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BACKGROUND:
Head south on I-680 from Pleasanton to Fremont and the view opens
onto the Sunol Valley. Looking north one sees the SF Water Temple,
built at the turn of the last century and recently restored at
the behest and with the support of locals by SFPUC. Behind the
Temple you see towering cliffs skirted by the Alameda Creek which
drains the valley and fed by two reservoirs. Pacific Coast Steelhead
originally resident in this Creek may soon return with the partial
removal of the Sunol and Niles Dams. From the north edge of the
freeway to the Temple is a 242 acre field of prime agricultural
land which in the past has been used to grow walnuts, chives,
grapes and gladioli. A stones throw from this is the Sunol Glen
School and the hamlet of Sunol. Looking south of I-680 is a surface
mine which has devastated the south end of the valley. More than
half of our valley has succumbed to mining since Alameda County
has seen fit to grant permits to operators without EIRs. In 1995
Alameda County granted yet another permit allowing Mission Valley
Rock Co. to leap across the freeway and mine this prime land next
to our town to a depth of 240 feet. For the next 45 years, residents
must deal with the noise, dust, siltation of the creek and the
utter devastation of this bucolic area.
Since 1991, Save Our Sunol, a non-profit grass roots community
group has been opposing this ill-conceived project. SOS has been
joined by the Sierra Club and nearly every other environmental
group and many state and local agencies in airing concerns regarding
a seriously flawed EIR. In 2000, voters approved Alameda County's
open space initiative, Measure D, which disallows new quarries
in unincorporated areas without a vote of the electorate. SOS
is embroiled in new litigation to see the policies of measure
D enforced.
LAWSUIT
UPDATE: Many of you may know that Save Our Sunol is the lead
plaintiff in a lawsuit against a local mining company, Mission
Valley Sand and Rock, the County of Alameda, and the City and
County of San Francisco. We have brought this suit to prevent
quarrying planned for 242 acres of San Francisco watershed land
adjacent to the Willis Polk Water Temple and near Sunol's elementary
school.
The case
now hinges on interpretation and implementation of Measure D.
The defendants maintain that SMP-32 is an expansion of Mission
Valley Rock's current quarrying operation - which has been active
on the eastern side of I-680 for many years. The company holds
a permit from Alameda County and a lease from San Francisco to
mine a 69-acre site at the back edge of Water Temple Field. The
defendants claim that SMP 32 is adjacent to SMP 29 and therefore
not a new project subject to Measure D's voter approval.
Language
in the lease and in numerous of Alameda County's own documents,
describes SMP 39 as a new project, and designates it as "supplanting"
and "superceding" SMP 29. Therefore, we assert, SMP
32 cannot be adjacent to SMP 29, because SMP 29 no longer exists
on its own, but only as a portion of SMP 32.
The defendants
maintain that all permits necessary for the quarrying operation
to move forward were in place before Measure D became law. If
this were not a new project, why would any permits have been obtained?
The statement that all permits were in place is false, based on
documents in the public record or the lack thereof.
Of those
permissions MVR did obtain, the lease from San Francisco to use
Water Temple Field for mining was finalized a day after Measure
D became law, leaving the project open to a Measure D challenge.
Water Temple
Field is currently in hay and grapes. We have interest from numerous
sustainable agriculture organizations, organic farmers, and vineyards
to use the land for crops and as a platform for educating the
public and particularly area students, about organic farming and
sustainable agriculture. We continue to struggle to raise funds
to see this suit through to victory.
Lawsuit
SOS
v. Mission Valley Rock, Alameda County, City and County of San
Francisco.
Case 2002-050-281
Aim
Using
Measure D, block the construction of a gravel quarry on 247 acres
of land owned by the City and County of San Francisco.
Court
Status
Court
of Appeal
1st Appellate District
Division 4
Final
briefs were presented June 21, 2004. We anticipate that it will
take several months for a decision.
SOS
is represented by Steven Volker, with help from Dr. Robert Girard.
FOR
MORE LEGAL DETAILS AND HISTORY PLEASE PRESS HERE
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