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HomeMy WebLinkAboutContracts & Agreements_51-1993_CCv0001.pdf MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE CITY OF HIGHLAND AND THE CITY OF REDLANDS ON THE PREPARATION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR SUNWEST MATERIALS FOR A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT AND MINING AND RECLAMATION PLANS This agreement is made and entered into by the City of Highland and the City of Redlands, Whereas, Sunwest Materials has submitted to the Cities of Highland and Redlands, for review and approval a Development Agreement and mining and reclamation plans for its operations including sand and gravel quarry, haul roads, etc. within the Santa Ana Wash ("Project") ; and Whereas, the environmental impacts from the "Project" lying within the City of Highland and the City of Redlands must be considered by the cities when reviewing and acting on the "Project" pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act; and Whereas, the "Project" may have a significant adverse effect on the environment, as defined by CEQA, which must be considered by local governmental agencies when reviewing and acting on projects pursuant to CEQA and other applicable state laws ; and Whereas, CEQA Guidelines, 14 CCR Section 15051 (d) provides that where two or more public agencies will be involved with a project, the public agencies may by agreement designate an agency as the Lead Agency. Now, therefore it is agreed as follows: 1 . The City of Highland will serve as the CEQA Lead Agency and will cause the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report ( 11EIR11 ) , as set forth in this agreement and in accordance with the 'proves dions of CEQA. 2 . The 11EIR11 will address itself to the impacts on the envircnrtent of the proposed "Project" as well as alternatives thereto. 3 . The City of Highland and the City of Redlands shall be free to fulfill their statutory responsibilities, including permit issuance, in accordance with CEQA requirements, SMARA or other applicable statues. 4 . The independent consultant reviewing the FIR shall be selected utilizing an agreed upon RFP and selection process with representation from Highland and Redlands . Each jurisdiction may protest and delete any particular consultant found objectionable . S. Redlands shall be given the opportunity to review and comment on preliminary (screencheck) and administrative drafts prior to publication and release of any Draft EIR. 6. The Project Description for this project shall be as set forth in Attachment 1. 7. Costs associated for preparation of the EIR, review of the Ell� by the independent consultant, and costs associated with staff review (to include the staff of Highland and Redlands) , and other costs associated with the evaluation, printing and consideration of' the EIR documents shall be paid for by the applicant, Sunwest- Materials, Inc. Sunwest Materials, Inc. shall make payment to each City consistent with the requirements of each City. 8 . Termination. Either party may terminate this agreement upon thirty (30) days prior written notice to the other party. In the event of such termination each party shall be responsible for its respective share of cost incurred under this agreement up to and including the termination. 9 . Upon certification of the final "EIR" by the City of Highland , each agency may consider and act on the "Project" , making the findings necessary by law. City of Highland Date Timer/ Mayor City of Redlands Date April 1, 1994 Swen Larson, Mayor Approved as to Form 6 1" Margudrite P. Battersby DanI16I J . tic I ugh City Attorney City Attorney Attest I Debbie Anderson ate-Pye Poyzer Deputy City Clerk City Clerk ATTACHMENT 1 CEQA M.O.U. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The proposed CEQA "project" is a Development Agreement ("Agreement") between C. L. PHARRIS SAND & GRAVEL, INC., dba SUNWEST MATERIALS ("Sunwest") and the Cities of Highland and Redlands (individually "Highland" and "Redlands" and collectively, "Cities"). The subject Agreement will cover Site Approvals/Conditional Use Permits, Reclamation Plans, haul roads, the realignment of Plunge Creek and establishment of rare plant preserves, as more specifically discussed in the proposed Agreement. The following paragraphs describe Sunwest's existing operations and the approvals to be covered by the Agreement. Sunwest has extensive fee and lease holdings in the Santa Ana River Wash. Mining leases cover areas between Alabama Street in Section 9 easterly to two and one- half miles east of Orange Street in Section 12. Sunwest has two existing crushing and processing facilities, one smaller facility between Alabama Street and Route 30 Freeway in Section 9, known as the Alabama Operation, and a large state of the art crushing and processing plant facility east of Orange Street in Section 10, known as the Orange Street