Neighbors: Permits lacking, graffiti still present at Carlsbad quarry

By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer | Friday, July 7, 2006 11:31 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Neighbors gathered Friday on Haymar Road near the front gate of Hanson Aggregates Inc. to draw attention to dozens of new cars stored on the company's property without a permit, as well as to the continued presence of graffiti and trash in and on El Salto Falls straddling the borders of Oceanside and Carlsbad.

The El Salto site is considered hallowed ground by the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians.

"Their permit is limited to recycling operations; it does not pertain to storing cars," said Diane Nygaard, a community activist who has repeatedly spoken out about conditions in the valley on Carlsbad's northern border, just south of State Route 78 and just west of College Boulevard.

Mel Vernon, a member of the San Luis Rey band, visited the site Friday alongside residents who live in the area. He said the sight of graffiti sprayed on the rocks and trash strewn throughout the area, including several shopping carts dumped in the pools of water below the falls, were depressing.

"It concerns me directly," he said. "This is our heritage."

Peter Zagar, environmental and regulatory affairs manager for Hanson Aggregates in Southern California, said Friday that he believed storing vehicles on the property was covered under the company's existing permit and added that the company is working with the neighboring Quarry Creek shopping center in Oceanside to reduce graffiti in the area.

Though Oceanside is currently overseeing reclamation efforts at the property, the land is technically inside Carlsbad's boundaries and thus it is Carlsbad's rules and ordinances that apply to Hanson Aggregates.

Nygaard noted that storing cars on the property for an adjacent car dealership is not the first time Hanson has managed to allow activities on its property without the necessary permits. She noted that the company excavated more than 90,000 tons of soil ---- about 17,000 of those tons were found by company officials to be contaminated with petroleum ---- without a grading permit from Carlsbad.

Neighbor Shelley Hayes Caron, who lives on Haymar in a historical adobe home, said Carlsbad has not enforced its own graffiti ordinance on the property, especially at El Salto Falls which is tucked next to a tall retaining wall that holds up much of the nearby Quarry Creek shopping center in Oceanside.

"The city's ordinance says that the graffiti's supposed to be taken care of within 48 hours," Caron said. "It's been there since May and it's still there."

"I want them to seriously enforce the city codes," Nygaard added.

Sandy Holder, Carlsbad's community services director, said Friday that the city met with Hanson at the site recently and noticed the cars parked on the lot.

"Their permit is for mining, it doesn't have anything to do with storing vehicles," Holder said. "We told them they would need a conditional-use permit for what they were doing, and they were on the phone within a few minutes of us getting back to the office."

She added that the city will not require the cars to be removed from the property because they are parked in areas that have previously been used for storage.

Zagar said Friday that he thought the company's existing permit, granted by the city in 1961, covered storing vehicles on the property. He said Hanson has previously leased the same paved lots to another company which stored heavy equipment there for some time with no apparent need for a new permit. He added that the cars, which are brand-new, will not likely hurt anything.

"These are brand-new cars," Zagar said. "They're not leaking. There are no environmental issues."

Holder said the city of Carlsbad was unaware that Hanson had been leasing its property for storage.

"We may have thought it was their equipment for their operation," she said.

Holder added that the city's code enforcement department, which she oversees, has asked Hanson remove the graffiti from El Salto Falls. She said it will take some time to get the work done, because the Buena Vista Creek, which flows through the area, is considered environmentally sensitive.

"They will have to go in with wire brushes to remove it. They cannot use chemicals," she said.

She added that Hanson has agreed to employ a new type of security on its site. She said a security guard will now walk the perimeter of the property every 15 minutes to try to deter vandals from repainting the falls or other areas of the site.

"We are going to do everything we can," Holder said. "We realize this is a sacred location."

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.