Dive Brief:

• Santa Fe Springs planning commission approved a would-be Universal Waste Systems materials recovery facility and transfer station recently, but at least one member of the community is looking into appealing the approval.
• The public has up to 14 days from the approval date to appeal the decision, the Whittier Daily News reports. Council could rubber-stamp the planning commission decision, arrange another public hearing before council on it, or refer it back to the commission for further discussion.
• If given a final approval by council, the transfer station, and MRF will sit on a nearly four-acre site along Norwalk Blvd. The approval process has never been a question of simply allowing the type of facilities at issue, but rather, it’s about where the operation will be located, Santa Fe Springs commissioner Mike Madrigal said.

Dive Insight:

While some commissioners are opposed to the site, Universal Waste Systems already uses the proposed location to park trucks and containers for the company’s operations. Local zoning requires municipal leaders to allow various types of uses in different spots in a community, excluding none, and given that the proposed site already is the location of waste hauling operations, any appeal is likely to be unsuccessful.