FILLMORE : State to Reconsider Mine Zoning Issue

State mining officials in Sacramento have agreed to reconsider a requested zoning change, moving Southern Pacific Milling Co. another step forward on its 500-acre sand and gravel mine proposed west of Fillmore.

But members of a citizens group leading the opposition to Southern Pacific Milling’s Boulder Creek project said they can prove that the mining company’s petition for the zoning does not meet standards set by the state Board of Mining and Geology.

In September, Southern Pacific Milling asked the state board to declare Boulder Creek a significant mining resource that was threatened by opposition from Fillmore residents and area farmers.

If Boulder Creek wins state designation as an important mineral resource, Fillmore officials have said, it would be more difficult for Ventura County supervisors to deny the project, which area farmers say would harm agriculture.

Laura Bartels, chairwoman of the Valley Advisory Committee, a citizens group, said “significant resource” zoning on Boulder Creek might mean that state officials could give Southern Pacific Milling a permit even if county supervisors do not approve.

During a hearing in Sacramento, members of Bartels’ group pointed out that the board’s own guidelines allow state mining zones to be changed only when a mineral resource might be permanently destroyed by other land uses, such as urbanization. Boulder Creek and surrounding areas are now zoned for agriculture.

State mining officials said in September that they would deny any change in status if Fillmore officials could prove that there were no plans to develop the area. But a new petition by Southern Pacific Milling may make it more difficult for opponents to block the company’s move.

“Basically what they’re doing is changing the definition of urbanization,” Bartels said. The mining company has tried to prove that the area around Boulder Creek may be developed with luxury homes on mini-ranches, which would be incompatible with mining, Bartels said.

The advisory committee will try to discredit the statements at a state board meeting in San Bernardino in December, Bartels said. “They sent photos of these huge homes without saying where they were,” she said, “and there’s nothing like that happening around Boulder Creek.”

A final decision on the zoning is expected in January, 1992.

Southern Pacific Milling officials could not be reached over the weekend, and Cecil Elliott, a land-use consultant for the company, declined to comment.