Landfill expansion inquiries sent to county
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

The City Council's newly adopted extraterritorial review process was used in full force this week, as council members compiled a full list of questions and concerns regarding the environmental impacts of Waste Management's proposed expansion of the Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center.

The full list- including questions from all four of the city's neighborhood councils, the citizenoperated Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force and the City Council- will be forwarded to the Ventura County Planning Division to ensure that specific issues affecting the city are addressed in the expansion's Environmental Impact Report.

Any questions raised by the Simi Valley Planning Commission after they discuss the project at their Feb. 20 meeting will be forwarded to the county.

"I think overall the end workproduct is quite good," said Mayor Paul Miller. "Between what our staff has done, what the neighborhood councils have done, what the (task force) has done . . . all the work came out well. We appreciate all the input and in the aggregate, we'll basically cobble all this together and send it on up."

The city's extraterritorial review process is a vehicle for reviewing projects that are just outside the city's immediate sphere of influence but still have direct impact on the community.

W a s t e Management's proposal, which calls for tripling the size of the site to 887 acres, doubling the disposable trash intake to 6,000 tons per day, and relocating G.I. Rubbish from its current facilities on W. Los Angeles Avenue, will ultimately be approved or denied by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

But this hasn't stopped citizens and elected officials from asking questions like "Why?" or more often, "Why now?"

Representatives from Waste Management have spent the past month presenting their project to different citizen-led committees in order to gather input.

"There's quite an interest in the community to see what's going on (at the landfill)," said Mike Smith, market area general manager for Waste Management. "We're really happy about that."

Addressing

expansion impacts

The Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force, a citizens committee led in an unofficial capacity by Councilmember Barbra Williamson, submitted a total of 31 questions outlining concerns that ranged from landfill odors and impacts on air quality to the expansion's effect on local water resources and the natural corridor.

During public comment Monday, task force member Louis Pandolfi commended the city for setting up a process that allows concerned citizens to get involved. He also brought up issues regarding traffic and landfill height in order to emphasize their importance.

"The devil is in the detail and the detail is what the consultants are going to look at," Pandolfi said.

According to the task force's research, a document submitted in July 2006 by the environmental and energy resources division of Ventura County's public works department stated that the landfill had about 20 years of capacity left- about five years more than what the California Integrated Waste Management Board requires before any action to expand the landfill is necessary.

"So we would ask the consultant who's doing this EIR, 'Why now?'" Pandolfi said. "Why, if we have 20 to 22 years of capacity to service the needs of Ventura County, do we have to expand the landfill (intake) from 3,000 to 6,000 tons per day?"

In response, Smith said Ventura County alone currently generates more than 4,000 tons of trash per day.

"There will be more than 4,500 tons of trash (daily) in Ventura County within the next five years," Smith said. "That is an immediate need that should be looked into."

The way the county is generating waste, Smith said, the landfill will actually have less than 22 years of capacity.

Council concerns

During the later part of Monday night's hour-long discussion, members of the City Council took turns bringing attention to various other expansion issues.

Councilmember Steve Sojka acknowledged the technical reasons behind the project but still mentioned he hasn't heard any positive feedback from the public about the waste hauler's proposal.

"No one's in favor of expanding the landfill," Sojka said. "The question I can't answer to my constituents is, 'Do we really want to expand the landfill, and why?' The answer isn't yes."

Smith responded by saying that since the landfill is already in Simi Valley, Waste Management's goal is to make it the "best landfill it can be."

Sojka also suggested renaming the landfill to remove its direct association with the city.

Councilmember Glen Becerra presented another list of 72 environmental questions to be submitted to the county on behalf of the city- some of which were already posed by the other committees, including the citizens task force.

"There were some questions that were multifaceted," Becerra told the Simi Valley Acorn. "What I did was instead of having one question with three or four sub-questions, I separated each one for clarity reasons. I think it was important to have each question stand on its own. I also added a few myself."

Ultimately, the City Council directed staff to forward all of the questions, including the task force's list as it was submitted, to the county for review.