Chiquita Canyon landfill officials released a required impact study regarding upgrades they’d like to make to their Castaic facility, and Santa Clarita Valley residents have until Aug. 24 to weigh in on the plan.
“There’s a demand for solid waste disposal in Los Angeles County and the current permit for Chiquita Canyon doesn’t allow it to fully use its facility,” said John Musella, spokesman for Chiquita Canyon.
Just a fraction of Chiquita’s trash is generated in the Santa Clarita Valley. The biggest jurisdiction to send trash to Chiquita is the Los Angeles Area Integrated Waste Management Authority, a consortium of Artesia, Beverly Hills, Duarte, Hermosa Beach, Hidden Hills, Los Angeles, Lynwood, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Pomona, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rosemead, Sierra Madre, South Gate and Torrance.
Click map to view
While the capacity is expected to double, the ramp-up is expected to happen gradually over several years, Musella said. However, Chiquita Canyon would like to get construction of the new entry facility under way as soon as possible, he said.
The 639-acre landfill site, which is owned by Waste Connections and permitted for about 257 acres of waste, is looking to double its daily disposal limits, set aside of land for a potential conversion technology site, improve its entrance and support facilities and extend the life of the landfill, to name a few of the project’s goals.
The landfill is located outside city of Santa Clarita limits about three miles west of the intersection of Interstate 5 and Highway 126.
The proposed project will increase the permitted waste footprint within the existing property line by approximately 143 acres by extending it slightly south toward the existing landfill entrance and to the north and east.
The waste footprint will increase from the currently permitted acreage, approximately 257 acres, to approximately 400 acres. It would also increase the permitted height of the landfill by 133 feet to a maximum elevation of 1,573 feet.
The project also calls for a doubling of the daily and weekly disposal tonnage.
The permitted maximum daily disposal tonnage will increase from 6,000 to 12,000 tons. The permitted maximum weekly disposal tonnage will increase from 30,000 to 60,000 tons.
Depending on actual disposal rates under the project, the life of the landfill would be increased by 21 to 38 years, according to planning documents.
The landfill’s operations were first permitted by Los Angeles County under a conditional use permit issued in 1982, according to county documents, and the facility has a maximum daily permitted disposal of 6,000 tons per day.
There is expected to be a temporary significant impact at the intersection of Commerce Center Drive and Highway 126 based on county guidelines, during the two years of construction for the projec.
Any efforts to lessen the traffic load, which could end up worse than the current “D” level of service during peak hours, could affect work construction taking place on those roads.
The level of service is expected to return to normal when the project is completed.
All comments received by the closing of the public review period Aug. 24 will be considered in the final environmental impact report.
The current permitted closure date is 2019, but based on the current tonnage limits, the projected closure date is between 2015 and 2019, according to the draft impact study.
Waste Connections, which owns the landfill, has applied for a new permit to implement the revisions.
A public hearing on the impact study, or environmental impact report, is scheduled before the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning Hearing Examiner on July 31at 6 p.m. at the Castaic Sports Complex-Gymnasium, located at 31320 North Castaic Road.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Tweet This
Facebook
Digg This
Bookmark
Stumble
RSS
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
14 Comments
Hi Vanessa! Thanks but that’s a headline not the first line. Nobody said that’s the name of it, that’s where it is. It would be like saying “Valencia Amusement Park” in a headline. It’s not the name of the amusement park in Valencia.
Hi Vanessa! Thanks but that’s a headline not the first line. Nobody said that’s the name of it, that’s where it is. It would be like saying “Valencia Amusement Park” in a headline. It’s not the name of the amusement park in Valencia.
Oh, yes it most certainly is in Val Verde. You can define Val Verde however you want, but the environmental docs say it is in Val Verde and the county says it is in Val Verde, and that’s what we are going with. Val Verde is the community that is paid $250,000 to $350,000 in hush money by CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT in exchange for not opposing the expansion of the landfill. It is absolutely in Val Verde; the landfill operator effectively OWNS Val Verde – and thus our streets will be even MORE clogged with trash trucks to accommodate garbage that comes from Ventura County, Orange County and every part of Los Angeles County (roughly 20 percent comes from Santa Clarita Valley today, the rest is from outside). Now what we should have said is, “Company that Pays Hush Money to Neighbors Plans to Double Size of Dump” – THEN you might have something to complain about. Or, actually, you wouldn’t, because it is absolutely factual under the contract between the landfill operator and the community. We’ve probably got a copy of it somewhere if you need a refresher.
