Guidelines for written and spoken comment to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on The Harris Quarry 2019 Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR)

During the past 15 years of public concern, Keep the Code has won two legal cases (on the original cases and on their appeals) opposing Northern Aggregates wish to build a permanent asphalt plant at Harris Quarry on Ridgewood Grade. The public is now in a limited review period for the third version of the EIR   https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=31451. Although both the County’s official notice of the public meeting/input period and Chapter 1 of the 2019 Revised Final Environmental Impact Report attempt to limit comments from the public to “the specific issues under review (Alternatives 4 and 5)”,  we contend that information regarding significant and material new developments in the situation also should be considered.  Accordingly, we strongly urge public comment on all SIGNIFICANT NEW CONSIDERATIONS that have developed since the publication of the previous EIR in 2012.



The deadline for written public comment is end of day on Sunday, December 15th, 2019.

Please attend the following:

Special Public Meeting to Provide Comments to the 2019 Revised Final EIR
9am Monday, December 16, 2019
Board of Supervisors Chambers
501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah

For all documents and staff report regarding the public hearing, see
https://www.mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/public-notices


SIGNIFICANT NEW CONSIDERATIONS
Keep the Code has identified important SIGNIFICANT NEW CONSIDERATIONS as good directions for public written and oral comment. Please consider choosing one or two talking points from these topics for your letters and public comment to the Mendocino County Planning Department. Short and simple letters are fine- and questions are especially helpful, as they may elicit answers which will likely be very helpful to all in evaluating the project. Please ask interested friends to respond, as well!

1)    A Mobile Asphalt Production Unit would better serve the local and County needs, to be used on location of road building and repair.
a)     This would keep asphalt production near scheduled paving projects, significantly reducing VMT (vehicle miles traveled). VMT advantages are dependent on where the asphalt is needed, and creating the asphalt on site of the road building or repair is significantly more environmentally responsible. A Mobile unit is appropriate for reaching the more remote, under served, areas of the county.
b)    This would scale down the proposal which would reduce ALL environmental impacts, including the VMTs, and eliminate the incentive to truck asphalt out of county. The original proposal, submitted in 2004, was describing trucks every minute or two to serve the Willits Bypass project. This turned out to be a highly inflated projected need since Granite rock [A. R. Wilson] was able to handle the bypass along with their normal business demands, and it only operated making asphalt several days per week. Scaling down the project and siting it appropriately is important in order to meet our more stringent environmental requirements.
c)  Access to the proposed site is difficult and allows for one truck only to enter and exit at a time. All other trucks would have to idle in wait by the highway, increasing pollution.
d)   Additionally, when a mobile asphalt production unit is chosen that is able to “recycle the road”, melting and using recycled asphalt in the new roadwork, significant VMTs are also saved in not having to haul the old asphalt away to be disposed of in another location.


2)    Fire Dangers - hillside fires move fast https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/plan-prepare/how-fire-behaves, and fire dangers have increased over the past 10 years. Asphalt plants are a well-known fire hazard, and placing an asphalt plant in the middle of fire-prone oak-and-fir woodlands significantly intensifies local fire risk. Access to the proposed site is difficult and allows for one truck only to enter and exit at a time. All other trucks would have to idle in wait by the highway, increasing VMTs.
a)     Black Bart Road - When the 2012 EIR was written, there was an alternate road to travel to escape fire danger or other emergency if Black Bart Road was impassable.  Now, with Muir Mill Road closed, those using Black Bart Road to access their property presently are restricted to only ONE road for ingress and egress. If this road becomes blocked due to fire, residents are trapped, and emergency vehicles and personnel would not be able to provide necessary life-saving assistance. This significantly amplifies the fire danger and personal safety for residents and owners of the 334 properties in this development. Is the County willing to bear the burden of liability for life and safety imposed by approving the siting of an asphalt plant at the beginning of Black Bart Road on U.S. Hwy 101?


