GREUEL DEMANDS INVESTIGATION INTO REPORTS OF ILLEGAL MINING.

Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW Staff Writer

City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel has asked the City Attorney's Office to investigate whether a developer is operating an illegal mine on his Sun Valley property, officials said Friday.

Her request comes after the Department of Building and Safety ordered Forum Engineering & Construction Inc. to stop grading operations after it was discovered last week selling rock from the site, officials said.

``This is illegal activity and I want it stopped,'' Greuel said through a spokesman. ``That's why I instructed the Building and Safety Department to refer the matter to the city attorney for prosecution, including felony fraud prosecution.''

The company, which had excavated rock and gravel for a year under a grading permit to build six homes, insists that it has never sold rock or operated a mine.

In June, the city shut down the Forum Engineering home-building site at Wentworth Street and Wealtha Avenue for operating what officials said was an illegal mine used to excavate, crush, sort and sell rock.

Then, based on a tip received last week, a city grading inspector followed a truckload of rock taken from the Forum job site to a Valley materials yard, officials said. The inspector found evidence of a rock sale and prior sales from a company doing business as Forum Sand, Gravel & Rock of Tarzana.

Inspectors are also investigating a second business for allegedly buying rock taken from the Forum Engineering property.

``We had assurances from the owner of the property that he would cooperate in every way,'' said Bob Steinbach, spokesman for the Department of Building and Safety.

``It appears that the first opportunity he got, he continued to do work. When you crush rock and sell it, it becomes a business -- and that's not what he's permitted to do,'' he said, adding that a truck scale added to the evidence. ``There's no doubt he was selling the rock.''

But Moshe Zemach, chief executive officer of Forum Engineering & Construction Inc. of Sylmar, said he never ran an illegal mine under a grading permit to build six $1 million homes.

In order to build them to city code, he said, he obtained approvals to excavate 14 feet of heavy river rock and replace it with clean, compacted earth.

He also insisted he never sold any of the excavated rock, but instead recycled it at other construction sites or traded it for drywall and other building materials at local supply yards.

``Unbelievable,'' Zemach said when informed of the city attorney's investigation. ``I'm very upset about this. It's like an order came from the top to hammer us. We had nothing to do with the sale of any rock.''

In addition to his Sun Valley site, Zemach has received permits from Los Angeles County to terrace a ridge in Lopez Canyon to plant a 35-acre vineyard.

He said he expects to see a crop of Thompson, Concord and Zinfandel grapes within five years.

A recent visit to Zemach's property near the top of Lopez Canyon in the Angeles National Forest east of Sylmar found a bulldozer cutting deep into a hill. Below ran a conveyer dumping rock and gravel into neatly assorted piles.

Zemach, who has moved his construction business to Lopez Canyon, said he intends to conserve the land and to stop the prolific illegal dumping there.

He said he wants to use the rock and gravel excavated from the hill in terracing his vineyard and at 180 more acres he's purchased in Lopez Canyon.

He said he wants to create a fine wine with the Lopez Canyon label.

``I'm about to retire. I want to do something with my life. I want to make kosher wine, good kosher wine,'' said Zemach, 50, of Sherman Oaks, a native of Israel.

``It's going to be very helpful to the Jewish community.''

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

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