State Panel Approves Request for Landfill Shift

A request by the city of Los Angeles to close down a portion of the Lopez Canyon Landfill above Lake View Terrace and begin dumping in a new part won approval Friday from a key committee of the state commission that overseas waste disposal.

And the dump’s neighbors won an unexpected victory as well: The city agreed to allow the dump’s state license to expire in February, 1996, the same time that the dump’s permit from the Planning Commission and City Council expires.

The change is significant because it means that if the city changes its mind and decides to try to keep the dump open after 1996, it will have to seek a new permit from the state.

“Now, it’s more of a reality that the dump will close in 1996,” said Irene Allert, president of the Kagel Canyon Civic Assn., after the panel--the Planning and Enforcement Committee of the California Integrated Waste Management Board--voted unanimously to approve the permit.

Even though the state committee’s decision to spell out the 1996 date doesn’t really change the legal status of the dump--technically, it would have had to close anyway when the city’s permit ran out that year--it comforted residents of the area nonetheless, she said.

“It puts in writing the city’s promise to close down in 1996,” Allert said.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley where the dump is located, said making the state permit contingent on the city’s permit will make it more difficult for sanitation officials to change their minds and try to extend the dump’s life.

“It means we’re going to force the city to do what they say this time,” Katz said.

If approved by the full state board next Wednesday, the new permit will allow the city’s Bureau of Sanitation to formally close two major landfill sites within the dump’s boundaries, and open another.

If the permit is not approved--considered highly unlikely--the city would be forced to find new places to dispose of refuse, because in one month the portion of the site where dumping is currently allowed will be filled.

Lopez Canyon is the only dump owned by Los Angeles, but the city also uses other public and private landfills.

Under the terms of the new permit, the city would be allowed to dump 4,000 tons of garbage per day in a 166-acre canyon at the dump site. The new site, called “Area C,” can hold 5.8 million tons of refuse, but under the terms of the permit the city may dump only 4.2 million tons there.

Lake View Terrace residents have been fighting the dump since its inception in the 1970s.

Relations between residents--who complained that the dump was an eyesore and a health hazard--and sanitation officials deteriorated throughout the 1980s. In 1991, officials agreed to set aside a trust fund for compensatory projects in nearby neighborhoods, and hold monthly meetings with residents.

Led by aides to Katz, about 30 residents attended the hearing. The assemblyman did not attend the hearing, but it had been moved from Oakland to the state building in Van Nuys at his request.

Wednesday’s decision by the full board will be made in Oakland.