PHOENIX -- One neighborhood in Black Canyon City found its peaceful community turned upside-down when a resurfacing project started on Interstate 17.

When the project began, Superstition Crushing started mining in the neighborhood, which is zoned for residential use.

"(My home) was peace and quiet -- a place to relax when the day's work was over," said community resident Caryll Beard. "Now it's become a slice of Hell."

She said her and her husband's desert view is now blocked by 30-foot piles of gravel, and the sounds from the construction equipment have disturbed the peace.

Another neighbor, Patricia Coil, said the construction dust has made her asthma flair up.

"I wake up in the morning, and I can't breath," she said.

Nevertheless, state law permits mining in areas zoned residential, Yavapai County official Chad Daines said.

In fact, the General Mining Act of 1872 protects mining on this land, he said.

Superstition Crushing representative Myron Jones said at least some of the residents were aware of the mine's existence when they purchased their homes, and he compared the mine to an airport.

"Say you moved next to an airport, and there isn't a lot of planes today, but there are tomorrow," Jones said. "Does that mean that … you say they can't have an airport now because there wasn't that many planes flying out the day you (moved in)?"

Despite the mining company's arguments, some of the residents of the Black Canyon City neighborhood decided to sue Superstition Crushing.

"This is not ethically right," Beard said. "It's not morally right to do this to people who live in a neighborhood -- just come in and destroy everything they've worked so hard for."

Attorney Gil Shaw agrees.

"I think there's a very strong case for nuisance," said Shaw. "I think there's a very strong case for violation of zoning regulations."

Shaw believes the General Mining Act should not apply in this case.

"It's dirt," he said. "It's not a precious mineral under the 1872 Mining Act."

Superstition Crushing said it has no future projects that will make use of the pit, now that the freeway resurfacing project is complete.