Neighbors Trying to Crush Plan for Mines

When residents of million-dollar homes tucked into the Santa Clarita Valley’s Sand Canyon speak of “the crusher,” they are not lionizing their favorite wrestling star.

Instead, they bemoan a threat to their property values and their peace of mind--the relentless crash of a rock-pulverizing machine at an open-pit mine planned for a 40-acre site just 100 yards from the nearest house.

“The people I talk to here are absolutely appalled,” says Rita Garasi, a Sand Canyon resident who lives a mile from the proposed Black Diamond mine. “The crusher is most disturbing. We’d effectively be in a tin can. The noise would reverberate through the entire canyon.

“And how many people would buy near an open-pit mining situation? The only thing that could possibly top this is a nuclear test site.”

500 Homes in Canyon

Garasi speaks for many of the canyon’s about 500 homeowners, who fear the effects of noise, dust, and truck traffic from the Black Diamond mine and a much larger mine planned three miles away in a more remote area.

The Black Diamond project, planned across the road from Live Oak Campground, would last at least 10 years, U. S. Forest Service officials said.

Ironically, many residents built houses in the area because it is surrounded by government land that they thought could not be developed. For the most part, they were right--but they did not count on an 1872 law that encouraged mining on federal land otherwise restricted from industrial use.

“That law gives extensive rights to individuals filing claims, and there is extensive case law that upholds those rights to mine on federal land,” said Steve Bear, resource officer for the Forest Service’s Tujunga District.

“In our position, we can’t say mining shouldn’t take place,” he said. “We can say this is how the impact should be minimized.”

Laissez-Faire Attitude

“We’re really not into denying that kind of use if the mine operators are being diligent and it’s a properly filed claim and it’s economically justifiable for them to be there,” he said, adding that the Forest Service can require mines near populated areas to take measures such as limiting night and weekend operations.

Not surprisingly, the Forest Service philosophy does not sit well with Sand Canyon residents.

“It’s as if time is going backwards,” Garasi said. “We find ourselves subjugated to a 19th-Century law that’s turning a nicely developing, rural area into a mining town.”

Mike Levison, a swimwear manufacturer who owns a baronial, 6,000-square-foot English Tudor home about 200 yards down the road from the Black Diamond site, agrees. He founded a group called Minebusters, rounded up contributions from his neighbors, and has consulted with a Sacramento attorney specializing in environmental affairs. Their strategy, he said, is to await the Forest Service’s probable approval of Black Diamond before taking legal action.

“This would be a desecration of our beautiful and tranquil area,” he said. “It’s obscene. We have some very sophisticated people with means up and down the whole canyon willing to go to the wall on this.”

Area residents are determined to control development. For example, they recently mounted a campaign to fight construction of a large church in their neighborhood. Although they failed to persuade Los Angeles County supervisors to turn down the church project, they have threatened to take their cause to the courts.

Home Used in Films

Levison’s home, sitting on a hill behind an electronic gate, includes a guest house, stable and tennis court. It has been used for exterior shots on the “Matt Houston” television series and in feature films.

“I have substantially over $1 million in this place,” he said. “If you were looking for a home in that range, would you locate next to a rock crusher?”

The Black Diamond mine, planned by Los Angeles-based Eureka Consolidated Development Co., would extract iron magnetite ore from a series of terraces cut into a slope across Sand Canyon Road from a popular picnic area and campground.

A crusher at the site would grind the ore into 1 1/2-inch chunks, and an average of eight trucks a day would haul the chunks four miles to the Antelope Valley Freeway, and then to a processing plant. The ore, which sells for about $15 a ton, is used to strengthen cement.

The operation could start in 18 months, according to Forest Service officials. An environmental impact statement and an operating plan have not been approved, they said.

George Warsaw, Eureka’s president and general manager, was unavailable for comment.

Another project upsetting some Sand Canyon residents is planned by P. W. Gillibrand Co. of Simi Valley, which has filed mining claims on 8,000 acres in rugged terrain about three miles from the nearest populated area. Gillibrand would mine titanium ores, which are used in airplane alloys, and initially would drill for exploratory purposes on about 100 acres.

“We’re going to request a public hearing on this,” said Jan Heidt, who is active in the Sand Canyon Homeowners Assn.

“The Forest Service hasn’t been terribly communicative. We want to find out how big it is, what the impact will be, whether there will be possible impacts of drainage into the Santa Clara River.”

Concern Over Mining Roads

Heidt said neighbors also are concerned about construction of mining roads in the wilderness. “It gives them the means to get in there,” she said.

Phil Gillibrand, owner of the mining company, runs a gravel-mining operation about four miles east of Sand Canyon.

“We’ve been drilling and blasting and pulling rock out of the earth for 20 years, and most people hardly know we’re there,” he said.

He said that the 11 miles of roads planned for the operation would be mostly hidden from public view, and that the mine would be tucked into remote terrain invisible from homes or roads.

Concerned over the neighborhood outcry about his plans, Gillibrand organized a helicopter tour of his site for state and local officials, homeowner representatives and the press. The tour is scheduled for Saturday morning.

“We want to mitigate everyone’s fears ahead of time,” he said.