Val Verde residents set for court in 2019

Residents of the Val Verde area are awaiting a legal showdown with the county over their concerns regarding the expansion of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill – and now they have a February hearing date.

The Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment (SCOPE), Val Verde Civic Association and Citizens for Chiquita Canyon Landfill Compliance filed a lawsuit in August 2017 against Los Angeles County, alleging that the county violated the California Environmental Quality Act by approving an expansion of the landfill.

That lawsuit now has a hearing date set for Feb. 8, 2019, according to court documents.

“We want to tell the county and remind them that residents of that community were promised the landfill would close,” said SCOPE President Lynne Plambeck. “The community is getting sick. And on top of that, Chiquita Canyon is suing the county after they let them continue operations for 30 years. We don’t think that’s OK. People need to think about how much waste they’re generating, but it’s all going to the landfill and getting us sick.”

“The community voted to give us a go-ahead to get into a lawsuit,” said Val Verde Civic Association President Erica Larsen-Dockray. “We’ve started down that road. Now, we’re letting the community know when there’s anything significant happening.”

The lawsuit alleges that the county failed to adequately analyze the impacts on air quality or establish monitoring stations to see if the landfill was negatively affecting residents before an extension was granted, according to the court documents.

“The (county’s) final environmental impact report … does not utilize ambient air quality data from the local communities most acutely affected by operation of the landfill,” the documents stated.

In addition to the Val Verde litigation, the county is still engaged in two active lawsuits filed by Chiquita Canyon Landfill, one challenging the terms of the landfill’s conditional use permit, another in response to a notice of violation given to the landfill claiming its operators are in violation of the county’s operating terms.

The courts sided with Los Angeles County in July, dismissing a portion of Chiquita Canyon’s allegations. The rest of the legal dispute is expected to be heard in court in June 2019, according to county documents.

Plambeck said she recently sent a letter to the Public Health Department’s Solid Waste Management Program asking that they consider not renewing the Chiquita Canyon Landfill’s state permit.

After a public meeting hosted by Los Angeles County staff regarding Chiquita Canyon Landfill was held last month to clarify state regulations for the landfill’s operations, Plambeck said she and the Val Verde Civic Association felt they should voice their concerns.

The meeting was to clarify that the landfill also needed to obtain a state solid-waste facilities permit, separate from a previous county permit issued to the landfill in July 2017.

Dee Hanson-Lugo, the permitting supervisor present at the meeting, said no decision on the state permit would be made until November.

The landfill could accept 2.19 million tons of disposed waste per year if the landfill continues operation, according to the Val Verde lawsuit documents.

“I think promises should be kept when an agreement is made with a community,” Plambeck said. “The county should keep its promises. If the public can’t count on the county to enforce its conditions, then why are we having public hearings? It’s as though they’re ignoring our concerns.”

Residents who want to comment can call the county at 626-430-5540 or email dlugo@ph.lacounty.gov before November, Lugo said.