Plant. The Orange Street Plant is not part of this project description, however, that plant does process most of the materials mined subject to the Agreement. The Alabama Operation houses a ready mix concrete operation and shop facility, as well as stand alone buildings such as a scale house, sales office, and drivers rooms. Adjacent to and contiguous with the Sunwest Alabama Operation is the Matich Corporation facility, under direct lease with the City of Redlands, that manufactures and processes asphaltic concrete products, for which Sunwest supplies to Matich all aggregate. Additionally, Matich Corporation has office buildings and a maintenance repair shop facilities contiguous with the Alabama Operation prop- erty that borders Alabama Street. These Matich properties are owned by Matich Corporation and are not part of this project. In the northwest comer of the Alabama Street Sunwest leasehold interest was a lease between Nottingham and the San Bernardinotri County Flood Control District ("SBCFCD") which is no longer occupied by Nottingham and is still fee owned by the SBCFCD. Sunwest owns and leases the Alabama Street site, including, approximately 2.5 acres of fee property in the south 1/2 of the northwest 1/4 of Section 9, Township I South, Range 3 West, SBBM. Sunwest has under lease with the City of Redlands portions of the south 1/2 of the north- west 1/4 and the southwest 1/4 of Section 9, Township I South, Range 3 West, of the SBBM. These properties lie in between Alabama Street and Route 30. Portions of this property are sub- ject to a condemnation action from the SBCFCD precipitated by the construction of the Seven Oak's Dam. These portions under condemnation are generally in the southwest 1/4 and southeast 1/4 of Section 9, Township I South Range 3 West, SBBM. This area under lease with Redlands was contiguous with property Sunwest has under lease with the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District ("SBVWCD") easterly in Section 9 and was bi-sected by Route 30 in the 1980's. The portions east of Route 30 exist generally in the south 1/2 of the northeast 1/4 of Section 9, and the southeast 1/4 of Section 9, Township I South, Range 3 West, SBBM. Sunwest Materials claims that the entire Alabama Street site is a vested operation, as min- ing activity commenced in the 1950's and was documented in 1961, with a lease entered into with the City of Redlands and the SBVWCD by Tri-City Rock, Sunwest' predecessor. The entire Alabama Street site is anticipated to be mined using the historical parameters and operating under the same SBVWCD leases and the same CUP that the City of Redlands granted in the early 1960's. Areas that house the ready mix facility, shop facility, and areas that are under sub-lease with the various tenants will not immediately be mined. Some of those areas will be mined in the last phase of mining and others will remain to continue their present use, as is more specifically discussed in the Reclamation Plan for this site. Those portions of property that are subject to the condemnation in Section 9 will not be mined as contemplated due to the Conservation Easement created due to the construction of the Seven Oaks Dam. Areas south of the area under con- demnation in Section 9 will be precluded from mining as these are considered waters of the United States,jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and, accordingly, the Corps will preclude any activity that will frustrate their adjoining Conservation Easement for the endangered species. Sunwest proposes that as part of this project, the City of Redlands will approve a Reclamation Plan and exercise SMARA jurisdiction on the entire Alabama Operation described above, including that portion of the south 1/2 of the northeast 1/4 of Section 9, Township 1 South, Range 3 West, SBBM, of property existing within the jurisdiction of the City of Highland. (See the attached map). There exists a haul road linking the Sunwest Orange Street Plant located in the north 1/2 of the southeast 1/4 of Section 10, Township I South, Range 3 West, SBBM to the ready mix fa- cility and other facilities ancillary to mining adjacent to Alabama Street Operations in Section 9. Sunwest DMV trucks will access Route 30 via Orange Street north to Fifth Street, thus westerly on Fifth Street to Route 30. Local deliveries may go south on Orange Street. A series of alternative truck routes for the DMV roadable vehicles will be discussed in this project. Sunwest's existing excavation operations east of Orange Street consist of a myriad of different entitlement categorizations. One area is a one hundred forty (140) acre vested operation where mining activity has occurred since the early 1960's, more specifically, the 1961 H. Nor-man Johnson, Jr. Mine Site Approval issued by the County of San Bernardino. This area consists of an eighty (80) acre parcel that is the south 1/2 of the northwest 