KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
After a four-month public-comment period, the county is still reviewing hundreds of pages of feedback on the proposed Chiquita Canyon Landfill Expansion, officials said Tuesday.
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“Right now, we’re working on formulating the response to comments. That is going to take a little bit of time. We don’t have a public hearing date scheduled as of yet,” said Iris Chi, a regional planner who is overseeing the project for Los Angeles County. “We’re going through all of the hundreds of comments that we received and we’re coming up with responses to those comments.”
The final draft of the environmental impact report on the proposed expansion might be in front of the Board of Supervisors for approval by summer, officials said.
More than 75 leaders, residents and business owners from the Santa Clarita Valley submitted written comments to county officials. Dozens spoke at various public meetings, including the Sept. 31 Los Angeles Regional Meeting and a January meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Many organizations submitted concerns about the expansion, including officials with the city of Santa Clarita.
“The cumulative impact of the proposed expansion of the landfill will be felt by city residents and businesses,” said Robert Newman, director of public works for Santa Clarita, in a letter from the city. “Both traffic and air quality will be affected.”
Newman submitted comments and concerns on the behalf of the city of Santa Clarita pertaining to hazardous materials compliance, water quality, air quality and traffic. He also submitted requests from city leaders about the landfill’s operation, the proposed Household Hazardous Waste Facility, the mixed organic composting facility and the materials recovery facility.
“The impact on traffic, air quality, future trash rates, availability for solid waste disposal,” Newman said, mentioning a few of the issues addressed in the city’s five-page comment. “Our concern is the impact to our residents.”
The city of Santa Clarita has no official opinion on the expansion, said Gail Morgan, spokeswoman for the city.
Newman, Stevenson Ranch resident Dave Bossert, American Family Funding owner Fred Arnold and Citizens for Chiquita Landfill Compliance Member Erica Larsen are just some of the community members who commented on the landfill expansion.
“As a 30-year resident, I recognize that Chiquita Canyon has been serving the region continuously for more than four decades, and plays an important role in the solid waste management of the Santa Clarita Valley and Los Angeles County,” said Bossert, a resident and community volunteer of the Santa Clarita Valley, in a letter to Chi. “This is especially important given the findings by L.A. County Public Works that point to a potential disposal capacity shortfall beginning this year if there is no expansion of existing landfills, no new landfills, and no additional capacity from alternative technologies.”
Bossert’s statement of approval for the Chiquita Canyon Landfill Expansion is very similar to 25 out of 29 other letters by Santa Clarita Valley community members in support for the expansion, according to documents obtained by KHTS AM-1220.
Residents from all over the Santa Clarita Valley voiced their comments at concerns about the expansion during the public comment period.
“No I don’t want the dump expanded to Val Verde because of the smell, health, traffic,” said Charles Payton, a Castaic resident who submitted a comment card for the DEIR for the expansion. “Who would want to live with a dump in their backyard? My family has been here since 1947. We don’t want to live in trash.”
The public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Chiquita Canyon Landfill Expansion began July 10 and ended Oct. 22.
“A public hearing on the DEIR was conducted by the Department of Regional Planning in Castaic in July 2014 and the Regional Planning Commission will hold another public hearing on the project this year in the Santa Clarita Valley. The County of Los Angeles is currently reviewing the hundreds of pages of public comment and will address all questions and concerns in the Final EIR,” said Chiquita Canyon Spokesman John Musella. “In addition, Chiquita Canyon pro-actively provided a presentation to the Val Verde Civic Association a month prior to the public release of the DEIR in order to give the community plenty of time to review the project. We also participated in dozens of community meetings across the Santa Clarita Valley to various organizations and groups before and during the public review process.”
Public comments were submitted to Iris Chi, planner for zoning permits in the north region of the Department of Regional Planning for the Los Angeles County.
KHTS AM-1220 Co-owner Jeri Seratti-Goldman also voiced her support for the Chiquita Canyon Landfill expansion in a letter to Chi.
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I guess this means that they are not going to even respond to SCOPE’s and the community’s request for a hearing on the draft EIR before the full Planning Commission. The hearing last July was only before a “hearing examiner”. I guess this is the County’s new way of not making the Planning Commission, who are the decision makers , sit through actual public testimony. Does anyone else see this as a problem? Why does the Commission not want to hear from the public in a timely manner? A hearing only at the Final stage is too late and not adequate.
There is simply no need for this landfill to expand. It is all just a giant money making business sold to everyone under the false idea there is no more landfill space in Southern California.
Quote from Orange County Register- http://www.ocregister.com/articles/trash-610499-county-landfill.html
“The market is over-saturated with capacity and is extremely competitive,” said Evan Edgar of Edgar & Associates Inc., a Sacramento-based environmental engineering and lobbying firm. “Southern California has 2 billion cubic yards of remaining disposal capacity that could easily last the next 100 years.”
WHY would we want to destroy our valley when we simply do not have to at all? Stand up for the health and well being of your valley. Write to your county supervisor and tell them this is not needed.
Thank you.
Abigail, I just read an article by Sara Sage at another blog site. I can’t believe how huge the landfill has grown in the years. It seems like the original plan was to have a small landfill that would remain away from homes. Look at how slowly the landfill grew from 1972 to 1985. Look how fast it’s grown in the last 10 years! Then look at the future planned expansion – if it’s allowed to happen, this thing will be a bigger monster than it already is!
The land looks horrible from the aerial photos. Watching the progression is upsetting. Also, I have a feeling that the landfill was not suppose to come close to homes as it is not. One would hope that our government officials would limit the landfill size and proximity to homes. If someone hasn’t already become ill from the toxins and polluted air, it’s almost a guarantee they will as the landfill expands closer to home and businesses.
It seems to me this is a breach of contract and a pollution and health hazard for our citizens.Keeping the landfill open and expanding it is really a breach of contract, promise, thus a lie. It’s a no-brainer to close that landfill, but politicians are out for themselves. We no longer have Statesmen or Stateswomen in government, especially the higher in office they go.
“Bossert’s statement of approval for the Chiquita Canyon Landfill Expansion is very similar to 25 out of 29 other letters by Santa Clarita Valley community members in support for the expansion, according to documents obtained by KHTS AM-1220.”
That is 25 bought and paid for opinions brought to you from Waste Connections.
A couple days ago, I read this article. I came back to read it again and I noticed that the comments at the bottom are gone. Can you put them back up. I would like to read them again.
Thank you.
Greg
I just got them back up. Thank you.