Many aggregate executives could tell horror stories about the difficulty of filing for annual permits in California. But Hanson Aggregates may have a solution — shower the community with gifts.

Hanson Aggregates Pacific Southwest has pledged a 22-acre it uses for sand processing and ready-mix concrete to the Lakeside Conservancy in San Diego. The Lakeside property will help a grassroots effort to restore 250 acres along the San Diego River. Now the county loves Hanson and shows support in a variety of ways.

“It really has opened a door to better relationships in the wildlife agencies and people in the environmental conservancy,” says Marvin Howell, Hanson Pacific Southwest director of land use. “It's hard to put a price tag on that, but the relationships that we have developed have been very beneficial.”

A strong relationship with the community is especially important in an urban setting. The plant is only 25 miles from downtown San Diego, and the primary crusher is only 500 ft away from $500,000 homes. “You can't operate in an urban environment without impacting the people around you, so you really have to work with them,” Howell says. The pledge keeps Hanson on everyone's good side, which provides relief from an excruciating permitting process.

Now when the company approaches the San Diego Plan Commission for its five-year review it has community support. The San Diego Mayor, who holds the restoration effort high on his agenda, is now willing to put a good word in for the company. Hanson is no longer a stranger to the wildlife organizations and conservatories that influence the process. Howell estimates positive and proactive community affairs reduce deliberation by up to one and a half years.

Although a far cry from the Sierra Club, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce also saluted Hanson at a Western Days' Rodeo. The chamber hung a giant sign that read, “we love you Hanson,” and the Hanson truck received a standing ovation during the parade. “I didn't know what to make of that. We're not used to getting that type of attention,” Howell says.

It was a response to an exit strategy that fell together for Hanson.

An umbrella of six or seven groups had been trying to acquire similar land for the past 10 years, Howell says. Hanson also had been looking for such a project. And to a quarry, the land wasn't worth a lot.

“There is less than a million tons [of sand], which in this market is nothing,” Howell says. But, those are tons that Hanson can sell before the reclamation process begins at the end of the year. During this procedure, Hanson will be charging tip fees from companies who need to dump clean fill. The ready-mix concrete plant will be moved to the Slaughterhouse Rock Quarry in Lakeside that is already permitted for concrete.

Construction at the site should begin in two years and be completed in five to six years. When the county cuts the red ribbon, the Lakeside property will be home to an interpretive center for the park and a YMCA.