The LA County Sanitation Districts has presented a proposed amendment to the County Watershed Ordinance to expand operations at the Calabasas Landfill.
The initial Study for a mitigated negative declaration (MND) was filed on behalf of LA County and is currently out for review until July 22nd.
"The county tried to fly under the radar," said Peter Heumann, a board member of the Community Association of Saratoga Hills (CASH), whose neighborhood borders on the landfill. "The proposal calls for landfill quantities to increase five times over current levels; that certainly should require more study than a mitigated negative declaration."
When the MND was brought to the attention of Kim Lamorie, president of the Las Virgenes Homeowner’s Federation, she called a meeting with the Saratoga Springs Homeowners board.
"The way this was handled was out of sync," Lamorie said. "This is a very different approach and nothing that we've seen before."
An expansion would also impact the neighborhoods of Liberty Canyon and Old Agoura, Lamorie said.
The federation brought the issue to LA County Superivisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
"Zev acted quickly to make sure proper environmental review and procedure will be followed," she said.
Yaroslavsky sent a letter to the sanitation district July 10th which stated that the study "fell short of the mark in terms of scope, environmental analysis, consideration of related projects and community engagement."
He proposed that they conduct a new initial study accompanied by a community meeting.
"We are grateful to county supervisor Zev Yaraslovsky, his staff and the Las Virgenes Homeowner’s Federation for realizing the potential impact and lack of public process involved and their quick and effective response," Heumann said.
Jeff Salomon, supervising engineer for the sanitation districts' engineering section, said that, in fact, the public had been notified of the study.
"We followed the proper procedure and moved forward with what we believed was an adequate environmental document," Salomon said.
The repercussion of Yaroslavsky's letter may stall or halt the project altogether, Salomon said.
"At this point, we are not sure whether or not to move forward with the project at all," he said.
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