Chiquita Canyon landfill officials released a required impact study regarding upgrades they’d like to make to their Castaic facility, and Santa Clarita Valley residents have until Aug. 24 to weigh in on the plan.

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“There’s a demand for solid waste disposal in Los Angeles County and the current permit for Chiquita Canyon doesn’t allow it to fully use its facility,” said John Musella, spokesman for Chiquita Canyon.

Chiquita Canyon accepts all of the waste from the Santa Clarita Valley and, additionally, from Los Angeles County communities, he said.

While the capacity is expected to double, the ramp up is expected to happen gradually over several years, Musella said. However, Chiquita Canyon would like to get construction of the new entry facility under way as soon as possible, he said. 

The 639-acre landfill site, which is owned by Waste Connections and permitted for about 257 acres of waste, is looking to double its daily disposal limits, set aside of land for a potential conversion technology site, improve its entrance and support facilities and extend the life of the landfill, to name a few of the project’s goals.

The landfill is located outside city of Santa Clarita limits about three miles west of the intersection of Interstate 5 and Highway 126.

The proposed project will increase the permitted waste footprint within the existing property line by approximately 143 acres by extending it slightly south toward the existing landfill entrance and to the north and east.

The waste footprint will increase from the currently permitted acreage, approximately 257 acres, to approximately 400 acres. It would also increase the permitted height of the landfill by 133 feet to a maximum elevation of 1,573 feet.

The project also calls for a doubling of the daily and weekly disposal tonnage.

The permitted maximum daily disposal tonnage will increase from 6,000 to 12,000 tons. The permitted maximum weekly disposal tonnage will increase from 30,000 to 60,000 tons.

Depending on actual disposal rates under the project, the life of the landfill would be increased by 21 to 38 years, according to planning documents.

The landfill’s operations were first permitted by Los Angeles County under a conditional use permit issued in 1982, according to county documents, and the facility has a maximum daily permitted disposal of 6,000 tons per day.

There is expected to be a temporary significant impact at the intersection of Commerce Center Drive and Highway 126 based on county guidelines, during the two years of construction for the projec.

Any efforts to lessen the traffic load, which could end up worse than the current “D” level of service during peak hours, could affect work construction taking place on those roads.

The level of service is expected to return to normal when the project is completed.

All comments received by the closing of the public review period Aug. 24 will be considered in the final environmental impact report.

The current permitted closure date is 2019, but based on the current tonnage limits, the projected closure date is between 2015 and 2019, according to the draft impact study.

Waste Connections, which owns the landfill, has applied for a new permit to implement the revisions.

A public hearing on the impact study, or environmental impact report, is scheduled before the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning Hearing Examiner on July 31at 6 p.m. at the Castaic Sports Complex–Gymnasium, located at 31320 North Castaic Road.

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