has accepted small amounts of sludge in the past, Waste Management officials said. The sludge has come from the Lancaster sewage treatment plant and only on an occasional basis.