15 Show Up for Debate on Expansion of Landfill : Sunshine Backers Blame Timing

Reseda business leaders billed it as a town meeting and debate on one of Los Angeles County’s hottest issues: a proposal to expand Sunshine Canyon Landfill.

But only 15 people showed up Tuesday night at a Reseda bingo hall. The Reseda Chamber of Commerce, which favors the expansion, had passed out 600 flyers and spread the word through nearby homeowners associations to publicize the event.

“I can’t understand it,” said Alan Roberts, the chamber’s president. “I’m very disappointed.”

Chamber Executive Director Ann Kinzle said the turnout was low because the meeting was just after Labor Day and on the same night as President Bush’s nationally televised speech about the U. S. war on drugs.

Nonetheless, those who passed on the debate missed a spirited, sometimes heated discussion between representatives of Browning-Ferris Industries, which operates the dump north of Granada Hills, and the North Valley Coalition, a residents group that opposes the proposed dump expansion.

Seeking Support

Browning-Ferris’ participation in the event was part of a continuing public relations effort by the firm, which wants to expand the 230-acre landfill by 706 acres, mostly in unincorporated county territory. The proposal is before the county’s Regional Planning Commission, which is expected to hold hearings in October and November.

Browning-Ferris has maintained that communities not in the immediate vicinity of the landfill--such as Reseda--support the expansion because of the county’s pressing garbage crisis. Although Tuesday’s debate was arranged by the chamber, it came after Kinzle and Roberts toured the landfill and said they were left with a positive impression.

As the public hearings approach, Browning-Ferris has stepped up its public relations campaign, holding landfill tours in the past month for community leaders as well as reporters.

Much of the opposition to the proposal has come from Granada Hills, which is closest to the dump.

“It’s very hard to convince a group that does not live near a landfill that your concerns aren’t provincial,” Mary Edwards, secretary of the North Valley Coalition, told the small gathering Tuesday night. An estimated 8,000 oak trees that would be destroyed by the proposal form an irreplaceable oak forest and should be preserved, Edwards and coalition member Don Mullally said.

James Aidukas, director of environmental affairs for Browning-Ferris, countered that the oaks are relatively young and that similar concentrations can be found in other canyons in the area. Moreover, he said, Browning-Ferris will try to replace the oaks with 17,500 new trees.

But Mullally, who manages O’Melveny Park in Granada Hills, scoffed at the reforestation program. Many of the planted trees will die and others will reach a height of only a few feet after 20 years, he said.

“Can we get the trees to grow?” Aidukas shot back. “We have a forester who says we can.”

Roberts said he is not as concerned about trees and wildlife as he is about whether the county will be able to resolve its acute shortage of landfill space.

“As a human being, I have to be concerned first about my welfare, not a spotted owl,” he said. “I won’t kill him, but he’ll have to find another place to nest.”