Lowering Boom on Builder’s Blasts

In a community of multimillion-dollar homes, residents tend to expect a certain amount of peace and quiet.

So neighbors of posh Lake Sherwood near Thousand Oaks were a little rattled last week when the blasting began.

The Sherwood Development Co., owned by billionaire developer David Murdock, is using explosives to blast through granite outcroppings for a new golf course to be surrounded by dozens of homes.

In addition to noise concerns, residents of Carlisle Canyon fear the explosions will foul their groundwater and damage their wells. The latest blast was Thursday afternoon, another is scheduled late next week and several others will follow.

“Like most people, the biggest investment in our lives is our home, and we’re just trying to protect our homes,” said Michael Littleton, president of Carlisle Canyon Property Owners.

Beyond dust and noise that spook their animals, Littleton said homeowners who live near the construction zone worry most about the potential damage to their water wells.

“It’s more than an inconvenience,” homeowner Kerry Cox said. “If we lose our water, we’re out of luck. We know that development is going to happen, but all we ask is no blasting.”

Results from seismic monitors placed about 500 feet from the first blast indicated the amount of earth movement was about a quarter of that expected to cause property damage, a company official said.

“We don’t want to harm their homes,” said Robert Parmele, executive vice president of Sherwood Development. “We want to do everything in our power to not do that.”

Parmele said that the day after the June 24 blast he met with residents along Carlisle Road, whose homes are more than 1,500 feet away, and pledged they would receive advance notice of all explosions. No notices were originally given because the first blast was more than 1,000 feet from residences.

To determine just how much shaking neighbors experience, the company set up monitors on two families’ properties. Data from the first three blasts will be analyzed before explosives are used on two additional sections of the parcel closer to the Carlisle Road homes.

Minutes before Thursday’s blast, a siren alerted those in the area of the impending explosion, which from the deck of Cox’s home sounded like muffled firecrackers in the distance. A thick cloud of rock and dirt shot into the air then dispersed, exposing large boulders.

“I didn’t feel a thing. That was a fraction of the first blast,” said retired veterinarian Robert Miller, whose home sits in the canyon below the blast site where Sherwood Development set up a motion monitor. Miller said he dove under a desk after the first explosion and that he and most neighbors thought it was an earthquake.

Miller, who later noticed new cracks on his driveway and his home’s stucco, had his home inspected by company officials after Thursday’s blast.

Residents have repeatedly urged Sherwood to use large machinery to chip away the granite, a lengthy and more expensive option that Parmele insists has limits. “You don’t really take down a mountain with a chipping hammer,” he said.

County Planning Director Christopher Stephens, watching Thursday’s blast, said a county geologist would monitor the explosions and inspectors would be present to ensure the developer adhered to the conditions of its blasting permits.

“We want sound technical information behind us before we talk to Sherwood about altering the blast permit,” Stephens said.

Supervisor Linda Parks, whose 2nd District includes the area, has arranged for the county to oversee independent inspections of property and water wells along Carlisle Road. There will be follow-up inspections after the blasting is finished later this year.

Parks also plans to ask her fellow supervisors July 13 to strengthen the rules for grading projects involving explosives. Her plan would require developers to notify all property owners within 2,000 feet of a blast zone, twice the existing radius.