I bet your Thanksgiving Day dinner discussion is about football or Black Friday and not about the proposed operating extension of the Olinda Alpha Landfill until December 2036 instead of December 2021.
Many Brea residents, especially in neighborhoods off of Valencia Avenue have concerns about the landfill and the six-days-a-week parade of trash trucks and debris on Valencia Avenue continuing another 15 years.
Orange County’s other landfills are in Irvine and San Juan Capistrano.
But the Bowerman Landfill in Irvine was recently damaged by the Silverado fire and remains closed for now. Some of its loads have been diverted to the Olinda Alpha Landfill, which has received additional staffing and equipment to accommodate the added waste loads and traffic, said Kevin Gaxiola communications specialist for Orange County Waste and Recycling.
The Olinda Alpha Landfill opened in 1960, when only about 8,500 people called Brea their home. At the time, hardly anyone lived nearby.
Fast-forward to 2020 when we have approximately 44,000 residents, many living in the Olinda Ranch, Blackstone and La Floresta developments, somewhat close to the landfill or Valencia Avenue, the route to it. Many of those residents complain of debris on Valencia, odors and trucks speeding or running red lights.
Gaxiola encourages them to use the Neighbor Support Portal found at the bottom of the oclandfills.com home page for comments or complaints. He saidresponses are made within an hour or two.
At a Nov. 12 virtual public information meeting for the landfill extension presented by the Orange County Waste and Recycling, about 40 to 50 people tuned in, Gaxiola said. View it at online at oclandfills.com/events/update-olinda-alpha-landfill-closure-date. Public comments are being taken through Dec. 10.
Viewers learned the present landfill elevation is between 1,300 and 1,350 feet above sea level. At the proposed 2036 closure, the elevation would be a maximum 1,415 feet above sea level, the same as projected for the 2021 closure. It is taking longer to fill, said Gaxiola, due to better compaction of settlement, better recycling efforts and organics and food waste being taken elsewhere.
Can buried waste contaminate Brea’s groundwater? Municipal solid waste landfills, such as Olinda Alpha Landfill, are highly regulated by several agencies, Gaxiola said. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board regulates Brea’s groundwater protection and O.C. Waste and Recycling adheres to the requirements, he said, including monitoring and reporting rules set by the Water Quality Control Board to ensure buried waste doesn’t contaminate Brea’s groundwater.
Brea’s potable water comes from California Domestic Water Company and Metropolitan Water Company.
How about a truck road through Tonner Canyon? Don’t count on it for many reasons, including environmental ones. The area is owned by the City of Industry and Brea, parts of the canyon are very steep, and, said Claire Schotterbeck, executive director of Hills for Everyone, the last estimate to construct it was at least $50 million. It is no longer on the master plan of aerial highways.
Why should Brea continue to host the landfill? According to Brea City Manager Bill Gallardo, Brea receives $1.50/ton for in-county or imported refuse. In 2019, the landfill received 1,233,682 tons from in-county sources and 844,962 tons of imported trash, adding $3 million to Brea’s coffers.
In these challenging times, such revenue is very important, but so is safety.
Blackstone resident Mike Cocos has concerns about hazardous debris flying off of empty trucks heading down Valencia. He suggests rumble strips to shake off that debris as the trucks exit the landfill and daily street cleaning. Good idea.
Goxiola said residents should contact the landfill for debris on Valencia above Santa Fe Road; below Santa Fe is the city’s responsibility.
Terri Daxon is a freelance writer and the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. She gives her perspective on Brea issues twice a month. Contact her at daxoncomm@gmail.com.
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November 27, 2020 at 12:52AM
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Daxon: Talking turkey about the landfill - OCRegister
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