Coalition Loses Bid to Delay Sunshine Landfill Opening

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge rejected a bid by the North Valley Coalition Monday to delay the reopening of Sunshine Canyon Landfill, ruling that the dump’s access road did not need to be specially zoned for heavy garbage truck traffic.

But Judge Robert O’Brien also ordered trial on the coalition’s lawsuit against Browning Ferris Industries--the owner of Sunshine Canyon--to begin May 30. The coalition claimed a partial victory, on the grounds that its argument remains alive and will soon be decided in court.

“We are disappointed, but we will continue to fight this for as long as necessary,” said Rosemary Woodlock, the coalition’s attorney.

The coalition, which argued that the planned grading and widening of the road was being undertaken without public comment and required zoning changes, has been fighting the opening of Sunshine Canyon for several years.

Monday’s ruling moves BFI one step closer to its goal of reopening the dump by July 1.

“I believe the [North Valley Coalition] has run their course of legal and political attempts” to stop the landfill, said Arnie Berghoff, BFI’s director of government and community affairs for Southern California.

Sunshine Canyon is situated in the hills above Granada Hills near the interchange of the Antelope Valley and Golden State freeways.

Because the 215-acre landfill straddles the boundary between the city of Los Angeles and unincorporated county property, the decade-old fight over its reopening has drawn both governments into the controversy.

The city closed its portion of the dump in 1991, the same year the county gave BFI the right to develop a new landfill wholly within the county’s jurisdiction.

In January 1996--after years of lawsuits and counter lawsuits--the city, the county and BFI reached an agreement that allowed BFI to open the landfill on both the county and city portions of Sunshine Canyon.

The North Valley Coalition however has continued to battle BFI in court, though it has been unsuccessful in derailing the landfill’s reopening.

Also pending is a state Regional Water Quality Control Board public hearing on the adequacy of the dump’s liner, which the coalition claims could collapse during a large earthquake and contaminate much of the city’s ground water supply.

The narrow legal question resolved Monday centered around the only road into the landfill--and whether the city of Los Angeles was required to conduct environmental studies to measure the impact that heavy garbage truck traffic would have on the area before widening the access road.

The coalition, which had sought an injunction against grading the road, also claimed that grading would require a change in zoning, a process which would give the public the opportunity to comment on the plans.