Neighborhood council hears views of Waste Management
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers LOOKING FOR INPUT- Waste Management District Manager Scott Tignac speaks about expansion plans in front of Neighborhood Council No. 2 on Tuesday night.

Waste Management made its first appearances before local neighborhood councils this week, less than two months after the Ventura County Planning Division deemed the waste hauler's application to expand the Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center complete.

The purpose of the initial meetings is to allow the Simi Valley councils and the public to pose questions about the environmental impacts of the proposed expansion before a thirdparty consultant conducts an official Environmental Impact Report, as required by the county.

On Tuesday night, WM officials presented details of their project to Neighborhood Council No. 2 and an audience of about 25, who afterward compiled a list of questions to forward to the county planning department.

"The Environmental Impact Report is a very important document intended to surface all of the environmental issues of a project," said Tom Stanley, interim chair of Neighborhood Council No. 2. "It will measure not only the benefits but also the impacts."

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers QUESTIONS TO ASK- Neighborhood council member Marty Willis expresses her concerns to Waste Management reps during Tuesday's meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, WM District Manager Scott Tignac laid out the plans for the proposed expansion. The proposal includes tripling the current size of the facility to 887 acres, doubling the landfill area to 371 acres, and increasing the buffer area to 516 acres.

Also in the plans are the relocation of G.I. Industries from its current facility on W. Los Angeles Avenue and the improvement of existing facilities to include a modernized recycling plant, a collection center for household hazardous waste and a new liquefied natural gas facility to transform methane gas into fuel for waste trucks.

Members of the neighborhood council were most vocal about WM's proposal to double the disposable trash intake to 6,000 tons per day, while decreasing the recyclable intake to 3,000 tons per day.

"You said you were doing this to address the future needs of the community. But whose future needs?" asked member Marty Willis. "It just seems like we're taking on future environmental issues that are not specific to the Simi Valley community's environmental issues."

City Manager Mike Sedell assured the neighborhood council that all their questions, including concerns regarding the environmental impacts of changing the distribution of trash intake, would be forwarded to the county and addressed appropriately in the EIR.

Other questions posed by the council involved the potential impacts of dealing with an increased amount of hazardous waste, the processing of methane gas for use as liquefied natural gas and the possible effects on residents' views of the surrounding mountains.

"I just hope we're not going to create an eyesore in our community," Willis said.

Making an appearance at the meeting were members of the Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force, who took the opportunity to submit a list of 19 questions. The citizens group is led in an unofficial capacity by Councilmember Barbra Williamson, who was in attendance.

"We want to make sure that what happens in our community benefits our community," Williamson said. "When the landfill expands and this thing moves forward, we want to make sure that we haven't made an environmental boo-boo."

Some of the questions posed by the task force concern the landfill's proximity to a seismically active area, the possibility of accepting waste from outside Ventura County, the odors coming from the landfill, and the facility's impacts on water resources and the natural corridor.

The neighborhood council voted unanimously to forward the task force's questions to the county along with its own compiled list.

Waste Management made the same presentation to Neighborhood Council No. 3 Thursday night. Officials are scheduled to appear before Neighborhood Council No. 4 on Jan. 15 and Neighborhood Council No. 1 on Feb. 7.

The waste hauler will make similar presentations to the city planning commission and the City Council before the county planning department holds a meeting to discuss the scope of the EIR in March.

For more detailed information on the expansion proposal, visit keepingventuracountyclean.com.