Oceanside Tells Sand-Mining Firms to Stop Operations

Two sand-mining companies have been ordered by the Oceanside City Council to halt operations in the eastern part of the city after allegations that they extracted excessive amounts of sand from along the San Luis Rey River.

The council’s unanimous decision Wednesday night upheld a similar decision by the city’s Planning Commission and followed the advice of its staff and an attorney hired by the city to take legal action to stop the sand mining.

On Thursday, in a decision that was essentially moot by then, Vista Superior Court Judge Robert O’Neill issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the two firms from mining sand outside a 400-foot channel down the middle of the river bottom.

City officials had claimed that the Marron Brothers and John Daley had violated the city’s conditional-use permit by mining outside the 400-foot parameters outlined by the city. Tim Thomas, an attorney for Marron, said his client may appeal the City Council’s ruling to Superior Court. John Daley could not be reached for comment.

The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that 1.5 million cubic yards of sand must be imported to restore the river.

City officials had contended that miners had gone as much as 40-feet deeper than allowed in their permits, and had gone several hundred feet outside the channel earmarked for sand mining.

Excessive excavation jeopardized several downstream structures, including two bridges and a fire station, officials said.

Thomas said the position of his client, Reggie Marron, was that the channel had shifted over the years and that Marron had merely followed the shifting channel to dig sand from it.

“And there are other causes that might explain the missing sand,” Thomas said. “They’re saying that what’s missing must be the fault of Mr. Marron, and I don’t think that’s been proven.”

That issue seems destined to eventually be resolved in the courts. The city of Oceanside has sued the two sand-mining companies for more than $10 million--the cost, the city says, of replacing the sand that was removed from the river illegally.

The San Luis Rey River is a significant source of sand used in production of concrete and asphalt.