San Rafael Rock Quarry Committee
Objectives
What's At Stake
Presently, the operations of the San Rafael Rock Quarry are governed by a 1972 use permit that was approved by the County of Marin without any significant assessment of the impact on the environment, surrounding property owners or community. Twenty-eight years later, Marin County planners agreed that the 1972 use permit is woefully outdated and inadequate, especially when compared with provisions contained in most modern mining and quarry use permits.
The residents have been plagued by noise, dust and diesel fumes, truck traffic, shaking of their homes and cracking of their walls. The SRRQ has not been a good neighbor. It must invest in modern mining practices to ensure that the residents do not continue to suffer the nuisances created by living in very close proximity to an open-pit mine in an area which was re-zoned in 1982 as residential - light commercial.
The first half of 2009 may well be the most eventful period of time for the Quarry, and those affected by the Quarry, in at least several past decades and several decades to come. The County will be approving the plan that will govern how the Quarry site will be cleaned up and, even more importantly to many residents, how Quarry operations will be conducted over the remaining life of the mine. The ground rules for how the Quarry will impact the lives of thousands of area residents, and the health risks which the Quarry will be allowed to expose those residents, will be established this year. The County must get it right this time. A successful effort by the Coalition to see that proper operating conditions are imposed on the Quarry is not likely to be matched in significance by any other endeavor the Coalition might take to improve the local environment and the quality of life of Pt. San Pedro Road residents.
Our Goals & Objectives
The Coalition has called upon the County to conduct a comprehensive reassessment of the operations of the San Rafael Rock Quarry and its tenants (including the McNears Brickyard and the Marin Aggregate site). This reassessment should identify the negative impacts on the community and the environment, and should result in the imposition of operating and other restrictions on the Quarry and its tenants. Here are the major goals and objectives of this Committee's efforts:
- No reclaiming and operating in the northeast quadrant of the property until the Quarry closes down. Maintain the prohibition to further dumping there. No new berms would be allowed to be built. The current berm must be removed at the time of reclamation. (The Quarry plan is to to move tons of earth back and forth on the site during the years of mining. They call this reclamation, but it is just operations disguised as mining.)
- Limit Quarry operations (daily hours, seasonal times, etc.)
- Reduce and eliminate the public nuisances of the Quarry and its tenants
- Control truck traffic and damage to Point San Pedro Road
- Control noise, dust, diesel emissions, vibration and bright lighting
- Control future mining impacts
- Ensure that the County conducts proper enforcement