The Castaic Area Town Council has an opening, this time until the end of the year, following the resignation of a member.
Steven Howse, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit from more than 2,000 residents suing Waste Connections’ Chiquita Canyon Landfill over its environmental crisis in Castaic, told the council his family has moved, so he needed to step down.
“He and his family moved out of the area, basically for health reasons because of what’s going on at the landfill,” said Bob Lewis, president of the Castaic Area Town Council, during Wednesday’s virtual Town Council meeting.
All Town Council members must live in the district they represent, according to the council’s bylaws, Lewis said. Howse was in Region 2, Val Verde, which abuts the landfill.
There is less than one year left in Howse’s term, Lewis said, which means the rules call for the body to make an appointment that would last until the results of the next election in November.
Any applicant must be at least 18 years old, live within Region 2 for the map on the council’s website, and be a registered voter there, Lewis said.
Reading the rules, he said the Town Council will hold a majority vote to choose an applicant from all valid applications submitted. The deadline to apply for the seat is Feb. 3.
That person also would have the ability to run for a seat in November’s election.
Howse, whose son, Micah, began to have a nosebleed during a March 2025 news conference in Val Verde while residents were protesting the landfill’s decision to cut off relocation help, said there were a few reasons for the move, and the whole experience was very upsetting.
As someone who moved to the area 28 years ago as a 23-year-old, he said the process was very upsetting and not something he wanted to do, but something he felt like he had to do.
“We’re leaving because of the inability of the landfill to curb the toxins and the odors, and also the regulatory agencies to either force or to curb it for the landfill,” he said, “and then also, the inability of the county to be able to make any headway with the relocation funds,” he said, referring to the county’s separate ongoing lawsuit against Waste Management.
“I’m not saying whose fault it is,” he said, “I’m just saying that the fact of it is, they’re not able to do it. And so we just got to the point where, with my family’s health, and as well as myself, I couldn’t wait any longer.”
He also said he was extremely up-front about the impacts from the landfill with the buyer of his property, even more than he had to be, which prompted questions from his Realtor. Howse’s home is about 1,000 feet from the landfill’s border, he said.
He said he wanted to really make sure the person was aware of the smells, and there were two factors that helped the sale: the buyer would be using the space to support a business; and the person had trouble smelling due to COVID, so the smell was not a deterrent.
Howse said his resolve to sell was cemented by the experience of his fellow Town Council member Darcy Stinson, who was able to get another property in Castaic, farther from the landfill.
Stinson told him his health problems improved significantly once he moved away, which was tough for Howse to hear, but helpful to know.
Howse has testified in court, in front of the Legislature and the California Air Resources Board about the myriad problems plaguing the community from the landfill.
His most recent comments in front of CARB included the difficulties selling his home. On Thursday, he said he would miss living in Castaic, but he wouldn’t be too far away at the family’s new homebase in Acton.
The notice for applications and region map are available on the council’s website: castaictowncouncil.org.
