Box Creek Placer Mining operation, erroneously conditionally approved
Box Creek Placer Mining operation, erroneously conditionally approved
The Issue
-As detailed in the Lake County Land Use Department Staff Review and Report dated April 28, 2025 and subsequently updated September 8, 2025, the current CUP 18-53 for the Box Creek Placer Mining operation was erroneously conditionally approved on March 11, 2019 under the incorrect zoning Agricultural Forestry (AF) not Rural (RUR), despite the fact that the subject property has been zoned and is currently zoned Rural for well over two decades since the passing of Resolution 01-42 on June 4, 2001 (jointly filed by Lake County and the underlying property owner City of Aurora).
-Since the pre-existing zoning of Rural doesn't legally allow for extractive mining in Box Creek (it is a Prohibited Use), this qualifies as grounds for shortening the CUP 18-53 duration due to "land use changes" under Lake County Land Development Code (LCLDC) 3.6.B Conditional Use Permits, Duration:
-Additionally, at the time of the conditional use public process in 2018/2019, no acoustic study was done and the anticipated nuisance noise impacts were either not known, anticipated, nor shared/disclosed with the public and residents of southern Lake County. After multiple years of operation, it's clear that the negative impacts of the gold mining operation now imposed on Lake County residents far outweigh any nominal benefits received locally, and if reconsidered today, CUP 18-53 would not meet the conditional use approval criteria required by LCLDC 3.6.1(F).
-The applicant's (Titan Au) leases with Aurora and State Land Board (see Exhibit N from the Box Creek Placer Mine DRMS permit application) are 10 year terms ending in 2028 (Section 4) and are not renewable per Section 7.
-We petition the Lake County Planning Commission & BOCC to take immediate steps to shorten the duration of the conditional approval of CUP 18-53 AND require the applicant to execute the applicable portions of their Reclamation Plan (Exhibit E of the Box Creek Placer Mine DRMS permit application) of the subject properties to their pre-2019 condition or as close to that as possible in accordance with the Rural zoning of the property and LCLDC Chapter 5, to be complete no later than June 15, 2028 (the end of the Applicant’s non-extendable ten-year Placer Mine Lease with the State Land Board) and December 1, 2028 (the end of the Applicant’s non-extendable ten-year Placer Mine Lease with the City of Aurora).
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The Issue
-As detailed in the Lake County Land Use Department Staff Review and Report dated April 28, 2025 and subsequently updated September 8, 2025, the current CUP 18-53 for the Box Creek Placer Mining operation was erroneously conditionally approved on March 11, 2019 under the incorrect zoning Agricultural Forestry (AF) not Rural (RUR), despite the fact that the subject property has been zoned and is currently zoned Rural for well over two decades since the passing of Resolution 01-42 on June 4, 2001 (jointly filed by Lake County and the underlying property owner City of Aurora).
-Since the pre-existing zoning of Rural doesn't legally allow for extractive mining in Box Creek (it is a Prohibited Use), this qualifies as grounds for shortening the CUP 18-53 duration due to "land use changes" under Lake County Land Development Code (LCLDC) 3.6.B Conditional Use Permits, Duration:
-Additionally, at the time of the conditional use public process in 2018/2019, no acoustic study was done and the anticipated nuisance noise impacts were either not known, anticipated, nor shared/disclosed with the public and residents of southern Lake County. After multiple years of operation, it's clear that the negative impacts of the gold mining operation now imposed on Lake County residents far outweigh any nominal benefits received locally, and if reconsidered today, CUP 18-53 would not meet the conditional use approval criteria required by LCLDC 3.6.1(F).
-The applicant's (Titan Au) leases with Aurora and State Land Board (see Exhibit N from the Box Creek Placer Mine DRMS permit application) are 10 year terms ending in 2028 (Section 4) and are not renewable per Section 7.
-We petition the Lake County Planning Commission & BOCC to take immediate steps to shorten the duration of the conditional approval of CUP 18-53 AND require the applicant to execute the applicable portions of their Reclamation Plan (Exhibit E of the Box Creek Placer Mine DRMS permit application) of the subject properties to their pre-2019 condition or as close to that as possible in accordance with the Rural zoning of the property and LCLDC Chapter 5, to be complete no later than June 15, 2028 (the end of the Applicant’s non-extendable ten-year Placer Mine Lease with the State Land Board) and December 1, 2028 (the end of the Applicant’s non-extendable ten-year Placer Mine Lease with the City of Aurora).
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The Decision Makers
Petition created on January 12, 2026