Perhaps you haven’t read the contract between the landfill operator and the Val Verde community organization that says the money gets cut off if the organization opposes the landfill.
Vanessa Brookman – don’t know if you really intended to open this can of worms on yourself but here is the agreement whereby the landfill operator agrees to pay Val Verde in exchange for Val Verde’s agreement to “oppose any opponent” to the landfill expansion. Yes, that references the prior landfill expansion, but it is still in effect today and has provided $250,000 or more per year for the past 15 years. This year the dollar amount is in the neighborhood of $340,000. => http://scvtv.com/pdf/newhallland-valverde.pdf
And why should anyone outside of Val Verde care? Well, because all of us pay slightly higher trash (tipping) fees so the landfill can give $250,000 to $350,000 of our money annually to pay a group of people to support (or not oppose) a landfill which, now, is going to clog our (all of us) streets and highways with even more trash trucks.
not sure how it’s “funny.” It is, however, the dictionary definition of “hush money.”
Not sure why she is in favor of the expansion, oh that’s right you are renter not someone who bought with the promise it would close by 2019 per a contract. How can anyone expect them to be good neighbors when they will breach a signed contract.
Hey Castaic2… I looked online and found out that all this talk of the landfill promising to close in 2019 is bunk. The info is online if you actually look at their permits. It says in the permit, “Nothing in condition 9b or elsewhere in these conditions shall be construed to prohibit the permittee from applying for new permits to expand the landfill.” What part of that is hard for you to understand? This permit references the agreement with Val Verde.
SCVdad33… From the 1997 Contract page 5C:
“The maximum total capacity of the landfill shall be 23 million tons. Landfill closure shall occur when this capacity is reached or by November 24, 2019, whichever occurs first.”
Can you share what document you are looking at online where you found your quote? If it is the contract can you reference the page number as well? Just want to make sure if there are other documents out there with information that alters this contract.
Also page 2-C of the Contract:
“9g. (Add) Nothing in this condition shall permit the maximum landfill capacity of 23 million tons to be increased.”
Ms. Brookman is OBVIOUSLY a Corporate Shill for the gangstas of garbage. She has an agenda and NO amount of reasoning will ever sway her from bashing on Val Verde. The DUMP is dangerous as it is now and if it is allowed to expand it will not only clog traffic, pollute the air further with methane, valley fever and noxious smells, but drive down property value in Val Verde and Hasley Hills. DOWN WITH THE DUMP! DOWN WITH THE DUMP! DOWN WITH THE DUMP!
The VVCAC is supposed to be a liaison between the landfill and the Val Verde community. If a member of the VVCAC is not effectively expressing the wishes of Val Verde when meeting with representatives of the landfill, then the Val Verde community certainly has a right to petition the county supervisor (who appoints VVCAC members) to replace that person.
As head of the VVCAC, do you not know why the VVCAC exists? Do you not remember going through all of this in 1995-96-97? See article 22 in this document of May 1997 on YOUR OWN VVCAC WEBSITE, if you need a reminder. In it, the board of supervisors specifically cites the February 1997 agreement as a JUSTIFICATION for the approval of the 1997 landfill expansion, as follows: “Such additional life and tonnage is justified not only by additional significant mitigation measures and the funding of a Val Verde Community Benefits Fund set forth in an agreement between the applicant and the Val Verde Civic Association, ALL OF WHICH HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THE CONDITIONS OF GRANT FOR THE LANDFILL EXPANSION, but also the County’s need for additional solid waste disposal capacity…” The county is not a signer to the agreement; rather, the county made the agreement a condition of approval. Therefore the statement that it has “nothing to do with the county” is misleading, deceptive, and false.