Council to Appeal Ruling on Landfill’s Expansion

The protracted court battle over the expansion of Sunshine Canyon Landfill north of Granada Hills will be taken to the state Supreme Court, the Los Angeles City Council decided Tuesday.

In a closed session, the council decided to appeal an October ruling by a lower court that frustrated the city’s efforts to impose restrictions on the landfill.

The legal wrangling began in 1991 when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors granted Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. permission to move forward with a 17-million-ton landfill expansion in the Santa Susana Mountains above Granada Hills.

The city and residents near the landfill subsequently sued the county, contending that the environmental effects of the expansion plan had not been adequately scrutinized.

The proposed expansion would take place on the county side of the landfill, which straddles the border between the city and county.

The city’s lawsuit succeeded in temporarily halting the project, but the Superior Court judge who heard the case did not agree entirely with the city and ruled against many key city arguments. Both sides appealed the ruling to the state Court of Appeal, which, in turn, rejected most of the city’s arguments.

Among the key arguments dismissed by the Court of Appeal is a city contention that the expansion plan did not adequately study the option of dumping refuse in other nearby landfills, Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritsker said. Also rejected was the city’s argument that the expansion plan’s environmental study did not get adequate review by the county, he said.

The state Supreme Court could refuse to hear the case and, thus, uphold the Court of Appeal’s ruling.

As part of the squabble, the city’s trash collectors have been barred from dumping at the landfill. Pritsker said he hopes that the Supreme Court will make a ruling to allow the city to dump at the landfill.

Meanwhile, Pritsker said a Superior Court judge will decide by the end of this month whether to allow the expansion project to proceed even though the court battles between the city and county continue.