The Ojai Post

Daniel.klemann@ventura.org; Matt.Carroll@ventura.org; OjaiStopTheTrucks@Gmail.com

Dear Dan Klemann, Senior Planner
Ventura County Resource Management Agency, Planning Division
800 South Victoria Ve., L#1740
Ventura, CA 93009
(Fax: 805-654-2509)
cc: Matt Carroll; Ojai Stop The Trucks Coalition

By forwarding this document by Email, Fax or letter, to you, I am/(we are) adding our names to the many other petitions you will be receiving on this issue below that requests and acknowledges the following:

The Ventura County Zoning Ordinance Standards of Approval for a CUP require that the proposed use must be compatible with the character of surrounding, legally established development; and not be detrimental to the public interest, health, safety convenience or welfare.

We believe that the Ozena Valley Ranch mining project does not meet this basic standard with regard to its impacts upon the entire Ojai Valley and the Los Padres Forest.

In reviewing the C.U.P. applications and modifications (Case numbers LU04-0055 & LU04-0072 & Case No. CUP 5170)) that apply to Ozena Valley Ranch mining, we feel that any analysis of the applications and EIR must include but is not limited by the following:

Air Quality:

Given that no EIR was ever conducted prior to the issuance of the original CUP in 2001, the standard for impacts should be considered against the pre-2001 base line.

Air quality standards and impacts must be measured not only around the area of the mine, but also the entire haul route on Route 33, from the mine through the Ojai Valley, to the 101 freeway.

The impact of exhaust from diesel trucking must be evaluated at a minimum for Benzene, Formaldehyde, Sulfur Dioxide, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Nitric Acid, and other carcinogens.

The list of “receptors” for any added air pollution impacts in the Ojai Valley should include at a minimum, students at Miramonte, Nordhoff High School, and church preschools; patients at the Ojai Valley Community Hospital, and nearby medical clinics; seniors at Maricopa Highway mobile home parks and Hitching Post and Creek Side apartments and other senior facilities; scores of families living in single family homes located adjacent to Highway 33; and upon customers at Ojai's only shopping center located at the "Y" intersection.

Traffic:

Impacts on daily traffic volumes must be measured through the entire Ojai Valley and be in alignment with the Ventura County General Plan as it pertains to the Ojai Valley. No study of these impacts has ever been done to date.

Highway & Road Safety:

The Route 33 haul route from the Lockwood Valley to the 101 must be analyzed fully in terms of both past accidents and the potential for future accidents. Traffic accident data must correctly factor out time when the road has been closed due to repairs and weather conditions. No adequate, thorough study of these impacts has ever been done to date.

The numerous hairpin turns, the steepness of those turns, the tunnels, the highway's close proximity to both businesses and residences, together with a lack of adequate shoulders and no room available for runaway truck lanes, endangers both those who use the highway for recreation and those business and residences that exit and enter their home or business and/or utilize Route 33 through out the year. Such a study is vital to insure the health, safety and welfare of all of those citizens and therefore such a study should be conducted.

Aquaculture:

There must be an examination of the genuine potential threat to native and endangered species if such an Aquaculture business is to be allowed. Prior studies conducted on behalf of Ventura County have indicated there is a genuine threat from the raising of non-native species.

Hauling of reused road bed and concrete materials:

No study of these impacts of road safety, road-bed abuse, air quality, traffic etc., has ever been done to date regarding the hauling of reused road bed and concrete materials northbound through the Ojai Valley.

Ojai Restricted Zone:

The Planning Division's most recent interpretation of the Ojai Restricted Zone has stripped away all protection for downtown Ojai, the east end, upper Ojai as well a the previously noted lack of protection for the High School, Hospital, and "Y", shopping and medical complexes. As proposed by the applicant, the new time table offers ZERO PROTECTION to the Ojai Valley in terms of hours. Trucks going in one direction or another, or both, could, under proposed guidelines, run though the Ojai Valley 24/7.

The Coalition petitions you to restore those protections in a meaningful and enforceable way. No to do so would be in conflict with the Ventura County Zoning Ordinance Standards of Approval for a CUP requiring that any proposed use must be compatible with the character of surrounding, legally established development; and not be detrimental to the public interest, health, safety convenience or welfare.

Miscellaneous Issues & Hazards:

There have never been adequate reviews of the impacts of this CUP to the sensitive headwaters of not just the Cuyama River, but also the Ventura River, the North Fork of the Matilija River; the Matilija River and the water supply for Lake Casitas and the Ojai Valley.

Other potential hazards or impacts that were never studied include noise, flooding, air quality, uncovered trucks, SMARA requirements and biological impacts, etc. We petition you and the appropriate agencies to conduct thorough studies of all of the above.

Enforcement & Monitoring:

Despite frequent claims by the County that Ozena's violations have been minimal; the Planning Division has repeatedly stated that they lack an effective means to ensure adequate monitoring of the CUP. State CEQA requirements are clear that there must be "reasonable and feasible" means of compliance monitoring which, presently, are not now in place. This petition is calling for that to be rectified.

It has been the experience of the Ojai community that monitoring and enforcement do not reach the standard of "reasonable and feasible", nor has any effective enforcement taken place over the past three-years.

For all of the above reasons, we urged the Planning Division to reject these applications.