Panel Backs Rock Crushing at Mound Site

A proposed rock-crushing operation designed to remove an unsightly, 35-foot-high mound from a site off the Foothill Freeway in Sunland-Tujunga won the backing Tuesday of a Los Angeles City Council committee.

The Planning and Environment Committee recommended approval of the rock crushing at the urging of its chairman, Howard Finn, whose district includes the site near La Tuna Canyon Road.

The earthen material was illegally dumped on the undeveloped property in 1981 by a contractor hired to excavate a nearby site for a county sewer project, says a report to the committee from the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals. Finn described the property as an “eyesore and hazard in the event of flooding.” But he originally opposed the rock crushing, expressing fear that it would generate truck traffic through residential La Tuna Canyon.

Controls on Crushing

Finn said he changed his mind, however, after realizing that, by granting a variance for the rock crushing, the city could impose controls on the activity. These would include requiring trucks hauling away the material to use the freeway, bypassing the residential neighborhood, he said.

If the council does not allow the rock crushing, Finn maintained, the property owner would have to use 40 trucks a day for a year to remove all the rock. More importantly, he said, the trucks probably would use La Tuna Canyon Road, and the city would not be able to do anything about it.

He said the area would be cleared more quickly if the property owner, Keith E. Card, were granted a variance to crush and sell the rock for building materials. Without a variance, Card said, removal of the estimated 80,000 cubic yards of material would cause him an economic hardship.

The rock crushing has been opposed by the Sunland-Tujunga Assn. of Residents and the La Tuna Canyon Community Awareness Assn. But Finn said a survey he took of La Tuna Canyon residents found that a majority supports his position.

Mary Ann Geyer, land use chairman of La Tuna Canyon Community Awareness Assn., expressed concern Tuesday that trucks would use La Tuna Canyon Road despite the city’s ban. “Who’s going to police it?” she said. “They will, in fact, use La Tuna Canyon.”