1/4 of Section 11, and a sixty (60) acre parcel that exists in the north 1/2 of the southwest 1/4 of Section 11, Township 1 South, Range 3 West, of the SBBM. The north 80 Acre parcel is within the jurisdiction of the City of Highland and the south 60 acre parcel is within the jurisdiction of the City of Redlands. The south 60 acre parcel abuts to RRM's Old Webster Quarry on the south, the Sunwest Orange Street Plant on the west, and the Redlands Aggregates area (discussed below) to the east. The north 80 acre parcel is contiguous with the leasehold interest Sunwest has with the SBVWCD to Aggregates leasehold area to the north: with BLM government land to the west; and the Redlands Ag the east. (See the attached map). The Johnson Area will be encompassed within a mine site ap- proval and reclamation plan included as part of the Agreement. 2 In the south 1/2 of the northeast 1/4 of Section 11 and the north 1/2 of the southeast 1/4 of Section 11, Township I South, Range 3 West, SBBM, exists the Redlands Aggregates Mine Site Approval and Reclamation Plan issued by the County of San Bernardino in 1985. This min- ing area is also dissected by the jurisdictional lines of the City of Highland and the City of Red- lands. The north 80 acre section is within the jurisdiction of the City of Highland and is under the mining lease between Sunwest and the SBVWCD. To the north and east of the the north 80 acre section is additional property subject to a lease between Sunwest and the SBVWCD. To the west, Sunwest claims vesting as to the north 80 acre parcel of the Johnson Mine Site. The south 80 acre Redlands Aggregates permitted area is subject to Sunwest's Sub-Lease Agreement with Redlands Aggregates whom holds the Lease with the SBVWCD- To the west of this southerly 80 acre section is the south 60 acres of the Johnson vested mining area claimed by Sunwest; to the south is other leased property that Sunwest has with the SBVWCD; and to the east is BLM prop- erty within Section 12. The Redlands Aggregate Area will be encompassed within a mine site approval and reclamation plan included as part of the Agreement. All other property consisting of the north 1/2 of the north 1/2 of Section 11, and the south 1/2 of the southeast 1/4 of Section 11, Township I South, Range 3 West; and the north 1/2 of Section 12, Township I South, Range 3 West; are subjects of a mining lease between the SBVWCD and Sunwest. These areas will be encompassed within the same mine site approval and reclamation plan portion of the Agreement as the Johnson and Redlands Aggregate areas. 1. The south 1/2 of the south 1/2 of the southeast 1/4 of Section 11, Township I South, Range 3 West, consisting of a 40 acre portion in a rectangular configuration is also subject to a condemnation action by the SBCFCD. This 40 acre portion, of the 80 acre parcel, will not be mined as it is part of a Conservation Easement created for endangered plant species, as mitigation for the Seven Oaks Dam. All of the mining operations, other than the Alabama Street site, will consist of excavating a large pit with sloping sides to the ultimate perimeters of the property. All properties east of the Sunwest Orange Street Plant are to be processed through the Orange Street Plant. The properties will be excavated and the native raw product will be loaded with a large front-end articulating loader and transported via one hundred ten (110) ton earth moving bottom dump trucks to the Orange Street Plant for processing and delivery to the end user. No site approval/conditional use permit or reclamation plan is necessary for the Orange Street Plant. The Alabama Operation will be smaller as compared to the existing Orange Street Opera- tions. The Alabama Operation's substrate is mainly sand, which is different from the raw prod- uct that feed the Orange Street Plant and, thus, the Alabama Operation will compliment the Orange Street Plant. The Alabama Street Operation will also operate via a front-end articulating loader and either use trucks to transport to the processing facility or load directly into the pro- cessing facility. 3 In sum, the CEQA project for which this EIR will be prepared evaluates the development agreement, which will include at least the following. 1. A reclamation plan for the Alabama Street Site; 2. A reclamation plan and site approval/CUP for a mining area which will encompass the Johnson Area, the Redlands Ag- gregate Area, and the north 1/2 of the north 1/2 of Sec- tion 11, and the south 1/2 of the southeast 1/4 of Section 11 and the north 1/2 of Section 12; 3. Recontouring Plunge Creek; 4. Relocating two rare plant preserves while establishing a new plant preserve; and, 5. Open space zone designations. 4 La Lo 0 j 00 Aao; Tr `'� .� �-- fir. -- - - -'=.• - •lig-.� �� - �._ t a � CIS r • 5{ ¢ l f ` I Lj vi LU LLLJ W<. 'm LU e YOJ �.1r ��-y-� — '-- _ fir F It - . •i C �C y g _ _ -- � �.• � i1' �) uta `� cr ■` ^ t, O