Now that the gorgeous Coast Dairies & Land property has been placed in public trust, who will decide how it will be used? 

The planning process to decide that will be outlined at the January RBDA meeting by Ann Cole of the Trust for Public Land (TPL), the San Francisco organization which has charge of the 7,500-acre property stretched along the Pacific for five miles between Laguna and Scott creeks, and climbing inland to the hills of Bonny Doon. 

Also at the meeting will be renowned nature and travel photographer Frank Balthis, a Bonny Doon resident. He will present slides he has made at Coast Dairies and other sites, many of them local. His work has been published by National Geographic, the Sierra Club and the Wildlife Federation. In case anyone isn't already aware of it, it will make clear the breathtaking beauty of the Coast Dairies property, which includes beaches, farms, ranches and forests. 

Coast Dairies was purchased mostly with money from the Packard Foundation, helped out by state funds and other private donations. The likelihood is that the parts of it now used for agriculture and perhaps timber will continue as before, and that the residential parcels near Davenport will continue unchanged. There are also parts that are leased to RMC Lonestar, and the RBDA is very interested in whether those leases will continue, and under what terms. 

One of the bigger questions is when and where public access will be permitted (of course the beaches are already open), and under what limitations. This is the RBDA's general membership meeting, so it will also feature the annual election of officers to the RBDA board. Be sure to renew your membership so you can vote. 

For further information on CD&L, click here. 

The mysteries surrounding the RMC Lonestar quarry/cement plant are growing. First we had the mystery sound, which may no longer be a mystery. Read on to find out more. 
 
Now we find out that the Lonestar name is vanishing from the operation. What does that mean? A corporate reorganization, or something more? All calls about the new name were directed to RMC’s American headquarters. 
 
Time will tell if the name change means anything, but a more substantial mystery is the baffling delay in the company’s response to the county’s request for additional information regarding their application to expand the limestone quarry. When they first applied last year, RMC said they were very anxious to get approval because they were quickly running out of limestone, the main ingredient in cement manufacturing. (This is an expansion eastward into an area that is zoned for mining, not the potential expansion northward onto residentially zoned properties RMC owns on Smith Grade.) 

With the pace of quarrying apparently increasing, it seems that RMC has only a couple of years or so of limestone left without the applied-for expansion.  Getting the permit could take 18 months or more, since the county may require an Environmental Impact Report under CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), because, among other things, the expansion could affect the groundwater that supplies the City of Santa Cruz’s Liddell Spring intake. Does it seem RMC is cutting things a little close? Why? We intend to find out. 

Meanwhile, the RBDA is marshaling its forces to draw a line in the woods, so to speak, against the quarry’s expansion into residential zones. We have collected over 320 Dooners’ signatures on our anti-quarry expansion petitions, and plan to turn them in soon to the county supervisors. If you still have petitions, mail them to us as soon as possible, at 102 Sunlit Lane, SC 95060. 
 
We also still would like more volunteers for our quarry task force.  Stopping the stripmining of Bonny Doon is going to be a long and hard fight, and we’ll need all the help we can get. Call or e-mail us if you are interested in becoming involved (see phone numbers and e-mail address on back cover). 

In other RMC news, the company was refused a permit exemption to drill exploratory mining holes on its property surrounding Reggiardo Creek and in the 1,000 foot buffer zone east of the quarry. To drill them, RMC will have to go through the permit process. The county told RMC it used up its exemption limit when it drilled exploratory holes on its Smith Grade residential properties last fall. We still don’t know if RMC found mineable limestone there. 
 
Finally, several Smith Graders and others have been complaining about increased noise and explosions from the quarry. If we are going to be able to get the county to do anything about it, we need to document everything so we have some solid evidence. Write down the time and date of loud noises, explosions, dust, etc. that you hear or notice, and at some point in the future we will ask you for them to create a permanent record of the effects of the quarry on our neighborhoods. It could help us as we struggle to protect our community from being destroyed by the insatiable demand for concrete. 
 

The Board of Supervisors, hopeful that Gov. Gray Davis’s new Democratic administration will alter the makeup of the industry-leaning Board of Forestry, will be resubmitting its requests for changes in the rules regulating timber harvests. 
 
The new rules package, with some tweaks by the county Planning Department, will be considered by the supervisors at their January 12 meeting. As of this writing, it seems that the planning staff is still watering down the rules to make them more palatable to the logging industry. The changes include allowing helicopter logging at more frequent intervals than now permitted (10 days every three years rather than five years); reducing the no-cut zones near streams; and cutting the buffer zones around homes from the formerly proposed 300 feet to 200 feet. In comparison, San Mateo County requires a 1,000 foot buffer. 
If you want to keep the rules package proposal from being gutted, come to the January 12 meeting. 
 
The supes also have sent to the Coastal Commission (whose makeup will also be changing) a new zoning ordinance regulating where logging can be done. It essentially limits logging to parcels zoned as timber preserve (TP). 

Owners of Special Use (SU) and residential or agricultural zoned property would have to apply for rezoning to be able to log it. Big Creek may also try to undermine this effort. It was a suit against San Mateo’s effort to control where logging may be done that originally established that county’s do have that right. That came out of an Appeals Court ruling that the California Supreme Court declined to review. The logging industry is threatening to try to test that decision again, holding that only the state Supreme Court can establish that right. The supes plan to wait to vote on the new zoning ordinance until May 25, 1999, to see what the Coastal Commission has to say about the changes. Of particular note to Bonny Dooners, the new ordinance, as currently written, requires all new private driveways and permanent logging roads to be paved or rocked to prevent stream sedimentation. Studies have shown baserock runoff is the main cause of silt in our watercourses. The proposed change calls for gravel or baserock on slopes under 10%, oil and screen on slopes of 10- to 15%, and asphalt on slopes over 15%. 

Critical RBDA Board Elections 
 
At the January general membership meeting five positions on the RBDA board will be up for election. Of the incumbents, only two, Ted Benhari and Val Haley, have said they will intend to run again. Two, Miriam Beames and Marty Demare, will be stepping down, while Paul Hostetter hasn’t decided. This is a crucial time for the RBDA, with the most important threat to life as we know it in Bonny Doon now looming before us: the possible expansion of the RMC Lonestar limestone quarry into the residential properties along Smith Grade. 
 
Stymying the plans of this large international corporation will require tremendous energy and dedication. The board needs members who are committed to this struggle, and who can work together in a harmonious manner. If you want to be part of this effort, consider becoming a candidate for the RBDA board. Contact either of the members of our nominating committee, Mark Bedford, at 458-0235, or Fred Bryck, at 425-5476. In any case, be sure to attend the Jan. 13 meeting, because this is one of the most important board elections in years, and your opportunity to choose the best candidates to lead the board through this critical period. 

You can help us continue to send the Highlander to all Bonny Dooners, not just RBDA members. For $11 an issue your message goes to 1100 Bonny Doon households, for a very reasonable penny each. Only 6-issue, 1-year contracts are accepted. The RBDA reserves the right to reject sponsorships which may conflict with our goal of keeping Bonny Doon rural and natural. To be a sponsor, send your check for $66 to RBDA, 102 Sunlit Lane, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Include your business’s name, description (one line maximum, about 10-15 words), address and phone. 
 
 

David Hooks Construction Services   Residential and commercial construction. High quality, courteous  professional service. 426-9656. Lic.#649217

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