SAN MARCOS ——- A judge decided Thursday that the North County Transit District can temporarily operate a rock crusher to help build the Sprinter light-rail loop in San Marcos, but must work with nearby residents to establish conditions for its use.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Lisa Guy-Schall directed that transit district officials meet with residents in the coming week to address in writing issues such as when the rock crushing will finish and how noise and dust will be monitored.

The judge plans to keep tabs on the situation, and set an injunction hearing for Oct. 21 so she could halt the operation if the district fails to abide by the conditions.

Both residents and transit district officials said they were pleased with the decision Thursday.

Resident Brian Pribil, who filed a preliminary injunction Aug. 26 asking the judge to stop the rock-crushing operation near his home on Breezy Way, said the working conditions should help reduce the rock crusher's impact on the rural, residential neighborhood off Barham Drive.

Transit officials said being able to run the machine at Barham and Breezy Way will allow them to reduce truck traffic and save money during the construction of the 1.7-mile loop designed to serve Cal State San Marcos.

Transit officials said the judge's decision not to grant a temporary restraining order allows them to proceed with the $365 million project to build the 22-mile Sprinter line between Oceanside and Escondido.

"You could call Thursday a victory for us, but our goal is to continue construction while trying to be as sensitive to residents as possible," said Michael Cowett, an attorney representing the transit district. "The (decision) is a good thing for everyone to the extent that we are able to move ahead with construction and to the extent it will help facilitate communication with the neighbors."

The judge directed the transit district to hold regular meetings with neighbors to inform them about what is going on with the project.

The transit district also needs to reconfigure and maintain a temporary road it built after closing Breezy Way for the rock crusher, and they must work with residents on the street to figure out how they will receive mail and trash services, according to the judge's directions.

The judge also told the parties during a meeting in her chambers that she planned to drive out the site to take a look, said Karen Frostrom, the attorney representing the residents.

"This was as good as it could have gone," Frostrom said of the decision. "Now they are going to have to do it right because a judge is going to be driving around watching."

Frostrom said a transit district attorney said the operation would take only about five weeks, and no new rock would be added to the pile that residents now refer to as "Mount Barham."

Pribil said the news was encouraging because the transit district began crushing rock for the first time Thursday at the site and "it was plenty loud."

However, transit district officials differed with the attorney later Thursday on how long the rock crushing would continue.

Transit district spokesman Tom Kelleher said he had not heard of the five-week time estimate and said the operation should last between nine and 12 weeks, because officials estimate they need to process 80,000 to 100,000 tons of rock.

The district had to blast the rock away from a nearby hillside, and wants to crush the rock on-site because it plans to use it in nearby construction. Crushing the rock on-site means 4,000 fewer large trucks have to travel on San Marcos roads, Kelleher said.

In response to residents' complaints about the crusher, the city of San Marcos will also monitor the noise levels coming from the site, said Assistant City Manager Paul Malone.

He said the transit district must comply with the city's noise ordinance that prohibits any loud, unnecessary or annoying noises.

"We are not trying to make things hard on the (transit district)," Malone said. "We just want to determine for ourselves that they are complying with our noise standards."

Contact staff writer David Sterrett at (760) 761-4411 or dsterrett@nctimes.com.