Politics & Government

Tribe, Granite Fight Over Sacred Site

The construction company and the tribe argued about whether a site near a proposed quarry is sacred.

The site of a proposed quarry near Temecula is on holy ground, according to the Pechanga Tribe. A company planning to mine the site says that's a lie.

Representatives of the tribe and Granite Construction faced off today during a meeting at .

The meeting aims to let the Riverside County Planning Commission hear arguments for and against the planned Liberty Quarry and decide whether to approve permits that will allow a mile-long mine adjacent to Temecula's southern border.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To read more about the plan, .

The site of the quarry is near where the world was created, and where the first person ever to die was cremated, according to Pechanga leaders.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To see a video of a tribal chairman telling the creation story,

The tribe authored legislation that would stop quarries from being developed near Native American sacred sites.

to read about the tribe's plan. to read about Granite Construction's reaction.

Representatives of the tribe and Granite laid out their positions on this proposed legislation today.

Commissioner Jim Porras asked Paul Macarro, the tribe's cultural coordinator, why Pechanga failed to object to a plan Temecula developed to annex the land. That plan would technically allow the city to put more than 80 houses on the site.

Granite officials accused the tribe of supporting a plan to build houses on the alleged sacred site in an emailed announcement today.

To read the announcement, click on the photo gallery above.

Planning commissioners grilled Macarro about this during the meeting.

"You're replacing one development with another,” Porras asked Macarro. “Why didn't you do something preemptive when you had the resources to do so?"

The tribe never took a stand against the annexation because the city would never permit the quarry, and because building houses on the site would be next to impossible, according to Jacob Mejia, the spokesperson for the tribe.

"Nobody would've imagined a development like that at this site," he said later in the meeting.

The area has no utilities or roads and is very mountainous, making it an impractical place for housing development, Mejia said.

The existing zoning laws do permit this use, though it's unlikely, according to a Planning Department staff report.

"Both city and county land use plans would technically allow for approximately 80 single-family units within the subject area. However, due to severe constraints on public service availability, access and site topography, it is unlikely that more than a few units, if that, will ever be built, regardless in which jurisdiction the property untimely lies," reads a Planning Department staff report.

Building houses would also contradict the plans the city announced at the time, which included turning it into a nature preserve.

“The goal of our attempted annexation was to preserve and protect the open space and rural character of the area, pure and simple,” said Councilmember Jeff Comerchero after the meeting in an emailed announcement. “Granite Construction’s assertion that Pechanga supported development at the project site is a gross misrepresentation of the facts."

To read Pechanga's announcment reacting to Granite's claims, click on the photo gallery above.

Regardless of the creation site's importance, the quarry would be far away from it, said Gary Johnson, aggregate manager for Granite.

“From the tribe's own maps, our project site lies outside the property identified as Pechanga’s creation site," he said via email. "Pechanga’s own golf course is closer to the tribe’s creation site than Liberty Quarry."

UPDATE: This story was modified from its original verion at 10:15 p.m. Details were added about Granite and Pechanga's claims.


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