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Temecula takes steps to annex quarry site

On March 27 the Temecula City Council approved a contract to study the effects of annexing new land. The study, an Environmental Impact Report, will describe how the annexation will affect the area, if at all.

Robbie Atkins presented a new idea to the council before the contract was approved. She and two other San Diego State University alumni came up with a plan to create a “Science Learning Center” on the newly annexed land.

“This will be a fantastic opportunity for children to see modern scientific research being done at a natural facility,” Atkins said. She is planning a fundraiser, to be held in the summer, to help pay for the creation of the center.

Mayor Pro-Tem Mike Naggar approved of the idea. “You can count on it,” he said, adding that the approval of Atkins’ idea was a “no-brainer.” Bob Johnson, the Assistant City Manager, agrees with Naggar. “We’re going to do it,” he said, though the challenge will be raising the money to create the center. “We’re going to look for different ways of getting money from donations.”

The city is attempting to annex the land as San Diego-based Granite Construction Company is applying for rights to mine it. The city and Granite are racing for the rights to the land. If Granite’s application is approved by the county, they will build a quarry on it.

The sought-after site lies on Temecula’s southern border and reaches south to the county line. It sits to the east of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve. “People think we’re annexing just because of the quarry, and it made us step it up, but we would’ve annexed it eventually,” said Naggar at the March 27 meeting.

The potential location of the center has already been built. The previous land owners built their dream home on the land but later abandoned it because their neighbors denied them permission to build a driveway to their property.

Atkins hopes the house will act as a visitor’s center for the reserve as well as a Science Learning Center. “There are a lot of different kinds of research that go on ,” she said.

Fire study, weather research, botany and animal husbandry are studied on the reserve. Atkins wants to build exhibits for each kind of research scientists do there. She also hopes to create a nature walk.

Researchers have found Native American artifacts near the site, said Atkins. “It’s a bit of a birthplace of civilization in Temecula,” she said.

Councilmember Ron Roberts added, “You wouldn’t believe all the stuff that’s up there.”

Atkins is grateful for the council’s support. “The city is willing to put their money where their mouth is,” she said, “and it’s almost a utopian community.”

Naggar said the creation of a Science Learning Center and visitor’s center compliments the city’s goal of creating open spaces. Ron Roberts agreed, “When we bought the land for the lower 79 interchange… I wanted to keep some [land] for open space.”

The council is doing what he had wanted to years ago, said Roberts. “You do things in years past and it all comes together in the future.”

The contract went to Webb and Associates and will not exceed the cost of $92,000.

 

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