Page 6 - laco_cemexpermit060204

The Honorable Board of Supervisors
June 2, 2004
Page6

On September 10, 2002, the United States intervened as a plaintiff along with Cemex in the
pending lawsuit, alleging that the County's actions and denial of the Project were preempted
under various federal laws.

The Consent Decree Process and Project Approval Documents

In December 2002, Judge Tevrizian ordered Cemex, the County, and the United States to
mediation before retired federal court judge Layn Phillips as required under the federal district
court rules. Thereafter, the parties engaged in a nine-month mediation process involving
numerous lengthy and contentious mediation sessions. The mediation sessions resulted in
the Consent Decree which provides for approval of the Project under a comprehensive set of
environmental mitigation measures and compromise Project conditions. The Consent Decree
included copies of all of the various approval documents which are included with this board
letter.

All environmental mitigation measures which were included in the proposed FEIR will be
implemented, with the exception of a single traffic mitigation measure relating to limitations on
in-bound and out-bound truck trips to the Project Site. An alternative limitation on in-bound
and out-bound truck trips is included instead, which, among other things, limits in-bound and
out-bound aggregate trucks trips in the a.m. and p.m. peak hours to 8 and 20, respectively.

The Project conditions (Exhibit E) are variations of the conditions which had been proposed by
County staff in November 2001 . Those variations affect, among other things, provisions
relating to hours of operation, yearly mining quantities, specific truck-trip limitations, the scope
and frequency of compliance reports, the frequency of required inspections, the composition of
the proposed community advisory committee, and proposed Cemex contributions to fund an
open space, visual, air quality and traffic mitigation fund, and a clean school bus program.
Your Board previously approved the agreed-to slate of Project conditions as part of the
settlement process. Compliance with the Project conditions and environmental mitigation
measures will be enforced by County staff consistent with County practice, and as provided for
in the Project Conditions and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Plan. As is standard
procedure for County land use approvals, the permittee (Cemex) must indemnify and defend
the County in the event of any challenge to your approvals of the environmental
documentation and land use entitlements for the Project.

The Consent Decree requires that your Board rescind your April 2002, denial of the Project.
The Consent Decree further requires that your Board rescind your earlier determination that
the original traffic analysis prepared for Project impacts on Soledad Canyon Road was
inadequate, and that the new traffic methodology proffered by DPW in November 2001 is

HOA 236756.1