HAHN'S LANDFILL PLEDGE MAYOR PROMISES SUNSHINE CANYON WILL CLOSE BY 2006.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Embracing a series of reforms, Mayor James Hahn insisted Wednesday that the city will stop hauling its trash to Sunshine Canyon Landfill within two years despite narrowing legal options, divisions in the City Council and growing concern in desert areas about becoming a dumping ground.

The mayor's promise came as he announced a stronger push for recycling among city departments, private trash haulers and apartment dwellers, while studying trash-conversion technologies - all recommendations included in a Landfill Oversight Committee report released Wednesday.

``My commitment is that at the end of the contract that this city has in 2006 that the city trucks won't be bringing their trash to the landfill in your neighborhood,'' Hahn told neighbors of the Granada Hills dump at a press conference.

But Hahn is facing increasing pressure from inside and outside Los Angeles to keep Sunshine Canyon Landfill operating and open to city trash.

Browning Ferris Industries is scheduled to make its third attempt today for a water permit needed to expand Sunshine Canyon Landfill into the city limits.

Four council members sent a letter urging the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to issue the water permit, the last major approval BFI needs to break ground for the expansion, which could be completed by summer.

Cindy Miscikowski, Jan Perry, Bernard C. Parks and Ed Reyes all signed the letter, calling the expanded landfill a ``much-needed public resource.''

But the five council members whose districts are centered in the San Fernando Valley sent another letter, arguing that the water board should deny the permit, in part, because the political makeup of the council has dramatically changed since the city approved a zone change in 1999 that allowed the landfill expansion.

Alex Padilla, Wendy Greuel, Dennis Zine, Tony Cardenas and Greig Smith signed the letter.

Smith, who wrote the letter and whose district includes the proposed expansion, said minority council support for Sunshine Canyon reinforces what supporters of Valley secession long contended: ``The other part of the city doesn't treat the Valley fairly.''

Also in recent weeks, critics have said the mayor's plan to stop using Sunshine Canyon Landfill would be too expensive and would penalize communities outside the city.

Councilman Tom LaBonge suggested that the city could save money by keeping its business at Sunshine Canyon and asked for a report on the cost of hauling Los Angeles' trash outside city limits.

Hahn said Wednesday that he's reviewed proposals by companies offering to truck city trash to landfills in Simi Valley, the Antelope Valley and Riverside County and that there's not a large increase in price.

``There's a very modest cost to wean ourselves off these landfills,'' he said. ``It is something we can afford.''

But opposition is growing in some areas to accepting the city's trash.

Residents in the Antelope Valley and Riverside County are organizing to oppose Los Angeles trash going to landfills in Lancaster, Palmdale and Corona. This week, the Corona-Norco Unified School District passed a resolution opposing the potential city use of El Sobrante Landfill and the Norco City Council was expected to approve a similar letter at its Wednesday night council meeting.

``To me it seems very presumptuous that the city of Los Angeles thinks they should be able to close landfills and come dump on us,'' said Kaye O'Mara, who lives in Norco near the El Sobrante Landfill. ``I'm going to be a NIMBY like Hahn.''

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board will meet at 9 a.m. today at the Metropolitan Water District headquarters, 700 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles.

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