Image from the CMAP TV video of the Feb. 7 meeting.
Image from the CMAP TV video of the Feb. 7 meeting.

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The San Benito County Planning Commission on Feb. 7 officially rejected the environmental impact report certification for the proposed John Smith Road Landfill expansion project. It also denied the conditional use permit and declined to recommend to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors to change the land zone designation in the general plan for the proposed expansion. 

The 4-1 vote, in which Commissioner Robert Scagliotti was opposed, came a week after the commissioners voted in principle to reject the environmental report and directed staff to present the findings for denial. 

The project proposes to expand the existing 95-acre landfill by 388 acres to a total of 483 acres. According to the environmental documents, the waste footprint would increase from 58 acres to 311 acres. It would increase in altitude from 920 feet to 949 feet, which would make the landfill higher than the surrounding hills. The waste tonnage would also increase from 1,000 tons per day to up to 2,300 tons per day.

Existing John Smith Road Landfill and its expansion area boundary (in red). Photo from JSRL Expansion Project DEIR, Figure 3-4.

The applicant, Waste Connections, has 10 days to appeal the Planning Commission’s decision. If it is appealed, the item would be decided by the San Benito County Board of Supervisors. The county has not responded to a call to clarify whether the 10-day process began after Jan. 31—when the commission first voted to reject the proposal—or Feb. 7.

According to the Planning Commission findings document, it denied certification of the environmental report because it found benefits such as revenue do not outweigh the impacts in greenhouse gasses, air quality and aesthetics.

“The Planning Commission further finds that the Expansion Project did not propose significant improvements to recycling programs or diversion programs that provided meaningful benefits to outweigh the significant and unavoidable impacts,” the document states. 

Scagliotti disagreed with the findings.

“I believe the economic benefit to the county outweighs the environmental harm it may cause,” he said when voting to oppose.

Waste Connections Regional Engineer Manager Kurt Fuji said he did not have additional comments but was there to answer questions. 

“After five meetings probably enough has been said about this project,” he said. 

The commissioners did not ask questions of Waste Connections or open the hearing to public comment. At the previous meeting, 39 of the 41 speakers during public comment voiced their opposition to the landfill expansion, citing concerns over traffic congestion, noise and groundwater contamination. One speaker was in favor of the approval saying it would allow the supervisors to place the item on the ballot.

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Noe Magaña is a BenitoLink reporter. He began with BenitoLink as an intern and later served as a freelance reporter. He has also served as content manager and co-editor. He experiments with videography...