CRITICS: LANDFILL EXPANSE STINKS.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

SUN VALLEY - Dozens of residents railed Thursday against the proposed Bradley Landfill expansion, saying Sun Valley has shouldered the city's trash burden far too long.

As city officials begin an environmental review of the proposed expansion, residents called for solutions to the thick clouds of dust in the neighborhood, the rumbling diesel trash trucks through pot-holed residential streets and the increasing number of asthma and allergy sufferers in the community.

Waste Management Inc. wants to raise the landfill's height 43 feet and increase its capacity by 10 percent - an expansion the company says is temporarily necessary to preserve jobs as it closes the dump in April 2007 and builds a transfer station to sort out recyclables and ship garbage elsewhere for disposal if Mayor James Hahn fulfills his promise to get rid of urban landfills.

Residents said the expansion will simply add to the mess they will have to live with forever.

``It's not a temporary expansion of the landfill, it's permanent,'' said Ron Johnson of Van Nuys, who was one of 70 residents who attended the meeting at Sun Valley Middle School. ``It will be there for the rest of our lives.''

Representatives of Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez, D-San Fernando, City Council President Alex Padilla and Hahn all spoke against the expansion.

``I have serious concerns about the basic siting of the landfill in an increasingly urban area,'' Hahn said in a statement read at the meeting.

The hearing, called a scoping meeting, was held to collect concerns for city officials and Waste Management consultants to study as they develop an environmental impact report.

Many residents made impassioned pleas to close the dump.

A handful of Waste Management supporters raised concerns about the job losses, economic impacts and illegal dumping that could occur if the landfill is closed in the coming year.

Waste Management must complete a environmental impact report analyzing the project's effect on the region's air, water, traffic and aesthetics.

Written public comments are being collected through May 23.

The large turnout was due to more than 31,000 notification letters mailed to residents living within three miles of the Sun Valley dump, as requested by city leaders. It cost Waste Management more than $30,000 and is the largest public-meeting mailing the city has required.

The meeting was originally set for December and the city sent out notices only to residents living within 500 feet of the dump.

Neighbors and City Council members complained there was too little public notification, considering the size and impact of the project.

Waste Management and city planners agreed to reschedule the hearing, expand the notification area and send out letters in English and Spanish.

Bradley Landfill has operated in Sun Valley since 1958 and has outlasted all other city landfills, with the exception of Sunshine Canyon Landfill near Granada Hills.

Bradley is almost full and will likely close this year if the expansion is not approved.

Written comments on possible environmental impacts of the proposed expansion can be sent to Jimmy Liao, project coordinator, Los Angeles Department of City Planning, 200 N. Spring St., Suite 763, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

CAPTION(S):

map

Map:

Bradley Landfill