LOCATION
At the top of Valencia Drive, overlooking the new homes in Olinda Ranch. Click the link to see an Olinda Landill photo.

JURISDICTION
Within Brea's Sphere of Influence, but under Orange County jurisdiction. Click the link to see a Map of Olinda Landfill.

STATUS
The County of Orange Integrated Waste Management Department (IWMD) operates three landfill sites in the County.  IWMD wants to extend the operation of Olinda Landfill for another eight years because new technology has allowed them to more efficiently compact the trash using satellite-guided equipment. They also want to expand the footprint of the landfill onto property they already own at the site. 

The Environmental Impact Report for this extension was approved by the Orange County Planning Commission in November 2004.   Currently, the City of Brea is in negotiation with IWMD over the terms of their acceptance of the extension and the level and nature of the mitigation package offered by the County for impacts to the city and the hills.

Brea Councilman Roy Moore has his questions on the landfill answered by Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell.  Click the link to see the questions and responses (171 KB).   

HILLS FOR EVERYONE'S POSITIONS ON THE OLINDA LANDFILL EXPANSION, WE:
• In principle, oppose expansion and extension of the Olinda Alpha Landfill.
• Recognize that due to economic and political realities, landfills in southern California rarely close before reaching capacity.
• Oppose a new access road in Tonner Canyon as duplicative, economically wasteful and irreparably damaging to the long term bipartisan regional effort to protect the remaining undeveloped hills.
• Oppose further acquisition of land at the Olinda Landfill by Orange County IWMD beyond the current ownership for future use as landfill borrow or fill sites.
• Believe adequate mitigation must be negotiated to cope with the negative impacts of hosting a landfill.
• Support increased mitigation and enforcement for trash truck impacts along Valencia Avenue.
• Support establishment of a mitigation fund for acquisition of open space and other appropriate measures related to landfill impacts.
• Support creation of a transfer station or other steps, to eliminate traffic from individual trash haulers.

FACT V. FICTION

MITIGATION FEES  |||  PROPERTY VALUES AND PARKS ||| TONNER CANYON ROAD  |||  TRASH TRUCKS

MITIGATION FEES
Fiction:
Brea residents will be assessed a “trash tax” to the tune of $85 million.

FACT:
The mitigation fees that Brea is negotiating with the County will not come from Brea residents but rather from a pot of funds IWMD has already been setting aside. Brea residents will not be asked to pay for impacts created by the County landfill. The City will be the recipient of those funds. Landfill trash fees are governed by existing long-term agreement between IWMD and OC cities that fix fees at the current $22/ton to 2010.

Taxes require a 2/3 vote of those who vote in an election.  

If Brea were able to negotiate $85 million in mitigation fees from IWMD that would be a very successful negotiation.

Fiction:
Money derived as mitigation for the landfill expansion could be used to enhance the Senior Center.

FACT:
Money derived as mitigation for landfill expansion can only be used to alleviate impacts the expansion creates as a result of the “Findings” of impacts that are established.  For example, if the dump expansion is found to create hazards for wildlife in the State Park, some money must be used to fix those impacts. 

If the case can be made that the landfill has impacts on the emerging Sports Park because of its close proximity to the landfill, money can be spent there as well. 

Money could only be used on a Senior Center if the case could be made found that the landfill expansion somehow impacts the Senior Center. 

It is not a pot of gold that can be spent anywhere.
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PROPERTY VALUES AND PARKS
Fiction:
Olinda Ranch residents will suffer lower property values and must be compensated.

FACT:
Olinda Ranch is next to protected private open space on the north and northwest, a State Park on the east and a Regional Park to the south. Hills For Everyone was responsible for saving most of this open space the residents can now enjoy. Although there is no direct measure of the economic impacts of property values next to a landfill, we know that living next to protected open space increases property values. It has been observed that the prices of Olinda Ranch homes have increased along with other OC home prices.

Olinda Ranch residents signed a disclosure statement in their CC & R’s acknowledging the existence of the neighboring landfill and the possibility that it may remain open.

Fiction:
IWMD wants to take away a Regional Park planned on top of the landfill when it closes.

