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.
The Court of Appeals upheld this decision in the fall of 2018.
BUT THE PROJECT STILL LOOMS
