A mining company could be forced to stop drawing gravel and sand from the Lytle Creek Wash north of Rialto if it does not make good on a 4-year-old promise to protect a neighbor from flood damage.

Ontario-based Sunwest Materials on Tuesday asked San Bernardino County for another year to complete the work, saying federal protection granted earlier this year to the endangered San Bernardino kangaroo rat is keeping them from building a levee to protect the possible future site of a housing development.

But the county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to reject Sunwest's request and scheduled a hearing Oct. 20 to decide whether to order the company to cease mining until the levee is built.

Sunwest spokesman Jim Gore said 60 to 75 workers would be affected by a shutdown. The company also mines material used to make cement and build roads in the Santa Ana River in Highland.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials said comments by Gore they interpreted as threatening to the San Bernardino kangaroo rat led them to afford emergency protection to the rodent earlier this year. Gore has denied making threats.

"I think this will get your attention," Supervisor Jon Mikels said to Gore. Mikels' 2nd District includes the Sunwest mining area. Mikels appeared frustrated not only that Sunwest was taking so long to build the levee, but that it had mined more than 32,000 truckloads of aggregate between 1995 and 1997 outside of the boundaries approved by the county.

Gore said the mining was an error made by crews at the site.

"We brought it to the county's attention. I'm surprised the county is bringing it up," Gore said.

The board's action was supported by Lytle Creek Land and Resources, an Anaheim-based company that owns the land surrounding Sunwest's mining operation.

Company officials declined to say what their current plans are for the land. But in the past, the company has proposed housing developments and shopping centers for the acreage north of Rialto and straddling Interstate 15.

But they said they feared more rainy seasons would erode their property and make it useless for development.

"It's become clear that Sunwest has failed to diligently pursue completion of the levee," said Lytle Creek Land attorney Jack Rubins. "Sunwest has to be held accountable for its failure to comply with the conditions."

Sunwest agreed to build the levee by April 1996 when the county approved its mining plan in 1994. Sunwest was granted two extensions, with the latest due date set at Sept. 30 of this year.

Published 9/23/1998