Judge Clears the Way for Expansion of Landfill : Waste: Ruling allows sanitation officials to ask supervisors to reissue a permit to enlarge the Puente Hills dump. Move is a setback for opponents, who plan to appeal.

By RICHARD WINTON

June 30, 1994 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

A Superior Court judge has cleared the way for a controversial expansion of the Puente Hills Landfill into nearby canyons close to homes and schools in Hacienda Heights.

The expansion would more than double the amount of trash the landfill could hold.

Judge Diane L. Wayne ruled that an additional environmental study by the landfill’s operator, the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, corrected deficiencies in earlier reports, bringing the expansion in line with state environmental laws.

The ruling last week allows sanitation officials to ask the County Board of Supervisors to reissue a permit to expand the county’s second-biggest landfill to within 1,750 feet of homes and extend its life to the year 2003. The dump was supposed to close Nov. 1, 1993.

Sanitation officials say they do not expect any opposition from supervisors, who last year approved the expansion permit before a judge ruled it invalid because of the inadequate report.

“The 60 cities that depend on this landfill can now plan for their future solid waste management,” said a jubilant Chuck Carry, Sanitation Districts general manager.

The landfill, located near the junction of the San Gabriel River and Pomona freeways, takes in more than 12,000 tons of trash daily from cities in the San Gabriel Valley and southeastern portion of the county.

Last week’s decision was a setback for opponents--a group of nearby homeowners, the Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District and City of Industry developer RR&C; Corp. Two schools are located near the landfill expansion area. The developer also owns neighboring land.

“We’re disappointed, but we have had some wins in Superior Court and we’re going to win some more in the appeals court,” said Nancy Abbott, a member of Hacienda Heights Home Improvement Assn. whose house would sit in the shadow of the expansion. An attorney for the developer said an appeal will be filed this week.

Opponents had hoped Wayne would reject the supplementary study after early key decisions went their way.

In October, the judge ruled that an environmental study on the expansion was inadequate and she questioned its analysis of the effects on underground water supplies as well as a lack of detail provided on a proposed recycling and waste-by-rail facility.

Then, in February, Wayne invalidated the county permit for the landfill expansion because of inadequacies in the report. But a month later, Wayne declined to close the existing landfill, saying such a decision would disrupt countywide trash collection. The landfill holds about 70 million tons of trash; the 104-acre expansion could hold 75 million tons more.

Her latest ruling said the additional study produced by a renowned water expert hired by the Sanitation Districts adequately addresses questions about the underground water supply and refutes claims by a local water district that the landfill may be leaking.

“I can find an expert to say anything,” said Jeffrey D. Dintzer, attorney for the homeowners and the school district. “But the fact is all of the evidence here said this landfill is leaking.”

Dintzer said an appeal would probably object to the separation of the waste-by-rail project from the expansion, a lack of examination of alternatives and problems in the additional study.

Sanitation officials expect to get a new permit in August; then they will return to court to have Wayne declare it valid. After they get the permit, officials said, they will seek the approval of the Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Integrated Waste Management Board and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Abbott, who has lived in her Hacienda Heights home for 30 years, said she has been fighting the landfill since 1983. “It’s a dump. It may not be hazardous waste, but everyday trash has a lot of dangerous stuff in it.

“We bought our house in 1964 and they started in 1970 and we knew nothing about it for years,” she said. “Gradually, it started encroaching, and decade by decade they have taken a piece of land. Who’s to say they won’t be on my back doorstep in another few years?”