Community Split Over Landfill

Officially, the fight over Chiquita Canyon Landfill ended last week as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously granted final approval to expansion of the dump near the low-income community of Val Verde. Unofficially, the fight is far from over as a group of residents vowed to sue to stop the project.

Such resolutions are hardly rare: Local government often approves projects that are promptly challenged in the courts by unhappy residents. What’s unique in this case is the effect the fight over the landfill has had on Val Verde--a tiny community of 1,689 outside Santa Clarita.

Until earlier this year, residents stood united against the landfill. But then members of the Val Verde Civic Assn., exhausted by their fight against dump operator Laidlaw Waste Systems Inc., negotiated a deal to drop its opposition to the expansion in exchange for annual payments of as much as $280,000 to fund community improvements. Fair enough, but members of another, largely Latino, group vowed to keep fighting. Two organizations that once worked together now find themselves in opposing camps--and in a town as small as Val Verde, the animosity can be tough to avoid.

Worse, a fight erupted over who would decide how to spend Laidlaw’s money. Some residents wanted only registered voters to participate, but that didn’t go over well in a community that’s home to many recent immigrants. Instead, anyone with a California driver’s license or identification card will be allowed to take part in a special community election for the oversight board.

Dump or no dump, payoff or no payoff, the community of Val Verde is the real loser here. Once galvanized in a common fight, it’s now split into factions. No amount of money can heal that rift. Only time can.