County to Enforce Dump Curbs; City Given 3 Options

Los Angeles County officials said Friday that they will enforce state restrictions on the city’s Lopez Canyon Landfill, but the county’s order was so broad that neighborhood opponents of the dump feared that it would have little impact.

The state Waste Management Board ordered Los Angeles on June 7 to immediately reduce the height of the city-owned landfill in the East San Fernando Valley and to cut back its overall size and the number of trucks dumping there daily. Two-thirds of Los Angeles’ residential trash is dumped at the Lake View Terrace landfill.

The board gave the county, which acts as the state’s local enforcement agent, until Friday to decide whether county officials would carry out the order. Had the county refused, the state could have acted on its own.

The county order, released late Friday, gives the city three options:

- Close the dump immediately.

- Comply with the state restrictions within 60 days.

- Apply for a new permit that reflects current operations.

“It’s pretty clear that this is not what the board asked for,” state waste board spokesman Chris Peck said.

Peck said that if the city files a new application, it probably would lead to extensive environmental reviews and public hearings. He said Friday that he had not yet consulted board members on whether they will accept the county version of their order.

Neighborhood opponents of the landfill said they fear that the options offered by the county will allow the city to avoid complying while it pursues the legal challenge it began Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” said Dennis Ghiatis, who lives in Kagel Canyon near the dump. “The county has provided a big enough loophole for the city to wiggle out.”

Currently some trash heaps at the dump are 1,760 feet high--35 feet higher than is allowed in its 1978 permit. It also accepts trash from up to 600 trucks a day instead of the 400 allowed, and trash is buried on more than the allowable 140 acres of its 392-acre site.

Los Angeles city officials were concerned by the county’s agreement to follow the state’s lead, but Deputy City Atty. Christopher M. Westhoff said the city probably could work within the county’s time frame.

“We’re going to attempt to live with it,” Westhoff said. “In the interim, we still intend to be in court to protect the city’s position.”

The city’s next court date is Aug. 4, at which time Westhoff will seek a restraining order to prevent the state restrictions from being imposed until the city’s case is decided.

Westhoff’s case against the state order hinges on an engineering report submitted to the state in 1983, which increased estimates of height and truck traffic. The city maintains that the state--and the county as its local enforcement agent--have been operating under the 1983 figures for six years.

Agreed in Past

The county environmental health officer who carried out that enforcement over the years, Charles Coffee, has agreed with the city’s interpretation in the past. He said last week that he would not carry out the state order until the county counsel instructed him to do so.

The state, however, maintains that the 1978 permit, based on numbers from a 1977 engineering report, still stands.

If the restrictions are imposed, city officials said the dump will have to close temporarily next month while a new area is prepared for dumping. Then it could remain open about 10 more months, through late 1990, instead of continuing until its permit expires in 1992, or perhaps beyond.