SANTA PAULA : Council Opposes Landfill Expansion

Angered at a shift in policy they said would make their city the “dumping ground of the west county,” Santa Paula City Council members have agreed to write a letter to the Ventura Regional Sanitation District opposing increased dumping at the Toland Road landfill.

“I’m scared to death of what they are proposing to do,” Councilman John Melton said Monday about recent attempts to double the trash capacity at the small landfill. “We want them to operate it, not exploit it.”

With Councilman Les Maland absent, the City Council voiced its opposition to a proposal that would allow landfill operators to accept 10 times the trash now dumped there each day. Currently, the landfill accepts 135 tons a day.

The expansion is being looked at as a backup in case a proposed landfill in Weldon Canyon, north of Ventura, is rejected. It could also serve as an auxiliary dump when the Bailard Landfill in Oxnard closes in 1993, officials said.

Maland, a director of the Regional Sanitation District, has said he approves of efforts to expand the dump.

With the letter, Santa Paula joins representatives of Fillmore and Ojai in officially condemning the proposal, which they said would shorten the lifespan of the dump that could serve the small communities for 50 years.