Gravel mining firm sues Irwindale for $95 million; City wants quarry free for other property development.The Irwindale City Council's development plans for a rock quarry -- once designated to become a Raiders football stadium -- have led to a $95 million lawsuit against the city filed by a major gravel mining company. Attorney William Capps with Jeffer, Mangels mangels Beta vulgaris; called also mangel-wurzel. , Butler & Marmaro in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. -- who represents United Rock Products Corp. -- describes the dispute as a "battle between the development expectations of the city and reality." The city attorney said the council denied United Rock a digging permit because the city's goal is to "cause the (gravel) pits to be reclaimed for more productive development." Irwindale, an industrial city with a population of only 1,000 and a Miller Brewery, is and will continue to be a sand and gravel producing area marked by mining pits, said Capps. He noted that United Rock's quarry produces 14 to 15 percent of the sand and gravel used by builders in Los Angeles County. Sand price would rise The company employs 40 people at its site near Arrow Highway and the San Gabriel River San Gabriel River is the name of watercourses in two states:
Meanwhile, he alleged, no shopping malls or office buildings are going to be built in the San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. community. "A lot of developers have gone bust trying to build things out there (in Irwindale)," said Capps. "People would rather live next door to a Nordstrom's, and the city council would prefer the sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. revenue, but it's not going to happen." However, the city council believes that if United Rock's three pits and others in Irwindale were filled in, all sorts of development possibilities would open up, said attorney Andrew Arczynski of Markman, Arczynski, Hanson & King in Brea, who represents the city. "If it was not a hole in the ground, who knows?" said Arczynski. United Rock bought the three gravel pits Noun 1. gravel pit - a quarry for gravel stone pit, quarry, pit - a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate; "a British term for `quarry' is `stone pit'" in 1988 and 1989 and almost immediately found itself in a dispute with the city, which had plans to condemn the "Pit No. 1" property for development of a Los Angeles Raiders stadium. After that deal fell through, the quarry became known in the community as "Raider Crater." In 1989, the city also circulated an environmental impact report exploring various commercial and industrial development possibilities for the property. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the lawsuit filed Nov. 14, the city "routinely threatened to revoke To annul or make void by recalling or taking back; to cancel, rescind, repeal, or reverse. revoke v. to annul or cancel an act, particularly a statement, document, or promise, as if it no longer existed. United's operating permits." Board topples ruling Then in 1990 and 1991, the city "attempted to disapprove dis·ap·prove v. dis·ap·proved, dis·ap·prov·ing, dis·ap·proves v.tr. 1. To have an unfavorable opinion of; condemn. 2. To refuse to approve; reject. v.intr. United's reclamation Reclamation A claim for the right to return or the right to demand the return of a security that has been previously accepted as a result of bad delivery or other irregularities in the delivery and settlement process. plans," but the decision was overturned by the State Mining and Geology Board, the suit continued. In 1992, United Rock tried to negotiate a settlement with the city. A plan was drafted under which United Rock would transfer Pit No. 1 to the city, plus pay for various infrastructure improvements in the area. In exchange, United Rock would receive approval to dig deeper in Pits No. 2 and 3. The plan was approved by the city's Planning Commission Noun 1. planning commission - a commission delegated to propose plans for future activities and developments commission, committee - a special group delegated to consider some matter; "a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours" - Milton Berle , but the decision was overturned by the city council. The lawsuit alleges that the council's vote was illegal because it violated the city law on appealing commission decisions to the council. The mayor submitted the appeal of the decision before the commission even voted. United Rock wants the council decision overturned, or, as an alternative, the company wants $95 million in compensation for the lost use of its property. According to the lawsuit, the council action has deprived United Rock of the value of its properties, "rendering them unmarketable and forbidding substantially all reasonable economic beneficial use." Further, "United has been unable to sustain good customer relations because of its inability to provide assurances to customers of a continuing source of products and materials," the suit stated. |
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