Battles Continue Over Proposed Mine Site

The site of a proposed quarry near Temecula is on holy ground, according to the Pechanga Tribe. Granite Construction, the company planning to mine the site, says that's a lie.

Representatives of the tribe and Granite faced off today on the proposed Liberty Quarry mining project during a public hearing at Rancho Community Church in Temecula.

Today's hearing marked the -- the purpose has been to allow the Riverside County Planning Commission to hear more arguments for and against the planned Liberty Quarry project and decide whether to approve permits that will allow a mile-long mine adjacent to Temecula's southern border.

The proposed mine site is near where the world was created, and where the first person to die was cremated, according to Pechanga leaders.

The tribe authored legislation that would stop quarries from being developed near Native American sacred sites.

to read more about the legislation and the dispute.

County commissioner Jim Porras asked Paul Macarro, the tribe's cultural coordinator, why Pechanga failed to object to a plan Temecula built to annex the land that would allow more than 80 houses to be built on the site.

"You're replacing one development with another,” Porras asked Macarro. “Why didn't you do something preemptive when you had the resources to do so?"

Building houses on the site would be next to impossible, according to Jacob Mejia, the spokesperson for the tribe.

"Nobody would've imagined a development like that at this site," he said later in the hearing.

The area has no utilities or roads and is very mountainous, making it an impractical place for housing development, Mejia said.

The existing zoning laws do permit this use, though it's unlikely, according to a Planning Department staff report.

"Both City and County land use plans would technically allow for approximately 80 single-family units within the subject area. However, due to severe constraints on public service availability, access and site topography, it is unlikely that more than a few units, if that, will ever be built, regardless of which jurisdiction the property untimely lies," reads a Planning Department staff report.