On Tuesday, May 15, supervisors Bob Buster, Jeff Stone and Tavaglione voted to formally deny the controversial quarry. Tavaglione then voted alongside supervisors John Benoit and Marion Ashley to approve the environmental document.
Taken from the bottom of the minutes of the RIV Co BOS meeting of 5/15/12.
14.1 COUNTY COUNSEL: Denial Findings for Surface Mining Permit No. 213 and Reclamation Plan, Change of Zone No. 7508 and Noise Ordinance Exception No. 2, Final Environmental Impact Report No. 475; 1st/3rd District.
(APPROVE THE DENIAL OF THE FINDINGS AND CERTIFY THE EIR)
paramount, were the residents of the 1st and 3rd Districts the ones to be impacted the most from operations of the proposed Liberty Quarry Mine (represented by Buster and Stone)?
With the CEQA and permit review process completed, the lead agency must approve or deny the permit within 6 months of certifying the EIR or within 3 months of adopting the Negative Declaration and file a Notice of Determination (NOD). Responsible agencies must then act within six months after the lead agency’s action or, if the developer¬applicant has not already filed an application with a responsible agency, within six months from the time the application is filed (except as modified under Health and Safety Code §25199.6).
The May 15, 2012, vote to uphold Liberty’s (expensive) EIR was 90 days later. The final recommendation to approve Granite’s EIR was made by county counsel. A qualified person or agency with the authority to bring a recommendation before a CA BOS on how they should vote on it must do so in writing at least two days before the meeting in which the voting will take place.
It is VERY likely the supes discussed this item with their counsel in closed session before the meeting and it was previously placed at the bottom of the agenda for good reason. The supes didn’t want any outcries from the “No Quarry” NIMBY’s in the audience until the cameras stopped rolling and the meeting was adjourned :=0
I don’t know all the “ins and outs” of CEQA but would surmise that Granite has a stronger remedy against a denial of its EIR since the activities of all the state and local agencies its EIR had to go through are highly regulated by the state and federal goverment. Tavaglione, currently running for Congress, came to the realization that Granite would likely be able to force the vote of approval of their EIR in the end and he didn’t want his vote to look “stupid,” since he is running on a “pro-biz” platform.
paramount, the “NO QUARRY” group never enjoyed a unanimous vote of the supes. It was ALWAYS split along district lines. Those types of issues can go either way, depending on the circumstances at the time of the final vote (or “whichever way the wind is blowing” as they say in “politicoese”) :=0
