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April 12, 2007
Ventura County Star
Waste Management Files for Permit to Double Landfill's Size
By Teresa Rochester
After more than two years of talk and controversy, the owners of the Simi Valley Landfill have formally requested to double the size of the site.
Officials from Waste Management filed an application for a conditional use permit Wednesday afternoon with the Ventura County Planning Department.
The application calls for the landfill, north of Highway 118, to expand from 185 acres to 371 acres for waste disposal. It also calls for 516 acres to be set aside as a buffer area and wildlife habitat.
"After carefully evaluating current market conditions, as well as growth projections for Ventura County, we are proposing several improvements to ensure that the needs of our customers are met well into the future," Mike Smith, the company's market area general manager, said in a prepared statement.
Concerns about truck traffic and environmental impacts have marked the planned expansion since the company purchased 2,800 acres in Alamos Canyon between Simi Valley and Moorpark in October 2004. In last year's 4th District supervisorial race, the expansion became a hot issue that may have contributed to Judy Mikels' loss in the primary.
If the proposed expansion is ultimately approved, the current daily tonnage limit for the site would not change from 9,250 tons. But trash intake would increase from 3,000 tons per day to 6,000, with the remainder reserved for recyclables.
Waste Management officials also plan to construct a facility to improve recycling efforts and an environmental collection center, which would help keep hazardous waste and consumer electronics out of the landfill. The landfill's existing gas-to-energy program would be expanded to include three additional generators, which would increase production of renewable energy.
Hauling operations would move
Hauling operations for G.I. Rubbish, which is now on Los Angeles Avenue in Simi Valley, would be moved to the landfill on Madera Road. With G.I. trucks traveling to their new location, there would be an increase in traffic, spokeswoman Kit Cole said. Waste Management owns G.I. Rubbish.
The project's traffic study shows that if the landfill operates at 9,250 tons per day and the hauling and recycling operations operate at their maximum limits with 400 employees, the total number of daily round trips would increase to 1,297 vehicles per day, 475 more than the current permit allows. The proposed number of vehicles allowed to dispose of rubbish per day would increase from 822 to 897.
With the plans for the expansion submitted, analysis of potential impacts will begin. Officials in Simi Valley will study the application with an eye on the level of effect it will have on the community.
City Manager Mike Sedell said the Simi Valley City Council can see the benefit to residents of having a nearby landfill, as it keeps their rates lower. But he added the council wants to make sure there aren't environmental costs.
Councilwoman forms committee
Councilwoman Barbra Williamson, acting as a resident and not in her official capacity, formed a committee to discuss the effects of the possible expansion last week.
The committee will include the community, county and Waste Management representatives.
"Nothing surprised me. We knew at some point they were going to do it," she said about the application. "But their permit is up in 2034, so why now? What's the hurry?"
Jim Dantona, who ran unsuccessfully for supervisor, continued the drumbeat of criticism against Waste Management that he sounded throughout his campaign. He echoed previous concerns about the lack of transparency of the process before the application was filed and the amount of trash from outside the county that would be trucked to the facility.
Kim Rodriguez, the county's planning director, said there is plenty of opportunity for public comment, including public hearings.
The Simi Valley Landfill takes in trash from Calabasas, Malibu, Woodland Hills, Agoura and Santa Barbara County. The majority 75 percent comes from Ventura County.
Cole said that landfills more often than not take refuse from other areas because they are more regional in nature. She pointed out that refuse and waste from Ventura County are routinely shipped out of the county.
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