PLANNERS ENDORSE LANDFILL ADDITION; SUNSHINE CANYON VOTE ANGERS RESIDENTS.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission on Thursday approved allowing 55 million tons of trash to be dumped in Sunshine Canyon Landfill over the next 26 years, angering residents who said the north San Fernando Valley has taken enough trash over the decades.

Browning Ferris Industries and city officials said the project is needed to avert a potential crisis of landfill space and would go in a canyon already disturbed by landfill usage since 1958. They said those benefits outweigh unavoidable air quality concerns related to dust, diesel fuel exhaust and other pollutants.

``This is a very difficult issue,'' said Bob Scott, the commission vice president and a prominent Valley civic leader. ``A landfill isn't part of anybody's community plan, but it is part of the (city's) General Plan, and it's going to have to go someplace.

``A lot of times we're the lightning rod for these issues. Obviously this is not the last stop for this, so there will be other opportunities for people to comment.''

The project now goes to the City Council's planning and land use committee and then to the full council. Scott noted that the Planning Commission approved continued use of Lopez Canyon, but the council voted to close the site in 1996.

``We're very pleased with today's decision, but the bottom line is that we still have several steps to go,'' said Arnie Berghoff, a spokesman and former official for Browning Ferris. ``We think the City Council is going to do ultimately what's best for the city of L.A.''

More than 150 people turned out for the commission's public hearing at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys.

Most opposition came from Granada Hills residents who said they felt betrayed by the city's approval and vowed to continue their fight.

``We have done our part. No area should have to put up with an undue burden,'' said Wayde Hunter, president of the North Valley Coalition of Concerned Citizens. ``We're going to be known as garbage hills.''

Joining the opposition were Councilman Hal Bernson, a longtime opponent of Sunshine Canyon Landfill who chairs the council's planning and land use committee, and Los Angeles Unified School District officials concerned that Van Gogh Elementary School is downwind of the canyon.

Bernson noted that the Granada Hills community plan approved in 1995 designated the area as open space.

``Nothing's changed. To allow this landfill makes a mockery of citizen participation and our land-use plan,'' he said.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy also opposes the project because it would remove 125 acres of rare or threatened oak, sage, willow riparian and Douglas-fir habitat.

Many opponents charged the city with favoring revenue gains from tipping fees over health concerns from blowing trash and dust.

``What is the overriding consideration here? Are we talking about the tipping fees, or the health and safety of our children?'' asked William Salle, a Granada Hills father and coalition member. ``Apparently it's money; it's all about money.''

The tipping fees still must be negotiated by BFI and city and county officials. BFI officials said the landfill on the county portion of the site charges $22 a ton, and the county gets 10 percent of that amount.

BFI sought approval for a 215 million-ton landfill on the Los Angeles County side of the canyon more than 10 years ago. The city and opponents filed suit, and the final project was approved for 17 million tons. The county's approval, though, allows BFI an additional 18 million tons if the city approves a landfill on its portion of the site for a total of 90 tons for both the city and county, city planners said.

``Even if this project is approved, it wouldn't meet all the (city's) needs. There's a significant problem,'' said Dan Tempelis, a BFI vice president and Sunshine Canyon's operator.

The environmental impact report states that three Los Angeles County landfills closed in 1996, and four of the seven municipal waste landfills remaining in the county are expected to close or reach capacity in about nine years.

Supporting the project were numerous San Fernando Valley chambers of commerce and some Valley residents outside Granada Hills, including those who live near other landfills.

But opponents contended that the success of mandatory statewide recycling - the city diverts 46 percent of its waste stream from landfills - has saved enough space in county landfills to give cities and counties time for finding trash disposal alternatives.

Marsha McLean, a founder of the group that fought the landfill proposed for Elsmere Canyon and united landfill opponents across the county, said technologies for converting trash to energy and bioconversion are promising.

``If public officials would finally take a stand to phase out landfills as an option, that would allow new technologies to be explored and developed,'' McLean said.

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Map: Sunshine Canyon Landfill