Poway Allows Rock Quarry to Double Its Size

The Poway City Council has voted to allow a rock quarry to double the size of its operations but stopped short of making way for an asphalt plant in settling a four-year dispute over the mine’s expansion.

The controversy pitted four homeowners associations that fear a drop in the quality of life against the Calmat Co. and local businesses that argued that the quarry was a vital source of building materials.

The City Council’s decision early Wednesday morning left many homeowners disillusioned.

“The process didn’t work. They thanked us a lot for our input, but the process was for naught,” Betty Rexford, a nearby resident, said. “The end result is that you work really long and hard on some of these committees, and they go ahead and do what they want anyway.”

Homeowners in the area had complained of the flow of trucks carrying rock and sand from the quarry along narrow Beeler Canyon and Beeler Creek roads, and the noise and dust from rock-crushing equipment.

But council members said the unanimous decision was a compromise, since the quarry failed to obtain all it wanted.

Councilman Robert Emery said the homeowners successfully pressured the council to block construction of the asphalt plant and to place extensive environmental restrictions on the rest of the operation.

“They had a definite impact, and they did not lose in any way, shape or form. They just did not get everything they asked for,” Emery said.

The fight over the 17-year-old rock quarry began in 1987 when Calmat applied for an extension and expansion of its operating permit, which was to expire last October. Calmat hoped to double its 83-acre sand- and gravel-mining operation and build an asphalt plant.

Last August, the City Council approved a modest 13.5-acre expansion of the mining, but it was determined that the increase was so small that it would violate a 1985 agreement that, in part, required the city to allow a quarry on that site. Subsequent permits must allow the quarry to be financially feasible.

After a five-hour meeting that began Tuesday evening and ended Wednesday morning, the City Council approved an agreement doubling the size and output of the facility while not allowing the asphalt plant.

Calmat also must spend up to $5 million to reduce noise, traffic and pollution. The most expensive requirement will be the construction of a heavy-truck access road, estimated to cost $1.4 million.

“All in all, we feel that we compromised, the community compromised and the process worked. We will assess where we are at now, but at least we have something that’s workable,” said Robert Imler, a district manager for Calmat.

South Poway is home to one of San Diego County’s few remaining good deposits of minerals used in gravel, cement and asphalt, vital to buildings and roads.