Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 102396 Agenda Item: A-2 Meeting Date: 12/10/96 Approved as submitted ATASCADERO CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING OCTOBER 23, 1996 MINUTES REGULAR SESSION: The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Councilperson Johnson led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present: Councilmembers Bewley, Carden, Johnson, Luna and Mayor Highland Absent: None Staff Present: Andy Takata, City Manager; Gary Kaiser, Assistant Planner; Art Montandon, City Attorney COUNCIL COMMENTS: Mayor Highland announced the purpose of the meeting, as listed on the agenda. BUSINESS ITEM: 1. MILLHOLLIN QUARRY - Consideration of Reclamation Plan Amendment and Operations Agreement A. Negative Declaration - Adopt as adequate under the requirements of CEQA Staff recommendation: Adopt) B. Ordinance No. 316 - Approving an Operations Agreement to ensure the success of an approved Reclamation and Closure Plan amendment (CUP #96003) for the Millhollin Quarry (Staff recommendation: Motion to waive reading in full and introduce on first reading, by title only) C. Conditional Use Permit #96003 - Reclamation and Closure Plan for the Quarry, as amended during this hearing (Staff recommendation: Approve, based on Findings & Conditions) Gary Kaiser provided the staff report and responded to questions from Council. Related discussion ensued. Gary noted that he had an additional page of revisions developed this afternoon, which adds a line to clarify that the mine owner would be held ultimately responsible in an enforcement situation. CC 10/23/96 Page 1 Public Comment Leon Korba, 10905 Santa Ana Rd., asked if there are procedures the City can require should there be more truck traffic than the road can handle and result in road damage. City Attorney Art Montandon responded that the City is required to repair and maintain all of the roads in its City-maintained system. The road to be used to transport mined material is a part of that system. He clarified that an increase in truck trips would be needed as the basis for imposing a use fee; the project under consideration may result in a reduction in overall truck traffic. Councilman Luna asked what the City requires of any operator of the mine in terms of liability insurance. Mr. Montandon indicated there is no requirement; in case of an accident, the City would be liable for injury or damage only if it were found to be due to a defect in the road. He clarified that an approval tonight does not create that liability. Marcia Torgerson, 6200 Llano Rd., read a statement which reviewed some of the suggestions conveyed to staff in her letter dated 9/27/96. She asked why there are signatures only on the Operations Agreement and none on the Reclamation Plan. Mr. Montandon responded that there are signatures required on the application as part of the approval process. Marcia added that, aside from the concerns she cited, she is basically satisfied with the proposed documents. Daphne Fahsig, 5105 Llano, thanked Gary Kaiser for the hard work that he has put into this issue and thanked the City Council for addressing it at a special meeting. She suggested operation hours of 8-5 Monday through Friday, feeling that 7 am is too early for trucks to start rolling. She spoke in support of requiring $1 per ton use fee (for road maintenance) from the County and would like to see truck counts occur monthly instead of on a when- requested basis. Vicki Rayburn, 11705 Santa Lucia, thanked City staff and the Santa Lucia Neighbors Assoc. for the time and energy this process has taken, and expressed regret about the time and expense involved. She encouraged that hours of operation be specifically set and expressed concern about noise and safety issues on weekends. Fred Strong, representing the Millhollins, thanked Gary Kaiser, the homeowners, City Council and staff for working together throughout this process. He expressed that the language in the documents has been put together carefully, in light of the rights of all the parties involved and of SMARA. He expressed no major objections to the recommendations in the staff report and urged approval of the documents with a request for one of the following changes: • Page 15, para. 3, remove or alter the following language (in italics), "...The property owner shall install said sediment fences and/or any other erosion control devices deemed necessary by the City...", or at least insert the word "reasonable" before "erosion control devices". Councilman Luna asked if the initial environmental study could be retroactively rewritten. Gary Kaiser clarified that Mr. Strong's letter is as much a part of the official record as staff's response, and this does not change the ultimate determination as to environmental effects. Art Montandon added that the Council's determination tonight is whether the initial study and environmental review are adequate, and he would only recommend a change if it were deemed inadequate, which he does not believe to be the case. Councilman Luna asked if Mr. Millhollin was amenable to adjusting the hours of operation to 8-5 pm, Monday thru Friday. Mr. Strong responded that the agreement proposed does eliminate Sunday operation, which the owner has no objection to, and deferred to Mr. Millhollin for any other proposed adjustments. He stated, however, an argument in favor of allowing weekend operation is in the event of emergency, citing the floods of last March CC 10/23/96 Page 2 when the County went in, outside of normal operations, and removed a load of rock which was successfully used to stop the breaking of a dam in the north county. Discussion ensued, and it was noted that the hours of operation proposed in the agreement were in consideration of the major commute traffic time. Leon Korba clarified that he expressed concern about requiring a use fee in order to create an awareness that the City does not have money for road repairs. There was consensus among the members of Council to insert the word "reasonable", where requested by Mr. Strong (see his comments, above). Motion: By Mayor Highland, seconded by Councilman Luna, to adopt the Negative Declaration prepared for the project (Attach. C in staff report), as adequate under the requirements of CEQA, based on the Findings contained in Attach. D. Motion passed 5:0 by roll-call vote. Motion: By Mayor Highland, seconded by Councilman Luna, to waive reading in full and introduce Ord. 316 on first reading, by title only, including all revisions included in staff's report and introduced/discussed tonight. Motion passed 5:0 by roll-call vote. Motion: By Mayor Highland, seconded by Councilman Luna, to approve C.U.P. 96003, as amended during this hearing, based on the Findings and Conditions contained in Attach. F & G, respectively. Motion passed 5:0 by roll-call vote. Mayor Highland thanked everyone who has assisted him—the Neighbors Assoc., Mr. Millhollin, and Gary Kaiser—in seeing this process through to completion, which he had hoped to see by the end of his term on the City Council Councilman Johnson expressed appreciation to Mayor Highland for taking a trip to Sacramento to assist in expediting the process, as well as thanks to staff. Andy Takata, likewise, thanked all involved for their hard work. Mayor Highland added that this EIR was done in-house, at City cost, for the benefit of other than developers. MEETING ADJOURNED AT APPROX. 8.10 P.M. MINUTES RECORDED BY: NDREW J. TA A, Cit anager PREPARED BY: CINDY HOLT6N, Deputy City Clerk CC 10/23/96 Page 3