MICHAEL BECK SAYS HE WILL RECUSE HIMSELF FROM SAND MINE VOTE, DEFENDS HIS EFFORTS TO ASSURE RESTORATION OF EL MONTE VALLEY SITE AFTER MINING

By Miriam Raftery

September 4, 2016 (Lakeside) – County Planning Commissioner Michael Beck,founder of the Endangered Habitat League,former head of the Lakeside River Park Conservancy and current board member of theSan Diego River Park Foundation, has drawn sharp criticism from some Lakeside residents over his involvement with the El Monte Nature Preserve LLC that is proposing a sand mine in El Monte Valley.  One prominent activist has called for Beck to recuse himself from voting for conflict of interest reasons.

Now Beck, in an exclusive interview with East County Magazine, says he’s always planned to recuse himself from voting on the controversial project—and also defends his efforts to get the best long-term environmental restoration possible for a project he believes will likely be approved as an allowable use under current zoning. No one has asked that the zoning designation be changed, he notes.

“I would never vote on the sand project,” says Beck, who was hired by Bill Adams, head of the mining company, “for the best biological outcome,” not to make money.  Lakeside Nature Preserve headed by Beck also owns Hanson Pond, an adjacent property that could be impacted. Due to these ties, Beck says he will recuse himself (as he has done on at least one major project in the past, Accretive's Lilac Hills) to avoid a perceived conflict of interest).

Beck said he is also seeking clarification from the Fair Political Practices Commission on a new rule regarding planning commissioners engaging staff, a rule that potentially could impact at least four commissioners involved in land use matters.  The broader question, he says, is whether a commissioner could talk to staff on any issue involving land where a commissioner has an interest, such as to discuss dumping of toxic wastes on a property controlled by a commissioner.

The sand mining project in question, if approved by commissioners and ultimately the Board of Supervisors, would mine 10.3 million tons of sand over 15 years, impacting 230 acres on property owned by Helix Water District in Lakeside’s El Monte Valley. It would meet the need for aggregate for use in local roads and highways; currently such material comes from elsewhere in California, Mexico, or other places—a costly process that also adds to greenhouse gas emissions from trucking or shipping.

 Reclamation on a portion of the land would begin in 12 years, with full reclamation to be completed by 2016 under the latest revisions to the project. After an Enviornmental Impact Report is submitted to planners for review, the EIR will then become available for public comment.

“In my estimation, the project has the zoning and it’s probably going to get permitted. If it does, I want to see the right thing done…so it would ultimately be a nature park,” Beck says.

Legally, mining companies are only required to do restoration—not reclamation.  There’s a big difference, Beck explained.

Reclamation (such as was done at Hanson Pond, another former mining site) merely   requires that the site be stabilized for future land use.  Originally the Hanson Pond site was slated to have 12 estate homes built on it, until the Endangered Habitat League acquired it and has begun restoring it for habitat.

By contrast, Beck says, Adams has committed to a legally binding contract promising full restoration of the site after completion of mining. Currently, Beck says, “97% of the plant material on the footprint of the mining area is non-native—and most of that is invasive species.”

Replacing that with native plant species would support a return of native wildlife in the future, Beck hopes.  There’s some precedent for hope. Since golf course grading stopped in the valley in 2006, “a whole fleet of reptiles have returned.” Restoration of the El Monte sand mining site could eventually draw birds such as tri-colored blackbirds and gnatcatchers, amphibians and mammals such as mule deer. “We would expect a dramatic increase in native species across the spectrum,” he predicts.

But the project is not harmless. Residents have voiced serious complaints over visual blight, noise from trucks hauling sand, air quality issues such as potential asthma and Valley Fever, impacts on well water, negative effects on equestrian businesses and the tranquil rural lifestyle that drew people to live here.

 “All truck traffic will be on the left end within a quarter mile of Lake Jennings Park Road” where there is an entrance to the site, Beck says.  “Everything from Dairy Road east is not going to be touched.”

But he insists, “I’m completely sympathetic to the people in the valley.  I get it…yes, there will be 12 years of bad things happening for people who live there, but the county has zoned for that…on the other hand, only 17% or so of the available sand will be taken out—that is the minimum Mr. Adams must remove to break even with his investments.  The rest will be derestricted as a nature park in perpetuity.”

Beck says he wants to be remembered for his environmental preservation efforts, that include creating Lakeside River Park Conservancy to reduce industrial impacts and create a nature park and river park. “That was successful.  We own and manage about 6,000 acres of natural land and it’s all in East County, he says.”  That includes habitat protection at sites such as the new Walker Preserve and Crestwood Ecological Reserve, where there are environmental education programs and paths for hiking, mountain biking and equestrian trails.

He says Adams hopes that “Fifteen years from now, people will say `Wow, this is a great place” in the El Monte Valley’s restored site.

Beck insists he works for both wildlife and people, over the long run, though that may be small consolation to residents living with sand mining nearby for 15 years. But Beck sees it as his obligation to push for the best long-term outcome.

He concludes, “This notion that I work against public use on these lands is not correct.  But it’s got to be done right, and it’s got to be done sensitively.”

Correction:  An earlier version of the story listed Beck as currently with the  Lakeside Riverpark  Conservancy. In fact he left the organization in 2007.