An attorney for the Martinelli family, which owns West Marin Sanitary Landfill, has given the county an ultimatum: Either allow the Martinellis to operate a transfer station at the dump for 10 years or face a series of lengthy and costly lawsuits.

However, the proposal hasn't resonated with Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who told attorney Peter Brekhus the idea is out of line with an agreement the Martinellis signed a year ago.

Under the new proposal, Shoreline Disposal would resume hauling West Marin trash to the Point Reyes Station landfill. Shoreline last week started driving the garbage to Novato.

Richmond Sanitary Service would operate a transfer station at the West Marin site - as long as certain liability issues are resolved with the Martinellis - and garbage would be trucked once a day to Potrero Hills Landfill near Suisun, Solano County.

Curbside-pickup rates for Shoreline Disposal customers would increase an average of $2.10 per month to pay for the hauling and disposal of garbage and operating of the transfer station.

Also, the landfill would continue to take in "inert" materials such as dirt and concrete to stave off the dump-closure process, and in the meantime, a closure plan would be finalized and funded.

If the county doesn't agree to the idea, Brekhus wrote in a Sept. 19 letter to Kinsey and county Planning Director Mark Riesenfeld, the Martinellis would respond by slapping the county with two lawsuits.

One suit would claim that "the public use of this site for years and the premature closing of it without providing for funding constitutes a 'taking' of the property."

The other would seek to identify "contributors" to the cost of closing the dump. The county, Bolinas Public Utility District, and Stinson Beach Water District would be named as "arrangers" of hazardous waste, and the Park Service, Caltrans, Chevron Oil, and the City of Fairfax would be just some of the names on a long list of the landfill's users.

When told about the threatened suit BPUD Director Jack McClellan mused, "I didn't know we were in the hazardous waste business. I suppose it could be necessary allegations to get us into court ... Maybe somebody snuck a painted board into the garbage."

Brekhus on Wednesday countered that much of West Marin's household garbage could be classified as hazardous.

The attorney said that although he's willing to work with "reasonable people" at the county, some of the "radicals" in West Marin who have been critics of the landfill are likely to leave little choice but litigation.

The attorney said several hundred signatures on a petition to keep the landfill open lead him to believe that the critics amount to a "small group of people who are beating a very large drum."

He added that it seems as though this small group simply wants to close down the dump, "dig three small graves for the Martinelli family and then shoot them."

One man who signed the petition was Guy Schwering, a contractor and owner of several homes in Stinson Beach and Point Reyes Station.

If no transfer station were set up, "I'd have to go to San Rafael all the time and drive on the freeway," Schwering said. "It's farther, it takes more time, and it's more dangerous for myself and others to be hauling a trailer full of debris," he said.

Schwering, for one, isn't completely convinced that the West Marin Landfill is polluting Tomasini Creek. That said, he added, people should divert as much trash from the landfill as possible by recycling.

In his letter, attorney Brekhus urged the county to expedite the creation of a transfer station by not requiring a costly expansion permit.

For his part, Supervisor Kinsey called Brekhus' letter "a non-starter. It attempts to bypass the CEQA process... as if the county can wave a magic wand and let them in the door."

Kinsey is miffed at the Martinellis for trying to wiggle out of an agreement signed last year in "good faith" to close the dump on Sept. 30. In exchange for agreeing to close, the landfill got $100,000 from the county and a projected $200,000 from increased garbage-pickup rates for Shoreline Disposal customers.

The Martinellis say they have spent the money on environmental studies and past-due regulatory fees. The dump itself remains open.

Attorney Brekhus said the agreement required the Martinellis only to make their "best effort" to close on Sept. 30, and they did that. He said that regulators are satisfied with the Martinellis' work on correcting environmental problems and their plans for closure.

Supervisor Kinsey said, "I have no grudges against the Martinellis. I don't see them having to eat the whole pie," referring to the cost of closing the dump. But, he added, he wishes the Martinellis would be better "partners" in resolving the dilemma.

As for the plan to keep the dump open, Kinsey said, "There's absolutely nothing that precludes the landfill from applying for use permit to operate a transfer station."

However, Kinsey noted that Planning Director Riesenfeld last year told the Martinellis that a transfer station would require use and coastal permits as well as an amended solid-waste facility permit.

The West Marin Waste Brigade, which is partly made up of longtime dump critics, has recommended that Shoreline directly haul West Marin's trash over the hill to Novato's Redwood Landfill. Individuals hauling their own loads would have to go to Redwood too.

The brigade determined that a transfer station would cost West Marin residents more than direct hauling in the long term. Some brigade members claim that a transfer station would also discourage people from recycling more.

Kinsey and his brigade will present their ideas on the future of West Marin's trash at a public meeting, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, in the Dance Palace.