3)    Ridgewood Park - Asphalt fumes are dangerous to all local residents, and the elderly are of special concern. An asphalt plant in close proximity to Ridgewood Park assisted living (previously Fiesta Mexicana Restaurant and White Deer Lodge) will have a considerable negative effect on this new population of sensitive elderly. Mendocino County has specified that there is a pressing need for housing, especially for senior residents. Ridgewood Park was designed to help solve this problem. Several permits for the Assisted Living project have already been issued by Mendocino County and completed by the builder, with more scheduled. Approving an asphalt plant to be sited across the road from this 30 unit frail elderly living development is counter to the more pressing needs of the County.  

4)  Projections-Proposed asphalt plant projections have decreased since the 2012 EIR. According to the 2019 EIR, current downward population projections have reduced forecasted local asphalt needs. It is needlessly harmful to build an asphalt plant near vulnerable persons or sensitive environmental locations. Prior EIR approvals were based on projected asphalt needs due to expanding population projections.  We now know those earlier population projections were over-ambitious. The currently operating local asphalt plant, located in an industrial zone on North State Street in Ukiah, meets local asphalt needs while only operating several days per week.


5)    New Climate Goals passed by California - (this section to be further developed) meeting new standards - “state of the art” asphalt production machinery.

 6)    NEW projects and programs at Golden Rule that would be adversely affected by the fumes and pollution from a nearby asphalt plant include:
a)     A new Assisted Living Facility on the Ranch
b)    The New Agrarian Collective
c)     The School of Adaptive Agriculture
d)    Food Hub to make value added products - All of these gardening projects are dedicated to researching and promoting the sustainable production of food with a minimal use of fossil fuels, issues that are vitally important in the face of catastrophic climate change.
e)     New covered Seabiscuit Therapeutic Riding Center Arena
f)     Increase in residents/remodeled rentals at Golden Rule in addition to many other public benefit programs, such as La Vida Charter School and Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation previously addressed in the 2012 EIR public comments.

 7)    Air Quality, Health Impacts and Loss of Property Value - http://www.bredl.org/pdf/BeSafe_Asphalt.pdf
a)     Air Quality shows a dramatic decline from increased particulates…….. American Lung Association State of the Air already rates Mendocino County with an F for particulate pollution, and another asphalt plant will add to that already failing rating. https://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/healthy-air/sota/city-rankings/states/california/mendocino.html
b)    Health Impacts: new or worsened asthma, bronchitis and COPD. Young children and the elderly are at higher risk for these illnesses.
c)     Property value losses vary, depending upon study: between 20% and 56% of value. This translates into a significant reduction in property tax revenue for the county.  



Written Comment to
Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
Supervisors: Carre Brown, John McCowen, John Haschak, Dan Gjerde, Ted Williams
501 Low Gap Road, Room 1010
Ukiah, CA 95482



Copies of your letter may be additionally sent to:
Mendocino County Department of Planning and Building
emailed to pbs@mendocinocounty.org or mailed to:
Mendocino County Department of Planning and Building Services
Attn: Harris Quarry Comments
860 North Bush Street
Ukiah, CA 95482


and

Keep the Code
410 Clara Street
Ukiah, CA 95482



You have a right to clean air, water and a safe environment!
Tell the Supervisors to uphold their Mission Statement!

“The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors’ mission is to create and maintain a responsive and responsible government that enhances the quality of life of the people of Mendocino County. The County’s mission is to deliver services that meet: Public safety, health, social, cultural, education, transportation, economic, and environmental needs of our communities.”

   

A sample letter - please personalize:

Please cut and paste into an email to bos@mendocinocounty.org
.  Ideas from the above post can be used.

today’s date

Dear Mendocino County Board of Supervisors,

I oppose approval of the currently proposed asphalt plant project at Harris Quarry. 

Add a chosen topic here,

in your own wording, please. 

