Mines, Homes Find No Peace as Neighbors : Development: Residents in booming western Riverside County say blasting damages their dwellings. Companies blame other causes.

For more than a century, mining companies could declare much of the mountainous and largely uninhabited Temescal Valley their own.

Operations to mine sand, gravel, tin and clay had gone about their business without the burden of government restrictions and the worry of having residents next door.

But as new homes crept closer and closer, the miners of one of the richest deposits of aggregate mineral resources in Southern California found themselves in bitter battles with the new neighbors.

As thousands of acres of prized residential real estate are being developed in the Temescal Valley, the companies fear that city councils will be more receptive to vocal residents than mining officials, who often mention the adage “rocks don’t vote.”

“Mines aren’t quite as cute as Stephens’ kangaroo rats,” said mining consultant Donna McCormick, referring to an endangered species that has blocked development of hundreds of acres of land in western Riverside County.

“It’s very difficult to fight emotion,” she said. “You can say you’re going to do this and going to do that. Unfortunately (opponents) are so entrenched that no amount of public relations is going to turn them around.”

In the most recent battle, All-American Asphalt, which has operated on a 180-acre site near Corona for 20 years, has proposed expanding its operations by 53 acres. Mining would take place about 50 feet from the open-space property line of the development.

The mining company lost the first round. About 100 residents packed a Planning Commission meeting in March to oppose the expansion. After a heated debate, the commission voted unanimously to turn down the plans, saying that there were too many uncertainties over the impact of mining and blasting so close to homes.

The company appealed to the Corona City Council and won. Company officials say that the expansion will not take place for at least five years. Meanwhile, homeowners are debating their next step.

Much of the opposition has come from residents at Four Seasons, a new, 441-home development north of the proposed expansion area. Many of the residents say that they were not told they lived so close to a mine and were alarmed by the first blasts at the site.

“I went home from work one day and felt so many tremors,” said Art Villarreal, who lives in Four Seasons. “Soon I began to wonder, ‘Why are there so many earthquakes?’ Then I found out that they were mining blasts.”

But company officials stress that the expansion will not bring the mining any closer to homes than it already is, and that the blasts will be monitored by a third-party seismologist.

Still, some residents charge that even the monitored blasts undertaken so far have been enough to cause significant damage to their homes.

In one of the more extreme cases, Claire Husted said the blasting has caused $81,000 in damage to her home, located only several hundred feet over a knoll from the All-American mine. When blasting began about eight years ago, Husted said, she began to notice cracks in her walls, floors and ceilings.

“It’s worse than an earthquake,” she said.

Soon the cracks grew to almost two inches wide and several yards long. Two years ago, Husted said, she and her husband were forced to tear down and replace three rooms in their 60-year-old home. She said that All-American engineers told her the house was settling.

“It never settled in 60 years, not even a hairline crack,” Husted said. “Then with every blast it got worse and worse.”

Although their insurance company paid for repairs, it dropped their policy soon after, Husted said. Just weeks after the repairs were done, the cracks began to show again. The couple have been unable to sell their secluded five-acre ranch because of the damage, she said.

“There’s no justice,” said Husted, who has brought her case to the Corona City Council. “There’s nothing you can do. I’ve gone to everyone clear up to the President of the United States.”

In addition to Husted, mobile-home owners nearby say that they have suffered significant damage.

All-American Asphalt officials argue that no one has ever proved that the blasts caused the damage to homes. Instead, they cite other factors, such as soil conditions, other seismic activity and water runoff.

“There’s a difference between feeling a blast and having a blast cause some of the damage,” said McCormick, who has been working with All-American on the expansion plans. She added that nearby housing tracts and the new Interstate 15 freeway have required blasting, not just All-American.

“Unfortunately, they are all getting tarred by the same brush,” McCormick said.

Residents near other mining companies to the south also say that they have damage. Shirley Sawyer, who lives in El Cerrito, said that she has a 24-foot crack through her house and that other rooms also have significant cracks.

“It’s kind of like a sonic boom,” Sawyer said of the blasts. “It jars the life out of your house.”

Still, she hasn’t pressed a claim against either Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing or Santa Ana River Rock, the two major mining companies nearby, in part because the alternative to mining would be to have a residential area next door and because she sees the mines as an important revenue source for the area.

“The mining companies have been a buffer zone between me and other things coming in I didn’t like,” she said.

Ironically, it has been urban growth such as the proposed 3,200-home Eagle Valley development that has in large part kept the mining companies in business and has warranted their need for expansion. The closer the companies are to development, the cheaper it is to haul aggregate to build homes, businesses and roads, all in heavy demand in western Riverside County. In fact, the price of aggregate, on average, doubles every 20 miles that it is hauled, McCormick said.

Even so, as urban sprawl has moved closer, more conditions have been placed on the mines, such as the hours of work and intensity of blasts, said Riverside County Supervisor Walter Abraham.

“The mining and citrus companies were here prior to any of the residents,” Abraham said. “We can’t just shut them down.”

Mining companies say that they have accepted the growth and have changed their equipment to make it more efficient and less disruptive to nearby residents.

“You have to be more technically careful so you don’t disturb the neighbors,” said Daniel Sisemore, president of All-American Asphalt. “We’ve been here a long time. As the houses get closer, we have to endeavor to be good neighbors. . . .”