On Thursday May 23 the Ventura County Planning Commission denied an appeal by Stop the Trucks!
The question was whether the April 17 decision to approve the Ojai Quarry's Reclamation Plan and expanded operations was made without adequate environmental review.
The commission heard several hours of testimony reasoning that "a significant change" had occurred since the quarry's original Conditional Use Permit was approved in 1995. Evidence presented included the ChannelKeeper video illustrating the impact of fine sediment discharge from the quarry on steelhead spawning 'redds' directly downstream of the quarry. In 1997 the Southern Steelhead was listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Ojai Stop the Trucks also provided an independent review of the quarry's amended Reclamation Plan, stating that the plan is flawed and inaccurate.
The hearing ran from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm, at which time the County Planning Commissioners voted 4-1 that the evidence submitted did not convince them that these impacts are "SIGNIFICANT" under CEQA law.
More info:
Ventura County Planning Commission: http://www.ventura.org/rma/planning/MA/pc.html
Blog archive: Ojai Quarry
Stop the Trucks: http://www.ojaipost.com/tag/stop_the_trucks/
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