Rolling Hills Estates to test eight approved staging sites as trash complaints persist

Rolling Hills Estates officials directed staff on Jan. 12 to begin a trial using eight previously approved mother-truck staging locations and to continue exploring additional sites after residents complained about frequent truck activity, spills and odors near their homes.

City leaders said the schedule — provided by Republic Services on Jan. 11 — would phase the mother truck across eight approved locations so no single site would be used for more than a half day once per week. The committee also asked staff to work with the city traffic engineer to evaluate any new locations, coordinate with the Rolling Hills Association on easement issues and return to the traffic commission and city council with a timeline and milestones.

"There should be enough that you shouldn't have the truck in 1 location more than 1 day a week," said the Mayor, summarizing the committee's long-standing goal of spreading impacts more equitably across the city. Christian, a city staff member leading the solid-waste briefing, said Republic Services provided a preliminary schedule that would put the mother truck at two locations on Monday, two on Tuesday, two on Thursday and two on Friday.

Residents at the meeting, including Heidi, a Rolling Hills Estates resident, described frequent, repeated impacts at Portuguese Bend Road and nearby easements: "I don't want it in front of my house ... I am the trash lady," she said, adding that the truck has been parked near her property for multiple days a week and that loose trash and odors have affected neighbors.

Staff and council members described operational issues at Republic Services as the principal drivers of the service disruptions. Christian said the city is tracking staffing shortages and equipment breakdowns at Republic, and that those breakdowns can create cascading delays: when scooters or the mother truck are out of service, routes are not completed and staging activity can recur at a location on multiple days.

"My understanding is that we have 1 mother truck," Christian said. "Probably 6 [scooters]. They have 7 personnel servicing us, 6 scooters, and the mother truck driver," he added when asked about fleet size and personnel.

City staff and the committee listed three categories of problems: day-to-day collection and operational issues; staging and routing locations for the mother truck; and contractual/administrative issues, including incomplete monthly reporting and the mixed-waste facility being offline. The city is holding recurring monthly meetings with Republic's on-site supervisor to maintain face-to-face accountability, staff said.

Republic and city staff will begin the trial of the following approved locations per the schedule discussed at the committee meeting: Saddleback Road and Roadrunner Road (Monday morning); Wagon Lane and Portuguese Bend Road (Monday afternoon); Portuguese Bend Road South and Ranchero Road (Tuesday morning); Outrider Road and Eastfield Drive (Tuesday afternoon); George F Road (Thursday morning); Caballeros Road and Crest Road East (Thursday afternoon); Buggy Whip Drive and Crest (Friday morning); Crest Road East and Eastfield Drive (Friday afternoon). Staff said those sites were already approved by the city's traffic engineer in prior years and that Republic has recently tested several of them operationally.

Staff warned that some potential new sites sit on private association easements and cannot be modified without association cooperation. Artie, a Republic representative invited to the meetings, told staff he could make surface changes at some easements (for example scraping chips and adding decomposed granite) but city staff said some easements are controlled by homeowner associations and may have restrictions (including horse access) that complicate surface alterations.

The committee asked staff to produce a more detailed timeline and milestones for the next two months, to present options to the traffic commission, and then to return to the city council. The Mayor said she will convene a small, informal advisory group of residents to brainstorm locations; staff are not formal participants in that informal group but will be kept informed and will present any actionable options to the committee and to the traffic commission.

The committee also approved the meeting's consent calendar item – the affidavit of posting for the special Jan. 12 meeting — at the start of the session.

Councilmembers and staff said the city will continue monthly check-ins with Republic and will escalate unresolved operational problems to higher Republic management, while working through the traffic-engineer review and association permissions needed to make some sites usable.

What happens next: staff will proceed with the eight-location trial as soon as operationally possible, continue to identify and inspect additional potential staging areas with Republic and the traffic engineer (Vanessa), consult with the Rolling Hills Association on easement modifications, and return to the traffic commission and city council with a timeline and recommended permanent locations.