Steve on Landfill Expansion

I will oppose any Landfill Expansion unless the benefits to our community outweigh the impacts!

The landfill is in the County of Ventura so the County Board of Supervisors will be making the final decision on future expansions. Waste Management currently has an operating agreement that allows them to operate the landfill until the year 2035. They are looking to extend that for another 25 years.

The Environmental Impact Report for this project was released earlier this year which identified the impacts of this project. We are currently discussing those impacts to SV with Waste Management and the County Board of Supervisors and are demanding that they mitigate those impacts to protect our residents. Impacts include effects on our: Environment, Economy, Traffic and Air Quality.

We are also discussing the possibility of annexation in order that we would control the land uses surrounding the landfill. My opponent has criticized our City Council for not annexing the landfill prior to this so that we would have had control over the decision of this expansion. What he’s not telling you is the fact that you have to have willing landowners to annex like we did when we annexed the Reagan Library. Waste Management was not willing to annex their land or operation into the City prior to this because they knew that we could have denied their expansion efforts.

The only reason they are willing to talk about annexation now is the fact that any annexation would happen after their approved expansion. The reason the City Council is interested in annexing the land surrounding the landfill after the expansion is in order to have control over surrounding land uses. This would allow our community to decide which uses would be developed in the future, which could include such things as Movie Studios or a Hi Tech/Bio Tech Business Complex to create jobs or a permanent site for SV Days or a major First Class Sports Complex etc…

I personally do not prefer any expansion of our landfill but realize that we do not have the final decision in its approval. I am working hard on making sure that Simi Valley gets our fair share of benefits if this expansion is ultimately approved by the County Board of Supervisors.

Respectfully,
Steve Sojka