Riordan Signs Ordinance to Expand Dump

Citing Los Angeles’ need to have a place to send its trash, Mayor Richard Riordan signed a controversial ordinance Friday allowing Sunshine Canyon Landfill to expand into Granada Hills. At the same time, he called for a major expansion of city recycling programs.

Outraged by the mayor’s decision, opponents of the dump vowed to sue the city and blasted the recycling proposal as coming too late.

“This is so stupid,” said Wayde Hunter, president of the North Valley Coalition. “You are going to approve the expansion and then call for recycling after the fact. It’s ridiculous.”

But Riordan said he is sincere in ordering that a plan be drafted in 45 days to expand recycling from single-family homes to include businesses and apartments.

The goal, Riordan said, is to increase recycling from 47% of the city’s trash today to 70% by 2020.

“In recent years, the city has taken impressive steps to reduce the amount of solid waste diverted to landfills, to the point where we now recycle nearly half of our refuse,” Riordan said in a letter to the City Council. “However, the recent debate has convinced me that we must do much more.”

The city has long considered expansion of recycling programs, but proposals have been met with resistance from some business and apartment owners.

In notifying the council of his approval of the Sunshine landfill ordinance, Riordan said he is convinced it is necessary and believes neighbors of the dump will be protected.

“With more than 200 conditions imposed to mitigate environmental impacts, as well as the expansion of the private sector and city’s recycling efforts, the decision to reopen Sunshine Canyon ensures that all residents of the city of Los Angeles will continue to have reliable and affordable disposal services for the future,” Riordan said.

Riordan had 10 days to consider the measure but announced last month at a meeting of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. that he supported the expansion as long as neighbors of the landfill receive reasonable protections.

Browning Ferris Industries, the dump’s operator, took the mayor’s approval of the zone change as a vindication of its claims that the landfill was environmentally sound, said Arnie Berghoff, a company spokesman.

“By the mayor signing this ordinance, we regard that as an endorsement of the conclusion of every objective expert that looked at this, that the environmental protections are not only adequate but superior to those at any other landfill in the country,” Berghoff said.

North Valley activists reacted with anger and disappointment to the speed of the mayor’s decision to sign the zoning ordinance approved Wednesday.

“I thought he would at least have waited until Monday to at least give the appearance that he was considering all of the issues,” said Mary Edwards, a coalition leader. “This is extremely callous of him. I’m ticked off.”

Councilman Hal Bernson of Granada Hills said the mayor’s decision was regrettable, though not a surprise, and opponents would now go to court to block the expansion.

“I am disappointed that the mayor signed the ordinance,” Bernson said. “I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe he felt it was necessary. I don’t think it was necessary. We didn’t have to act in haste. We should have considered alternatives. I don’t think the mayor considered all of these things.”

Riordan has had months to review the conditions proposed for the landfill expansion and had talked to council members, including Bernson, about the issue, according to Deputy Mayor Jennifer Roth.

Riordan also said he would be issuing an executive directive to have city departments do a better job of recycling the city government’s own waste, saying, “City government must take a more active role in recycling efforts and lead by example.”