Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 26, 2010

2

AROUND THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

 Mountain Views News Saturday, June 26, 2010

Sierra Madre

The Azusa City Council laid out a list of issues 
and concerns that Vulcan Materials Company 
will need to address if the company expects 
to win approval for its revised mining and 
reclamation plan. 

 In a unanimous 5-0 vote at its June 21 meeting, 
the Azusa Council directed staff to return to 
the negotiating table with Vulcan with the 
objective of coming back to the council with 
an amended application that will address 
the issues and satisfy the stated concerns of 
council members. The council also directed 
staff to set a new public hearing on July 6 for 
reconsideration of Vulcan’s application for 
modification of its conditional use permit and 
revised reclamation plan. 

 On the list of issues to be addressed are:

• Save Van Tassel Ridge.

• Completion within two years of 
micro-benching of the Mayan Steps. 

• Following completion of the micro-
benching of the Mayan Steps, establishment of 
a trail head to allow access at all times to Fish 
Canyon Falls.

• Set aside funds for establishment 
of trail head, maintenance, signage and all 
the things that would meet the easement 
requirements of Duarte for access to Fish 
Canyon Falls. 

• Revegetation in the micro-bench 
reclamation plan has to be at 100%, not 40% 
as stated in the current application document. 

• Tighten up the language regarding the 
$80 million performance bond. There should 
be no ambiguities as to when it kicks in and 
how it is to be implemented. If Vulcan does not 
perform what it is supposed to, Azusa gets the 
$80 million bond to take care of reclamation 
on its own. 

• An airtight agreement that Vulcan 
ceases mining in 2038.

• In 2038 Azusa gets the reclaimed land 
to be designated for open space. 

• Institution of on-site monitoring of 
air quality. Health and safety issues have to be 
first and foremost. If there are any health and 
safety issues noted by the state air resources 
board or AQMD, mining activities stop until 
addressed. 

• Annual rather than bi-annual review 
of Vulcan. If any negative impacts are found 
with air or water, Vulcan is to cease operations 
until problems are mitigated or addressed. 

• An additional tax imposed on tonnage 
to provide additional revenues to address 
unforeseen problems and “to fund certain 
social and recreational programs in the city 
which could include a new library”. 

• An endowment fund and set aside 
funds to maintain and establish trail heads, 
acquire open space.

Azusa Council Member Uriel Macias said he 
had spoken with Vulcan officials and they 
assured him that they were willing to work 
with Azusa on issues of concern and “raise 
the bar on what we expect, what I expect 
personally were this project to go forward.” 
He said that what he took with him to the 
Vulcan meeting were a few pages from the 
Draft EIR that were given to him by Duarte’s 
Mayor Margaret Finlay and Council Member 
John Fasana and a list of items given to him by 
Save Our Canyon. “Some of them overlapped 
as to what my concerns are. They were valid 
concerns.”

Council Member Macias said he has also 
encouraged Vulcan to sit down with Duarte 
and Save Our Canyon people and listen to 
and address their concerns. But, as of now, 
according to Duarte and Save Our Canyon 
representatives, they have not been contacted 
by Vulcan. 

 Vulcan currently has a permit from 
the City of Azusa to mine 190 acres of its 
270-acre property. Vulcan wants to move its 
mining operations from the eastern portion of 
the property to a pristine 80 acre site on the 
west boundary in close proximity to Duarte 
homes and schools.

 On May 17, the Azusa council 
voted 3-2 to deny Vulcan’s application after 
approving the project’s Environmental Impact 
Report. At that time, Mayor Joe Rocha, Mayor 
Pro Tem Robert Gonzales and Councilman 
Uriel Macias who voted against the Vulcan 
plan voiced their concerns over the plan’s 
financial and environmental safeguards, and 
expressed serious doubts of whether Vulcan 
could succeed in the “superior” reclamation 
plan it promised utilizing a new micro-
benching technique. 

Then in a surprise move at its June 7 meeting, 
the Azusa City Council, as an urgency 
matter, voted 5-0 to both reconsider the May 
17 Council vote on the Conditional Use Permit 
and Revised Reclamation Plan and table the 
Rules of Parliamentary Procedure. The action 
paved the way for them to reconsider their 
denial of the plan. 

At the June 21 meeting, City of Duarte 
attorney, Jeff Melching spent his five minutes 
addressing the City of Azusa on potential 
violations of the  Brown Act during its June 7 
City Council meeting when it both agendized 
and acted upon the Vulcan matter. The Brown 
Act requires that there must be an immediate 
need for action to late-agendize a matter, and, 
that the immediate need must have come to the 
attention of the local agency after the agenda 
was posted. Instead, Duarte officials contend 
that this move is an after-the-fact change of 
mind by some members of the Azusa Council.

