MOORPARK : County OKs Permit for Gravel Quarry

Denying appeals by the city of Moorpark and several landowners, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors has upheld the county Planning Commission’s approval of a permit for a new 80-acre gravel quarry north of Moorpark.

The board on Tuesday granted a 20-year permit to Quality Rock Inc. to operate a quarry at the north end of Buena Vista Street, about four miles from Moorpark.

While approving the permit, the board imposed conditions on the company that are expected to set a precedent for all new business development in the hills north of Moorpark, city officialssaid.

Moorpark officials and property owners near the planned quarry had appealed the commission’s approval of the permit because the business would aggravate problems with truck traffic, noise and dust in the rural area, said Ritch Wells, an administrative assistant to Supervisor Vicky Howard.

In response to those concerns, the board approved Howard’s motion that Quality Rock be required within eight years to build an alternate route that will take all of the company’s truck traffic off Fruitvale Lane and most of it off Buena Vista Street, Wells said.

The company will only be allowed to have 72 one-way truck trips from the quarry site until the alternate route is built, but that restriction could be eased once the new road is finished.

The board also ruled that Quality Rock must contribute toward building a bypass road for California 23.

The proposed bypass road, which would alleviate truck traffic along two-lane Walnut Canyon Road in Moorpark, would run roughly parallel to California 23.

City Councilman Scott Montgomery said the board decision sets a precedent. Other businesses that want to expand north of the city will also have to contribute toward the planned bypass, he said.

Quality Rock already operates another quarry just east of the location for the new operation.

When the company begins quarrying the new site, Blue Star Inc. will take over the permit for the existing quarry.