California Integrated Waste Management Board

Sunshine Canyon Landfill Permit Process

The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) received a solid waste facilities permit application from Browning-Ferris Industries of California. Browning-Ferris Industries is the owner and operator of the two Sunshine Canyon landfills located in the City and County of Los Angeles. Currently, there is no single solid waste local enforcement agency (LEA) that can fully process one solid waste facility permit for the proposed combined facility. CIWMB is required by statute to act as the enforcement agency until such time as a new LEA can be designated and certified. This page provides the latest information on the processing of the permit application.

Permit Application Status

On January 8, 2008, the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) received a solid waste facilities permit application from Browning-Ferris Industries of California. Initial review of the application indicates that it contains a proposal to change from two separately issued solid waste facilities permits for the Sunshine Canyon Landfills into one solid waste facilities permit. A previous permit application was withdrawn on November 2, 2007 by the applicant.

On February 6, 2008, the CIWMB received an amendment to the permit application. When an application is amended during the review period, the application may be considered a new application and the processing timeframes may be reset. The CIWMB reset the timeframes and had 30 days to review the newly submitted amendment to the application to determine if the permit application should be accepted or rejected. (For more information, see Timing of the Permit Process and Upcoming Public Meetings.)

Board staff reviewed the amended application package, pursuant to Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations (27 CCR), section 21650 and determined that it met the requirements of 27 CCR 21570 and accepted the application for filing on March 7, 2008.

CIWMB Contact

Susan Markie, South Branch Manager with the Permitting and LEA Support Division at: sunshinecanyon@ciwmb.ca.gov

Public Meetings

Upcoming Meetings

There is a special Permitting and Compliance Committee Meeting scheduled on Thursday, June 12, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. at the San Fernando City Chambers located at 117 Macneil Street, San Fernando, CA 91340.

The CIWMB Board Meeting is scheduled on Tuesday, June 17, 2008, at 9:30 a.m. at the CalEPA Building, 1001 I Street, Byron Sher Auditorium, Sacramento, CA 95814. Agenda information will be available on Thursday, May 29, 2008.

Past Meetings

A public information meeting was held on March 25, 2008, at Granada Hills, California. Refer to CIWMB's public information notice for more details. The presentation (Adobe PDF, 1.9 MB) given by CIWMB staff and the transcript (Adobe PDF, 91 KB) from this meeting are also available for review.

The purpose of the public information meeting was for any person to learn more about the proposed solid waste facilities permit process and to provide comments to the CIWMB regarding the proposed permit. The meeting was strictly informational and no official decision was made at the meeting regarding the formal determination on the solid waste facilities permit application.

Timing of the Permit Process

The solid waste facility permit process starts with the submittal of a solid waste facility permit application to the appropriate enforcement agency, in this case the CIWMB. The permit process and timelines that all regulatory agencies must follow are specified in law and regulation. The application submitted included technical documents which fill three volumes and may be viewed upon request at the California Integrated Waste Management Board’s Southern California office and the Granada Hills Library. The amendment to the package submitted on February 6, 2008, can also be viewed at this location.

  1. CIWMB received an application package on January 1, 2008 and the amended application on February 6, 2008.
  2. No later than 30 days following receipt of the application, the CIWMB will make a determination if the application is complete and whether to accept or reject it.
  3. The application package was accepted for filing by the CIWMB on March 7, 2008. Now:
    • No later than 60 days from receiving the application, CIWMB staff must notice and hold an informational meeting (held March 25, 2008).
    • No later than 150 days from receipt of the application as complete, the CIWMB must act on the permit. (There will be two public hearings, one by the Permitting and Compliance Committee and one by the full Board.)
    • NewA proposed solid waste facilities permit (Adobe PDF, 637 KB) was transmitted to the operator pursuant to Title 27, Section 21650 (h) on May 6, 2008.
    • If the permit is approved by the CIWMB, the solid waste facilities permit will be issued.

The regulations also allow for these timeframes to be reset if an amendment to an application package is received during the review process.

It is expected that the Board will need to take an action on the permit at its June 2008 meeting.

Comments Received

Comments from the public and all interested parties are being gathered from correspondence, public meetings and through inquiries to sunshinecanyon@ciwmb.ca.gov. Written comments received will be posted to this website.

Background

Sunshine Canyon is located at 14747 San Fernando Road, Sylmar, California. Part of the permitted area of the landfill is located in the City of Los Angeles, 494 acres, and part of the permitted area, 542 acres, is in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. The Sunshine Canyon Landfill is surrounded to the north and west by the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and to the south and east, the communities of Granada Hills and Sylmar. The permit application proposes to combine the city and county portions into one landfill footprint.

The solid waste facilities permit for the landfill within the City of Los Angeles was revised in May 2003. The solid waste facilities permit for the landfill wholly in the County and not within the city was revised in February 2007.

Proposed Changes in Operations

This permit proposal would allow the landfill operator to combine the two landfills into a single landfill after the operator obtains any necessary approvals from other public agencies.

Technical Documents Supporting the Proposed Permit

Copies of the permitting documents are available at the Granada Hills Library, 10640 Petit Ave, Granada Hills, CA 91344, and the Southern California CIWMB office located at 320 West 4th Street, Suite 670, Los Angeles, CA 90013.

Links

Links for additional information on the Sunshine Canyon Landfill, regulatory agencies, and interested community groups.

City of Los Angeles Solid Waste Local Enforcement Agency's Sunshine Canyon Landfill web page: The City previously issued the solid waste facility permit for the city portion of the landfill which is included on this page as well as mitigation monitoring and reporting program.

City of Los Angeles Planning Department: Oversees land use decisions in the City of Los Angeles.

Community Groups:

County of Los Angeles Planning Department: Oversees land use decisions in Los Angeles County.

County of Los Angeles Solid Waste Local Enforcement Agency: Previously issued the solid waste facility permit for the county portion of the landfill.

Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board: The government agency with primary responsibility for the environmental review of water related issues (storm water discharges, pollutants to surface or ground water, etc).

South Coast Air Quality Management District: The government agency with primary responsibility for the environmental review of air quality related issues (gas extraction systems, dust migration, etc).

Sunshine Canyon Landfill: The facility’s website.

Notices Home | Permit Toolbox Home

Last updated: May 7, 2008
Permit Toolbox  http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/PermitToolBox/
Mihoyo Fuji: mfuji@ciwmb.ca.gov (916) 341-6410