A bid to dramatically expand Temecula’s boundary by adding a 7-square-mile swath to its south side may proceed without any organized opposition.

That course was set when the City Council recently voted to submit a new application to a Riverside County boundary-setting agency. The same day, a key player in a years-long land use controversy announced it will not oppose the 4,500-acre annexation this time around.

If the Santa Margarita annexation proceeds as expected, it would be an anticlimactic finish to a proposal that has cost both sides more than $650,000 and sparked one of the longest Local Agency Formation Commission hearings in recent memory.

And if all goes as expected, the granite-strewn area that stretches from the existing city limits to the San Diego County border west of Interstate 15 could become part of Temecula by the end of this year.

"It’s possible," Patrick Richardson, Temecula’s planning and redevelopment director, said after the council’s Jan. 12 action.

That would boost Temecula’s size to about 35 square miles. The 20-year-old city’s population jumped and it grew to 28 square miles years ago when the Redhawk, Vail Ranch and Roripaugh Ranch annexations were completed.

The proposed Santa Margarita annexation has been debated for years. At the heart of the area is a 155-acre site where a construction and mining company hopes to extract 270 million tons of sand, gravel and other materials over a 75-year period.

The proposed Liberty Quarry has drawn widespread opposition from environmentalists and development-wary residents.

They backed the city’s efforts to annex land the quarry site, which anchors a rock-strewn bluff behind a California Highway Patrol truck inspection and weigh station near the San Diego County community of Rainbow.

The mine site flanks a sensitive San Diego State University nature reserve and research station that is split by the Santa Margarita River. The river, which is formed by the merger of several creeks, flows about 27 miles to the coast.

Mine foes say Liberty Quarry would also increase air pollution, boost area truck traffic, mar scenic views and also deplete scarce regional water supplies.

Granite officials and other mine supporters cite a growing need for construction materials and a desire to reduce the miles that sand and gravel must currently be shipped to reach local construction and road building sites. They also point to the jobs and future tax revenues that Liberty Quarry would bring to the area.

The original annexation application – which included the quarry site – was denied by LAFCO June 4. That hearing lasted nearly 10 hours and drew comments from more than 100 Advertisement

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Granite Construction Co., which hopes to open Liberty Quarry, opposed that annexation request because it would have placed oversight of the quarry land use plan in the city’s hands rather than the county. The company currently operates mines in Indio and the Pala area.

Granite officials feared such a step because the city planned to put a zoning change in place that would have prevented mining from occurring in the annexation area for several years.

Temecula spent more than $365,000 over a period of several years on annexation-related studies, reports, application fees and other costs, city records show. Faced with the prospect of having its mine site rezoned, Granite officials said they felt compelled to spend more than $300,000 to counter the city’s annexation plan.

The June LAFCO decision meant that county officials will continue to review the mine development plan. The current timetable calls for the first hearings on the quarry plan to occur this summer. Those hearings would be held by the county Planning Commission. That panel would make approval or denial recommendations to the county Board of Supervisors.

The recent council action means the proposed annexation will proceed on a separate review track that unfolds about the same time as the quarry review.

City officials were buoyed by a statement released by Granite that it would support Temecula’s revised annexation plan.

"That’s great," Richardson said when he learned of the statement.

The statement released by a Granite spokesperson said: "Liberty Quarry would like to support the city’s annexation request, and we look forward to reviewing the city’s report to learn more about their plans. We hope that they will consider taking advantage of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve’s vast potential and look to San Diego County’s Mission Trails Regional Park as a great example of a successful outdoor attraction."

The combined actions – the council vote and Granite’s statement – also pleased a leader of a grassroots group that has opposed the quarry and backed the annexation plan.

"I’d say it (the annexation) is a done deal," said Kathleen Hamilton, a leader of the Save Our Southwest Hills community group.

Barring any unexpected delays, LAFCO commissioners could review the annexation proposal in July or August, George Spiliotis, the agency’s chief executive, said in a Tuesday telephone interview. If approved then, the annexation could take effect two to three months later after some administrative steps are completed, he said.

Temecula expects to spend another $34,000 in fees, staff and legal fees and other costs to complete the annexation process, according to a city report.

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