DUMP DEBATE IS BREWING GROUP CLAIMS LANDFILL PUTS TOWN AT RISK.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

VAL VERDE - The Val Verde Civic Association has charged that both the county and the Chiquita Canyon Landfill have failed to enforce the mitigations placed on the landfill, which has applied to double its trash volume.

In a seven-page letter to the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, the community group concluded that monitoring and other restrictions placed on the dump in 1997 as part of a previous expansion are loosely - if ever - enforced, and officials should oppose further enlargement.

``The administrative agencies blame the government for failure to provide sufficient scientific instrumentation and manpower needs,'' stated the letter, dated Jan. 29.

``Our official elected representatives ... should realize their limitations via monitoring and corrections and join us in seeking closure of a landfill that is an unmitigable risk to the health and safety of the community.''

County planner Rick Kuo said Wednesday the letter has been forward to CH2MHill, a private firm that is preparing an environmental impact report required by state law in reviewing the proposed landfill expansion. A draft is expected later this year.

Landfill spokesman Josh Gertler maintained that the dump - situated in a canyon southeast of the semirural town of 1,500 - has overall complied with its operating permit, except for several isolated slides caused by rain. The landfill also was hit by nuisance odor violations, some of which have been settled.

``Chiquita Canyon is in full compliance with its conditional-use permit,'' he said. ``The CUP governs the operations of the landfill, including monitoring, and we are in full compliance with that,'' he said.

``There is a process under way to produce an EIR which will study environmental issues associated with the proposed project ... a process which is just beginning, which includes public input.''

Association president James Stephens said the letter's conclusions are based on community forums and reviews of complaints and public records by the group's Residents Against Landfill Expansion - RALE - committee. He said he plans to build a legal and political strategy in the coming months to oppose the expansion.

``I see this letter only as a beginning dialogue on how to stop the landfill from expanding,'' Stephens said Wednesday.

The landfill - owned by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Republic Services - wants to add 33 million tons of trash capacity on top of the current limit of 23 million tons by extending the 257-acre working area to a total 355 acres. It has also applied for permits allowing treated sewage on the site.

Residents have made the landfill work for them. The civic association dropped opposition to a 1996 expansion when it struck a deal for the dump to finance a community benefits district at $250,000 a year until it closes - then projected for 2019, though officials now expect it would reach capacity in 2013.

The Community Benefits Funding Committee controls more than $1.2 million, which has financed parks, tutoring programs and bus passes for seniors.

But many residents now dread any further expansion by the dump - believed to be the source of a foul odor affecting parts of the town. Landfill officials have said the scent could come from septic tanks from nearby farm operations.

Attempts by both air-quality regulators and local groups to determine the odor's source have been inconclusive. In the letter, the association called the monitoring system ``inadequate.''

Paul Novak, planning deputy for 5th District county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said officials have arranged for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which monitors for gas and odors at the dump, to meet with local residents and address enforcement.

``There are allegations being made that the AQMD is not living up to its responsibility,'' he said. ``As the county supervisor for the area, the supervisor wants to make sure the AQMD is responsive.''

The letter also attacked the use of compost as covering material - the decomposition could create potentially toxic emissions.

The association asked government agencies to fund more thorough monitoring, and wants further conditions imposed on the landfill, including compensation for health testing for residents; a switch to dirt as the only permitted covering material and doubling the annual payout to the community from the dump's operators.

``The CBFC should have its award retroactively doubled as penalty, and that penalty should stay in effect throughout the duration of the landfill remaining open,'' the letter said. ``The community deserves compensation for the added risks it has suffered.''

``It's up to regulators to assess any penalties,'' Gertler said. ``The landfill is in full compliance to its conditional use permit.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com