“Instead of voting on the CUP/Reclamation 
Plan motion as they did on May 17, they have 
now decided that they would rather continue 
the item to allow more time for negotiation 
with Vulcan,” said Duarte City Manager, 
Darrell George, reflecting on both the June 8 
and June 21 votes.  

Sierra Club lawyers have also questioned the 
legality of City Council reconsideration of the 
Vulcan proposal.

 In a letter read to the Azusa Council 
at the June 21 meeting by Sierra Club 
representative, David Czamanske, and signed 
by Joan Licari, chair of the San Gabriel Valley 
Task Force, Angeles Chapter of Sierra Club, 
the letter states.

 “The City Council had an opportunity 
on May 17 to defer a vote on Vulcan’s proposal 
until such time as such limited modifications 
could be made to the proposal, but chose 
not to. The City Council can not at this time 
reconsider a vote already taken under the 
assertion that such reconsideration is a re-
visiting of the vote taken on May 17.”

 In 2008, the Duarte City Council 
established a $700,000 fund entitled the “Fight 
Against Vulcan Expansion” in response to 
the anticipated mining expansion plans by 
Vulcan and its potential adverse impact on 
Duarte residents. For more information 
about the City of Duarte Fight Against Vulcan 
Expansion activities, call Duarte Deputy City 
Manager, Karen Herrera at (626) 357-7931, 
ext. 221. 

New Public Hearing on Vulcan

WATER - continued from page 1

 City Attorney Sandra Levin addressed concerns 
regarding the Prop 218 procedures, explaining 
that the process was not a “vote” but a vehicle for 
residents to submit a written protest. If a majority of 
the rate payers submit an objection that includes the 
basic information of their name and the property 
address, the city would not be allowed to increase 
the rates.

 Inman also reminded everyone one that the User 
Utility Tax that was recently adopted, was in fact a 
tax for the specific purpose of public safety. Money 
from the UUT does not go into water revenues. He 
also noted that the city has established Development 
Impact Fees to cover the increased expense of new 
housing on the existing water system. 

 A public hearing on the increase is scheduled for 
July 13, 2010. 


100 Years Of 
History

St. Rita Parish announces the 
publication of their Centennial 
Book, a history of the faith 
community from the founding 
of the original parish in 1908 
(originally named as St. Teresa 
Church) through the end of the 
Centennial celebration in 2008.

The author is the current St. 
Rita pastor, Monsignor Richard 
Krekelberg. He has done an 
outstanding job in organization 
and writing of this book. The 
history is divided into four 25-year 
sections, which parallel the tenure 
of previous religious orders and 
diocesan priests assigned to both 
St. Rita Church and St. Rita School.

Msgr. Krekelberg included 
pertinent information in each 
section, from world to national to state to county to town history. Many photographs of the town, the former 
and present church buildings, the school, personnel, parishioners, and students are included.

Also included are recollections, along with personal photographs, from many former and current parishioners. 
St. Rita Church is a reflection of the town of Sierra Madre in that there is a highly stable population. It is 
interesting to read the stories of those older parishioners as they describe the town and parish/school of their 
youth.

The book is almost 400 hundred pages in length, beautifully illustrated and printed, and contains almost 
1800 photographs. Copies are available for $55 each from the St. Rita Parish Office, 50 E. Alegria Ave., Sierra 
Madre or call 626/355-1292. Local delivery of books can be provided. 


Monsignor Krekelberg, author of the new book, autographs copies for 
parishioners.


BARGAIN BOOK SALE AT SIERRA MADRE LIBRARY 

Quality Books for Only A Buck!

 The Friends of the Sierra Madre Library will hold a Bargain Book Table Sale inside the 
Library, Monday, June 21 through Saturday, June 26, during the Library’s open hours. This 
month’s featured topics will include Fiction, Cookbooks, Biographies, Animals, Wildlife, 
Time Warner and Children’s books. All volumes are in good condition and will be sold at the 
low, low price of $1.00 each. These every-other-month book sales provide funding for Library 
resources and programs. 

 Are your bookshelves bursting at the seams? Is it time to weed out the old to make room for 
the new? Your donations of gently used books are appreciated, and will help maintain our 
book sale inventory. Books in bags or boxes may be dropped off at the back of the Library, by 
the basement door. 

 For more information call (626) 355-7186, or visit our website at www.sierramadre.lib.ca.us. 
The Sierra Madre Public Library, located at 440 West Sierra Madre Boulevard in Sierra Madre, 
is open Monday through Wednesday from Noon to 9 p.m., Thursday and Friday from Noon 
to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

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Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com