EBMUD Delays Quarry Project
Crowd at February 1 San Leandro City Council subcommittee meeting hears about the Quarry Project.
The old quarry site behind the Bay-O-Vista neighborhood that EBMUD would like to fill with dirt excavated as part of its pipe replacement program.
photo credit: Mark Thomas.
Castro Valley and San Leandro residents won’t see many dump trucks headed to the old quarry site on Lake Chabot Road anytime soon, following a March 14 meeting of the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) board of directors.
EBMUD is abandoning, at least for the near future, its proposal to move and store trench soil there from pipe replacement projects throughout its two-county service area. The agency had promised a new park and hiking trails to be built there once the project is completed, but that completion would take 40 years or more.
Trench soil is removed along with old pipes and not reused. EBMUD engineers say fresh soil is better for the stability and longevity of the new pipes. That leaves the problem of where to put the increasing amounts of trench soil as EBMUD gears up its replacement of old water pipes.
EBMUD sees an advantage in it taking that long for its ongoing supply of trench soil to fill up the old quarry, but at least some nearby residents strongly disagree. The old quarry site is on county land but is adjacent to Bay-O-Vista, which is within San Leandro city limits.
EBMUD had proposed sending 30 to 100 dump trucks a day heading northbound on Interstate 580 and exiting at Estudillo Avenue in San Leandro. They would then have headed up narrow, twisting Lake Chabot Road to the old quarry site on county land, just over the city line. The empty trucks were to return on the county portion of the road to Fairmont Drive in Castro Valley and then onto freeways.
EBMUD announced on Tuesday that it was letting a purchase option on the land lapse, would not pursue a required environmental impact report, and was dropping its request for a conditional use permit for the project from the county.
But its board failed, on a pair of 3-3 tie votes with one member absent, to either cancel the project permanently or to leave the door open to it in the future. Its staff was instructed to keep looking into alternative ways to dispose of trench soil.
Members of the public commenting at the meeting expressed opposition to the quarry proposal.
“We’re very pleased that three members of the East Bay MUD board of directors voted to terminate the project immediately,” said Kat Wellman of the Save Lake Chabot Road group. “We’re also pleased that (San Leandro) Mayor Gonzalez and Councilmember Reynes spoke so strongly against it.”
The Save Lake Chabot Road group had led opposition to the project and gathered 1,500 names on a petition against it. Their members are mostly Bay-O-Vista residents but also include residents from Oakland’s nearby Sheffield Village neighborhood, Castro Valley, and elsewhere. The San Leandro City Council voted unanimously on March 6 to oppose the project.
Before the meeting, EBMUD had announced a “pause” to the project while looking at alternatives and also while the road is closed for repairs from recent storm damage. But newly elected EBMUD board member April Chan, whose district includes Bay-O-Vista, called forcefully at the meeting for an outright cancellation.
“As a director, I feel this is really the wrong direction for us to go,” she said. Chan saw lawsuits and a citizen rebellion brewing if the project proceeded.
“People are uncomfortable with the idea of a pause,” she continued. “The 1,500 names on a petition are just the beginning.” She sponsored the motion to cancel the project.
EBMUD insists the road could be used safely and with minimal inconvenience to Bay-O-Vista residents.
Lake Chabot Road between Fairmont Drive and Benedict Drive is closed indefinitely while storm damage is repaired, which had already forced EBMUD to delay their plans.