FACT:
Brea approved a post closure Wilderness Park on top of the landfill to complement the neighboring State Park. They did not approve a highly developed County Park as has been suggested. Instead Brea negotiated for the purchase of a Sports Park in Brea and funds were allocated accordingly. That parkland has been purchased and the planning is underway. The landfill extension will delay the creation of post closure Wilderness Park and mitigation for this delay should be required in the dump expansion. 
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TONNER CANYON ROAD
Fiction:
IWMD could help solve Brea’s traffic problems by spending mitigation money on a new private two lane access road from the 57 freeway through Tonner Canyon to the landfill. It is the least they can do.

FACT:
Mitigation that creates more environmental impacts than it resolves is not mitigation. The road was studied by IWMD in 1997 and turned down. Estimated cost for the road in 1997 dollars was stated at $25 million. The County would need to construct a multi-lane road in order to keep the traffic flowing in case of a truck breakdown and to allow passing slow trucks on steep grades.

The road is also exceedingly expensive because, as identified in previous Environmental Impact Reports, it would need to be built to cross the Whittier fault, tar seeps and steep unstable slopes. The County would need to mitigate for a blue line stream, protected oak and walnut woodlands (land that Hills For Everyone fought and successfully secured as mitigation for the Tonner Hills project), endangered species and disruption of the regional Wildlife Corridor that public agencies have invested $200 million to protect. The greater public good would be to spend the money buying thousands of acres of open space and preventing further development and traffic congestion.

Fiction:
It could be a temporary road used by trash trucks only and it could close when the landfill closes.

FACT:
Neither the County or IWMD could ever justify spending ten of millions of dollars to build a "temporary" road to duplicate an existing access road that was just recently improved with an extensive widening project and with sound walls. This road would most likely become the first leg in a permanent shortcut into Brea for Inland Empire traffic, adding that much more traffic on Brea streets everyday. It is likely that such a route would include a connection to Valencia Avenue thereby adding more traffic from Inland Empire commuters that the neighboring Olinda Ranch residents are seeking to reduce. The politics of transportation and circulation planning and the fact that the land is out of Brea’s direct control make that connection virtually inevitable.

Fiction:
An environmentally sensitive road can be built that won’t harm wildlife.

FACT:
There is no basis in scientific fact for this assertion. Tonner Canyon bridge is the only place wildlife can safely cross under the 57 freeway to move between the Puente and Chino Hills. More traffic at this choke point for wildlife movement will create a gauntlet of hazards. If the Corridor is severed at this juncture, it will be more difficult to convince state resource protection agencies that the hillsides above Brea to the west are worth saving and investing in.

According to Dr. Reed Noss, world renowned biologist, a road greatly harms wildlife beyond the obvious. Roads: ● increase road-kill ● create barriers to migration for some species ● bring chemical pollution including heavy metals, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ● increase air pollution which damages native trees ● increase noise pollution which can cause a stress reaction that changes reproduction in some species ● destroy habitat (one mile of interstate highway consumes up to 48 acres of habitat) ● facilitate the invasion of non-native species ● change watersheds which in turn changes the water quantity and water quality ● increase peak runoff and storm discharges ● provide access to humans for illegal shooting and arson ● and introduce pressures for development that threaten open space. These all act synergistically to create even greater destruction.
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TRASH TRUCKS
Fiction:
Trash trucks clog Brea streets and cause accidents.

FACT:
Nearly 900 trash trucks go to the landfill daily, 307 days per year. There are tens of thousands of other vehicles on our streets each day, including 16 wheel supermarket delivery trucks moving merchandise on the western side of Brea.

Fiction:
Residents will be endangered by more trash trucks and Brea City Council could have prevented it.

FACT:
Driving is always dangerous but history has shown that with proper, strict and routine enforcement the danger can be reduced. There has never been a trash truck fatality in Brea. Police monitor trash truck speeds on Valencia and trucks are operating within the posted speed limits.

FICTION:
In February 2005 a “transfer truck” from Olinda Landfill collided with another truck at Valencia and Imperial.

FACT:
There was indeed a collision but the truck was a private self haul truck coming from the private green waste site next to the landfill. It was not a landfill transfer truck and it was not coming from the landfill. Trash trucks “affiliated” with the landfill are inspected regularly.
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