LANDFILL COULD ADD TO TRAFFIC BFI SAYS IT MAY RELY ON DISTANT DUMPS.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

A Los Angeles County plan to charge Sunshine Canyon Landfill's operators roughly $8 million a year for community improvements could force trash haulers to use cheaper dumps in far-off locations, worsening trash and smog, officials said Wednesday.

The new fees are included in a proposed land-use permit that Browning Ferris Industries needs to merge its existing landfill in the unincorporated county with a new dump slated to open this spring in adjacent Granada Hills.

Two of the five county Planning Commission members expressed concern the proposed fees would raise the cost of dumping in Sunshine Canyon and could prompt trash haulers to haul garbage to cheaper landfills in the Antelope Valley or other areas.

``All we're doing is moving trash trucks and putting them on freeways and burning fossil fuels,'' said Commissioner Pat Modugno, who lives in Newhall.

If the county does levy new fees on BFI, Modugno said, he would lobby for the money to be spent on improving the Interstate 5/Highway 14 interchange, where trash trucks feed into already jammed roadways. The combined city-county landfill is expected to generate 2,500 vehicle trips a day.

``The whole issue here is going to be traffic, traffic, traffic as far as I'm concerned.''

The commissioner's comments came during the first of three hearings on the Sunshine Canyon Landfill land-use permit, which will clear the way for BFI to create a 90-million-ton landfill capable of taking in 12,100 tons of trash per day over the next 28 years.

The permit recommended by county staffers includes a host of new fees designed to raise upward of $8 million for recycling programs and parkland and neighborhood projects in Granada Hills.

BFI managers said they were required to install traffic signals and restripe freeway ramps to handle the extra traffic created because of the mega-dump. But they said they shouldn't be responsible for easing congestion problems caused by housing and growth in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The company is required to pay the city and county 12 percent of trash revenue - separate from the proposed fees - and that money could be used on traffic improvements, District Manager Greg Loughnane said.

Granada Hills activists were pleased with the commissioners' desire to address traffic.

``BFI has said they mitigated traffic beyond significance and it's just not true and the commissioners saw that today,'' said North Valley Coalition President Wayde Hunter.

However, Hunter said his group still has serious reservations about the land-use permit, such as a requirement for alternative-fuel trash trucks.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

--The Planning Commission will hold a hearing on Sunshine Canyon Landfill at 6 p.m. Jan. 12 at Granada Hills High School, 10535 Zelzah Ave.

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