Politics & Government
Officials to Consider Moving Quarry Meeting
The County Supervisors will meet Thursday to decide whether to reschedule the last hearing that will decide the fate of a quarry planned near Temecula.
will convene a special meeting tomorrow to discuss rescheduling a final public hearing on a controversial mining project near Temecula.
According to the county Executive Office, Supervisor Jeff Stone, whose district encompasses the area where the mine is proposed, will need to be in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to meet with Obama administration officials for talks about securing federal money for a number of local infrastructure projects.
Tuesday was supposed to be the last day of testimony in Watsonville- based Granite Construction's appeal of a decision by the county planning commission last year to deny grading and zoning permits for its 414-acre Liberty Quarry.
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To read about the quarry, .
"Both these issues are vital to our county's future,'' Stone said. "But if we cannot attend the meetings next week in our nation's capital, we do not know when, or if, we will have another opportunity.''
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The Board of Supervisors will convene at 5:15 p.m. Thursday at the County Administrative Center to decide on what date to reset the Liberty Quarry hearing. Hundreds of people attended hearings on the rock mine on Jan. 30 and Feb. 6 at the Riverside Convention Center.
Next Tuesday would have been Granite's opportunity to respond to some of the allegations made by quarry opponents. Granite is seeking a 75-year operating window, during which it plans to remove an estimated five million tons of construction-grade aggregate -- gravel and sand -- from escarpments just north of the boundary separating Riverside and San Diego counties, east of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve and west of Temecula, adjacent to Interstate 15 and Rainbow Valley Boulevard.
The company says the operation would result in 300 direct and indirect jobs, as well as more than $300 million in annual tax receipts for the county and localities.
Opponents argue the quarry would result in noise, pollution, drainage and habitat changes, with lasting repercussions. Additionally, members of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians say the project threatens sacred cultural sites.
