FALLBROOK: Gregory Canyon developers to seek new permit Additional reviews will delay but not derail project, developers say
By: Morgan Cook

Gregory Canyon landfill developers have agreed to more environmental studies to meet new requirements for a more extensive permit for a 183-acre dump three miles east of Interstate 15 near the Pala Indian reservation.

Developers said the additional studies will push back the start of construction from this summer to the end of the year.

The Army Corps of Engineers ruled in January that nearly all of the waterways in and around the landfill site fall under the federal Clean Water Act, a federal law that governs water quality.

Under a previous determination that expired in October, only the San Luis Rey River was governed by the act. The new determination classifies the river, its adjacent wetlands, and the main stem of Gregory Canyon as waters that are subject to the act.

Gregory Canyon Ltd. spokeswoman Nancy Chase said company representatives met with Corps officials last week to talk about the company's options in the wake of the ruling. The company could have appealed the ruling, abandoned the project, moved forward while the ruling was under appeal, or applied for the new permit, Chase said.

"We agreed to work cooperatively and to complete this project as quickly as possible," she said.

Additional requirements include a look at alternative locations for the dump and a battery of environmental assessments developers have already begun, Chase said.

"We've started some of the additional technical studies that need to occur based on weather," she said. "For example, there's a species study that has to be done this time of year."

In 1994, 68 percent of voters in San Diego County approved Proposition C, which amended the zoning rules to allow for a dump in Gregory Canyon.

Opponents, including the nonprofit group RiverWatch and the Pala band of Mission Indians, have fought doggedly to block the landfill, claiming that it would aggravate traffic congestion on Highway 76 and eventually pollute the San Luis Rey.

Meanwhile, Gregory Canyon Ltd. has argued for more than 13 years that the landfill is badly needed and that county residents could run out of landfill space by 2015 without the new dump.

If built, the landfill would be filled with 1 million tons of solid waste every year for 30 years.