Relevant questions for the planning department are especially useful

A smarter project, that is a benefit for all, is possible. The old 2012 project is outdated, oversized, poorly and dangerously sited with over a 100 mitigations, and is incongruous with surrounding uses. We feel a win-win can be achieved, but not with this current proposal.   

The public deserves to have the best analysis of our current situation taken into full account. As stated in the mission statement for the County Planning and Building Department, we, the public request “precise, up-to-date and innovative advice and technical expertise.” We feel that this requires more than just an acceptance of the applicant’s analysis. The public requests a cost benefit analysis that takes into account the full 30-year project impacts to the public. There are many Significant New Considerations that must be taken into full account in order to reach an appropriate and compatible decision which protects the public and meets County needs.

Sincerely,

your name

city

Dust Travels Fast!

A Ridgewood Ranch resident took these pictures in the Spring of 2019. 
A garden is in the middle ground. 
An unannounced blast occurred at Harris Quarry and in seven minutes dust particulates were raining on the photographer. The distance is about 
a mile.

UPDATE!  Important Legal VICTORIES have been achieved!

With valuable public support, after 14 years of determined opposition, Keep the Code has won BOTH the CEQA* and the Vested Rights** legal challenges in both the Superior Court and in the Court of Appeals

*CEQA – California Environmental Quality Act – Lawsuit

 Through the legal system, Keep the Code requested that the county rescind its decisions to approve the Harris Quarry Expansion Project Environmental Impact Report.  The court granted the petition and directed the county to set aside its decisions and the related use permit approvals and the reclamation plan, and to undertake further review and reconsider its decisions on several of the project alternatives. 

         In 2018, The Court of Appeals upheld this decision.

**Harris Quarry Vested Rights Claim Overturned

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Richard Henderson has issued a ruling to set aside the County’s approval of a vested right to mine Harris Quarry. The court found that the County did not have enough evidence before it to approve a vested right to operate the Harris Quarry, and that there was no evidence that the Church of the Golden Rule incurred substantial liabilities, like purchasing mining equipment, which is necessary for establishing a vested right. The court also observed that “the historical pattern does not indicate the existence of any commercial quarrying and aggregate activities occurring at the Harris Quarry from 1936 to 1976” and “the record is absolutely devoid of any evidence that the Church operated the quarry as a commercial venture or expended any money in connection with quarrying activities and/or rock crushing and screening.”  In particular, the court focused on the fact that the aerial photos presented to the court simply did not show an expansion of the quarry’s footprint for decades.   

The Court of Appeals upheld this decision in the fall of 2018.

BUT THE PROJECT STILL LOOMS

The Harris Quarry Expansion Project

is a proposed asphalt manufacturing plant to be placed on rangeland located at the top of Ridgewood Grade, just south of Willits, CA.

Here's how it will affect YOU.

This project will mean many trucks per hour will be merging  on and off Highway 101 during rush hour morning traffic at peak asphalt production times  at an already challenging intersection on a mountaintop.  Slow moving, heavily loaded asphalt trucks  and oil tankers will be crossing Highway 101 and merging with 65-70 mile-per–hour highway traffic. This will create dangerous driving conditions for everyone.

The quarry wants increased production of rock quarried to support the asphalt production.  The current rangeland zoning would need to be changed to industrial on 18 acres at the entryway to the Ridgewood Subdivision.  And change the whole county zoning code to allow this project to happen, in opposition with the directive of the Mendocino County Plan.

Property values will fall in the surrounding areas, as pollution and fire danger increases.

Because of the weather patterns of the area, the pollutants from this plant will disburse by using the prevailing winds to blow particulate,  heavy metal and carcinogenic pollutants to watersheds, over Ridgewood Ranch to Redwood Valley, Potter Valley and Ukiah and to Willits, depending on which way the winds blow on any given day.

Is the location of this project REALLY in the best interest of the people of Mendocino County?