City OKs Study of Santa Clarita Site for Landfill

Faced with a worsening garbage crisis, two Los Angeles city councilmen on Wednesday proposed opening a new site in the Santa Clarita Valley where the city’s trash could be dumped for the next 50 years.

The plan, unveiled by City Council members Marvin Braude and Hal Bernson, would remove pressure to dump trash at Mission Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains and Sunshine Canyon in the San Fernando Valley, Braude said. Proposals to reopen or expand dump sites in those canyons have drawn bitter fire from homeowners.

The council voted to study the Santa Clarita Valley proposal just one day after ordering the drafting of a plan to require homeowners to separate recyclable materials from non-recyclable items in their trash.

Meanwhile, council members are awaiting health studies on the LANCER trash-to-energy project, which would handle a substantial amount of the city’s waste, estimated at 16,500 tons each day. It is expected that existing city dumps may be filled by 1993, sanitation officials have said.

“The time has come when it is no longer appropriate to stick garbage in populated areas,” Bernson said. “We cannot continue to jeopardize the people of Los Angeles with (trash) disposal methods from the dark ages.”

Wednesday’s proposal calls for trash to be hauled to remote Elsmere Canyon, just outside the city’s northern boundary and about 25 miles from downtown. The site, near Interstate 5 and California 14, could be used by city trucks that dump at Sunshine Canyon, less than two miles away, Braude said.

Braude said the city and county would operate the facility, possibly with help from private operators. The cost of opening and running the dump would have to be studied, he said. The city and county may have to condemn the property unless a favorable deal can be reached with several private owners, he said.

A committee report examining those points is due in about a month.

“It is completely isolated by mountains on one side and Standard Oil Co. fields on another side--and far removed from residences,” Braude said. “We recognize this landfill would have to go through all the environmental studies . . . but the fact is, it is possible.”

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the Santa Clarita Valley, agreed that the site should be studied. Until environmental studies are done, however, he is concerned about possible effects on homeowners in nearby Newhall, Saugus and Valencia, press aide Dawson Oppenheimer said.

Council members considered the proposal while debating their stand on pending state legislation to outlaw landfill operations in the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Fernando Valley. Critics of the bill, introduced by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Tarzana), have argued that it would protect urban parkland without offering a solution to the trash problem.

By an 8-4 vote, council members agreed to support the bill, which has been opposed by county officials planning to reopen Mission Canyon and expand Sunshine Canyon. Several council members warned, however, that the bill could leave the city without options if the Santa Clarita Valley site falls through.