JUMBO LANDFILL COLLECTS 3 VOTES IT'S SAD FOR VALLEY, ANTONOVICH SAYS.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer

The controversial Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills will become one of the nation's largest dumps under a plan approved Tuesday by county officials that allows it to stay open for 30 more years and doubles the amount of trash it can take in daily.

The plan, narrowly passed 3-2 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, formally merges the city and county portions of the landfill into a single 1,528-acre mega-dump.

The supervisors doubled the amount of trash the landfill can accept daily -- from 6,000 tons to 12,000 tons.

Landfill operator Browning Ferris Industries had sought approval to bring in trash from outside the region, but county officials rejected that request and also imposed some new restrictions on the landfill operator.

``It's a sad commentary for the citizens of Granada Hills and the San Fernando Valley, but at least there is a closure date now,'' said Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who represents the Valley and had urged colleagues to reject the deal entirely.

But, he added, ``the county has more stringent regulations than the the city of Los Angeles so the county will enforce stronger oversight.''

The supervisors had granted preliminary approval to the merger last June to allow BFI to run the side-by-side landfills -- one in the county outside city limits, the other in Granada Hills -- as a single operation.

Neighborhood activists had worried that the merger could draw tons of unwanted trash from outside the county, but that provision was not included in the final conditional-use permit.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the Valley and also opposed the deal, said he was disappointed that the dump couldn't be closed in 20 years.

``I'm disappointed the county did not put tougher conditions on BFI,'' Yaroslavsky said. ``We want alternative fuel for dump trucks to be a serious and credible condition. It's not. It has an escape clause.

``The loophole is big enough to drive a truck through. All this was designed to limit environmental damage in the Granada Hills area. But BFI was able to get a longer period of time and less protections.''

But BFI Project Director David Edwards noted that the permit contains 83 conditions.

``We have worked through the previous proposed conditions and implemented, ... through a very rigorous process, those conditions considered to be more protective of the environment and community,'' Edwards said.

Conditions include installing a double-liner in new landfill cells and video monitors to ensure that BFI is complying with the conditions.

BFI is also required to pay for an independent consultant to monitor the company's compliance with the permit conditions.

``BFI pays for them, but we manage them,'' said Paul Novak, planning deputy for Antonovich. ``It's really just one more enforcement mechanism. We have our own staff who are watching the landfill. And we'll have this consultant out there who will file reports with us.''

City Councilman Greig Smith said he was pleased that BFI won't be able to accept trash from outside the region.

And Smith said the city will issue a request for proposals next week to build L.A.'s first commercial-scale facility using technology to convert trash into products or energy.

``There are five different technologies,'' Smith said. ``We are not saying which one we'll choose yet. ... It's the future of America, and we hope to be one of the first cities out there doing it, if not the first city doing it at a major commercial-size facility.''

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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