Marathon Public Hearing: One For The Record Books

A nearly 16-hour-long public hearing was likely the longest in the Riverside County Planning Department’s history, officials said.

The June 21 hearing was the third in a series that let residents address commissioners about Liberty Quarry, a planned mine just south of Temecula.

If approved, Watsonville-based Granite Construction will create a mile-long quarry on a 414-acre site bordering Temecula.

To read about the hearing,

“It is our understanding, based on word of mouth, that the meeting was the longest the County Planning Commission has had,” said Matt Straite of the county planning department.

The hearing started at 9 a.m. June 21 and ended around 12:45 a.m. the next day, he said.

The county has a long history – it formed in 1893 – so there is some uncertainty about whether last week’s hearing was really one for the record books, said Ray Smith, a spokesperson for the County of Riverside.

A meeting in the early 1990s also took all day, though it was probably shorter than the recent quarry hearing, Smith said.

He was unable to say for sure, though. “I don’t know who’s still around who would remember.”

The planning department aims to hold another quarry hearing, though no date has been set.