CRATER IN SUBURBIA FIRM MINING ROCK, NOT GRADING HOME SITES, CITY SAYS.

Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW Staff Writer

SUN VALLEY -- The house shook as if slammed by an earthquake, with a roar loud enough to drown out speech.

Cockatiels screeched. Horses reared. And Tom and Roxanne Hill heard their rustic peace shattered by the din of a D-9 Caterpillar and diesel rock-crusher working in a crater next to their home.

``I was scared,'' Tom Hill, 51, a ferrier in the historic Stonehurst neighborhood, said this week. ``I was afraid my house was collapsing.

``I couldn't even talk to my wife, or hear the phone. Because of the D-9 and the rock-crusher, you couldn't hear anything.''

A San Fernando Valley contractor has shaken Sun Valley for 13 months with what city officials say is an illegal mining operation used to excavate, crush, sort and sell rock.

This month, at the request of Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, the city ordered Forum Engineering & Construction Inc. to cease work on its 3.4-acre property at 10148 Wealtha Ave.

The Sherman Oaks company headed by Moshe Tzemach had been cited twice by Building and Safety Department officials for exceeding a grading permit to build six homes.

Neither Tzemach nor Forum Engineering returned phone calls seeking comment.

Instead of surface grading suitable for building homes, city officials said the contractor dug a 15-foot crater to excavate river rock with a series of belching Caterpillars, crushers, sorters and heavy trucks.

The once-vacant field across from Hansen Dam Golf Course is now marred by a giant hole surrounded by 20-foot piles of neatly sorted rock, sand and gravel.

``Outrageous,'' Greuel said. ``They were sorting, crushing on the property -- what seemed like mining activity. They were breaking the law.''

For residents, many of whom had complained to the city, the noise and dust were horrendous.

``It shook the hell out of us,'' said Roxanne Hill, 50. ``The stove moved. It just cracked it. And the door (now) doesn't want to close right. It just shifted.''

Yvonne Rivas, who lives next door, said her three daughters began coughing and sneezing after digging operations began in May 2005. Their doctor said their allergies were aggravated by the nearby excavation.

``They all had to go on nebulizers and they lost a lot of school because of health problems,'' said Rivas, 42, of her daughters, ages 4 to 10. ``I'm frustrated. I'm very angry about it. It's not safe for the kids -- the noise, the dust, the allergies. I'm sick of it.''

Greuel blamed Building and Safety Department officials for failing to shut down the crushing operation. Under the guise of a city grading permit, Forum Engineering was mining an ancient streambed for building materials, according to a letter Greuel wrote to the department last December.

When her staff tried to curtail mining operations, she added, department officials explained they were indeed permitted.

``I'm disappointed with Building and Safety performance on this issue,'' Greuel said. ``They have misled our community by allowing this to go on.'' She said she will make sure Forum Engineering -- which has excavated more dirt and rock than its current permit allows -- removes its sand and rock piles and fills in its crater with clean dirt. She also said she will work to prevent the contractor from getting a second grading permit needed to build six homes.

Neighbor Mary Benson had watched the bulldozers, crushers and 18-wheel gravel loaders for a year and wonders why it took so long to shut the contractor down.

Earlier, she said, she saw a crater as deep as 45 feet.

``It was beyond belief he tried to pass this off as a grading operation required by the city,'' said Benson, 58. ``It's mystifying why the city has allowed him to mine there.''

Since excavations ceased June 9, the Hills say they can't believe the silence on their half-acre horse property.

``In the year with that noise, I forgot how quiet it was in my backyard,'' said Tom Hill, surveying his stables from within his funky, live-and-let-live equestrian community. ``It's like, `Oh goodness.'''

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Sun Valley residents gather in front of a 3.4-acre site being used by Forum Engineering & Construction Inc. at 10148 Weatha Ave. City officials say the Sherman Oaks company is illegally excavating, crushing and selling rock.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer