Quarry lawsuit may see closure

Attorneys representing the city of Riverbank and Tuolumne County in an ongoing lawsuit expressed cautious optimism this week that a settlement can be reached.

Representatives from all involved parties have been working on a possible agreement for months in a lawsuit over the Cooperstown Quarry in the far-west edge of the county.

Riverbank, in  Stanislaus County, is suing the county and property owners Jack and Tricia Gardella over the quarry project, as Riverbank officials believe operations at the site will have major impacts on their community.
In the lawsuit, the city’s attorney, Douglas White, asserts that Tuolumne County officials did not follow state regulations when the county moved forward on the project without completing a detailed environmental impact report to mitigate those effects.

On Monday, White said settlement discussions have been ongoing and there’s a good chance of an agreement coming “sooner than later.”

“I think there’s some optimism there that at some point in time, a settlement may be reached,” White said. “We’ve had some productive discussions. … At this point in time, we haven’t reached an agreement.”

The city filed a lawsuit in April after the county Board of Supervisors allowed the quarry project to move forward without a detailed environmental impact report. For major projects that have significant environmental impacts, state law requires the EIR to detail those impacts and lay out ways to lessen or compensate for them.

One of the city’s main concerns is over increased train traffic through town that the quarry will produce. The 135-acre Cooperstown project is expected to generate as much as 56 million tons of rock over the next 75 years, which will be transported by rail.

White said on Monday that the tracks run through the heart of Riverbank, and he called the potential increase “dramatic” enough to affect quality of life in the city.

The Riverbank City Council held a special meeting on the ongoing lawsuit last week, which Mayor Virginia Madueno said did not attract the public response city officials had expected. White said public feedback in Riverbank will be important as the city likely faces increased train traffic no matter the outcome of the legal proceedings.

“Unless this project was to go away, there are things the city has to start planning for,” White said.
The lawsuit between Riverbank and Tuolumne County was moved from Sonora to a Sacramento court in September. White filed the request for a venue change, claiming at the time that Tuolumne County would not be a neutral venue since the county is a party in the lawsuit.

Environmental groups Friends of the Mother Lode and Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center have also sued the county and quarry owners in separate but similar litigation filed in Stanislaus County.

Carlyn Drivdahl, an attorney with the Tuolumne County Counsel’s office, said on Monday that settlement negotiations are “progressing nicely” in both cases. As talks continue, court deadlines for filings and hearings can be extended, and Drivdahl said the county plans to request a hearing scheduled in March be moved back to allow discussions to continue.

“As long as there are productive talks, the county is just looking to work with both,” she said.