RESIDENTS FEEL ABANDONED BY MISCIKOWSKI ON LANDFILL.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

With the Los Angeles City Council set to vote Wednesday on reopening the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills, San Fernando Valley homeowner leaders claim they have been abandoned by Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, an ally in earlier battles against city dumps.

Members of the North Valley Coalition said Miscikowski - who is leading the push to reopen Sunshine - has betrayed their efforts to keep the landfill closed after they helped her and her former boss, Councilman Marvin Braude, close the Mission Canyon Landfill in Sepulveda Pass during the 1970s.

``She seems to forget what we did to help her at our own detriment,'' said Wayde Hunter, president of the North Valley Coalition. ``We wrote letters. We appeared to speak on her behalf. We lobbied for the closure of Mission Canyon and paid for our people to go to hearings in Sacramento.

``We didn't draw a line around an area. We said there should be no urban landfills.''

The City Council, which has put off its final vote on Sunshine Canyon several times, is scheduled to give final consideration at its Wednesday meeting. Mayor Richard Riordan has said he will sign the ordinances allowing the landfill's reopening.

Miscikowski, who has taken the lead on pushing the reopening of the 394-acre facility as vice chairwoman of the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee, said there is no comparison between the two dumps.

``I'm sorry they feel that way, but there was a difference between Mission Canyon and this,'' Miscikowski said. ``Here, the closest school is a half-mile away. With Mission Canyon there were three schools and they shared a common boundary with Mission Canyon. It was a measurably different situation where the county wanted to put this on property adjacent to schools and homes.''

Mission Canyon was one of the first battles fought in the landfill wars of the late 1970s when the Los Angeles County Sanitation District wanted to extend the landfill's life and the City Council - through Braude - fought it.

Braude later was able to shut off the possibility of using two adjacent sites, Sullivan and Rustic canyons, as landfills.

In return, the county refused for years to allow the city to use any of its facilities.

Braude - and Miscikowski, as his then chief deputy - also supported efforts to close Lopez Canyon in Lake View Terrace and the earlier operation at Sunshine Canyon, she said.

Since then, Browning Ferris Industries received permission from the county to open the portion of Sunshine Canyon in unincorporated territory.

Miscikowski cited her efforts, along with those of Braude and Councilman Hal Bernson, in whose district the landfill is located, to close the earlier portion that was closer to homes.

``Now, there is a buffer from the homes,'' Miscikowski said. ``It's a completely different situation.''

Also, she said the Sunshine Canyon proposal is different than the Lopez Canyon Landfill, where trucks drove through residential neighborhoods.

``Here, the trucks will be coming in on freeways and the major environmental concern seems to be over air pollution from diesel trucks.''

To Hunter, the differences are that Mission Canyon was much smaller than the proposed Sunshine Canyon facility and also did not have the wind problems Granada Hills residents will have.

Hunter and Mary Edwards, also a member of the North Valley Coalition, said they remember the many hearings they attended at the Bel-Air Presbyterian Church to argue for Mission Canyon's closure and believe they now deserve Miscikowski's support.

``I'm sure in her heart of hearts, she knows this is the wrong thing to do,'' Edwards said.

Although he is all but resigned to the final council action, Hunter said his group plans to bring a busload of residents to City Hall on Wednesday as they continue to work with attorneys on possible legal action.

``We don't want the council to think we've given up on this,'' Hunter said.

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Photo: (color) MISCIKOWSKI