Liberty annexation proceeds

An outpouring of residents and activists prompted the Temecula City Council December 9 to press ahead with hotly contested plans to block a proposed surface mine by annexing 4,997 acres of granite-strewn hillsides.

A five-and-a-half-hour emotion-laden hearing on the proposed Santa Margarita Canyon annexation – which includes the controversial Liberty Quarry site – attracted about 165 people and was capped by unanimous council votes moments before midnight.

But the hearing, which attracted a smaller audience than a Nov. 19 Planning Commission review, did not mark the end of the long-running cla...