Stop the Trucks: County Planning Division Stalls
CAN WE PRESERVE THIS OJAI?
OR IS THIS OUR FUTURE?
In an article published in the Ventura Reporter, author Paul Sisolak wrote: "In their request for public documents from the county level, members of the Stop the Trucks Coalition say the information contained in those records could further illustrate that the frequency of trucks hauling rock and gravel from the Ozena mines just north of Ojai is environmentally unsound. However, according to two of its founding members, those requests are nearing their expiry date, further delaying a process that has endured for years..."
For the full article go to:
http://www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/ojai_citizens_still_try_to_stop_the_trucks/6268/
Other highlights include:
“We are sure there are an extraordinary number of violations,” said Stop the Trucks member Howard Smith of Ojai.
In particular, Smith’s group has sought the cessation of truck travel along the Route 33 stretch through the Ojai Valley. Their claim: The 75-year-old thoroughfare, with its narrow twists and turns, is unfit as a mass industrial traffic corridor, compounded by the long-term noise and air pollution it could generate for years to come.
Both Smith and the coalition’s chair, Michael Shapiro of Ojai, want to see if looking at official weigh tickets will, for one, show that trucks from the Ozena mines are not traveling in compliance with designated times allotted for them in the project’s permit, and two, that the county is not imposing penalties for the violations.
This follows an accusation earlier this year by coalition members that weigh tickets from July and August of 2007 were undercounted, inaccurate and “rubber stamped” by the powers-that-be....
While Pat Richards, a supervisor for Ventura County’s planning division, stated that only a negligible number of violations — 4.47 percent of 649 truck trips — were in violation, the Stop the Trucks Coalition reviewed the same records and found that 40% of all truck trips and 55% of trips through Ojai appeared to be in violation.
The planning department has made clear that it would not retroactively enforce previous violations, despite the fact that Ozena was warned about prior violations as far back as 2006. The Coalition estimates that the County's alleged failure to enforce penalties is potentially costing Ventura County taxpayers up to $600,000 over the past two years alone.
Under the guidelines, trucks are allowed to travel through the valley from Casitas Springs to Ojai on Highway 33 from 6 to 7 a.m., and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m..
“We know trucks routinely go up to Ozena as early as 3 a.m., 4 a.m.,” said Smith.
In July the Stop the Trucks met with Deputy County CEO, Matt Carroll, to press their complaint about Richards and his interpretation of the data. Although Carroll promised a thorough investigation, the Coalition is still waiting for the results of that inquiry.
Another series of documents the coalition looks to acquire through county channels, according to Smith, is all records of proposal requests from contractors looking to complete an environmental impact report for the Ozena deal.
The coalition’s gripe in this area, according to Shapiro and Smith, is that county administration has been slow and unresponsive to their requests, which propelled Stop the Trucks to seek legal intervention from a Santa Monica-based environmental law firm.
The original Conditional Use Permit for Ozena expired in early 2006, yet the County has done little to either enforce the existing rules while seemingly dragging their feet on processing the new application.
“We finally had to resort to the law to get what we request,” Shapiro noted. “It’s a sad story that a citizen group such as ourselves requesting public information has to jump through hoops.”
Arthur Pugsley, of the firm Chatten-Brown and Carstens, said he is “eagerly anticipating” the information.
One of the Coalition's Public Records Requests was for Weigh Tickets for Ozena from December of 2007 through August of 2008, a total of nine months. What the County's Head of Resource Management, Chris Stephens actually sent was for one week in April.
“The last public records act request, it did take quite a while for them to respond to it,” he said. Pugsley’s most recent request, according to a letter from his firm, was dated Aug. 21.
Stop the Trucks has also asked all candidates running for the Ojai City Council, and the Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) for input on the truck issue. To date Suza Francina, a former Mayor of the City of Ojai and a current candidate for the City Council and Jerry Kaplan, a candidate for a MAC seat from District Seven have responded.
Stop the Trucks was victorious last year in a similar fight against another mining endeavor, Diamond Rock. In that case, an agreement was made between Stop the Trucks and the mine to use Santa Barbara routes and avoid Route 33 for its truck traffic.
Smith said Stop the Trucks remains resolute in its stance to preserve the Ojai Valley’s foundation of the arts, education and agriculture.
“If you put 600 to 800 trucks on the road every day, you destroy those three things,” he said. “It becomes a Bakersfield. You destroy our community.”
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