CEMEX Rockfield Quarry Modification Project Environmental Impact Report No. 7763 and Unclassified Conditional Use Permit Application Nos. 3666 and 3667
3 Documents in Project
Summary
SCH Number
2020060123
Lead Agency
Fresno County
Document Title
CEMEX Rockfield Quarry Modification Project Environmental Impact Report No. 7763 and Unclassified Conditional Use Permit Application Nos. 3666 and 3667
Document Type
RC - Response to Comments
Received
Present Land Use
Existing aggregate mining and processing operations / AE-20 (Exclusive Agricultural, 20 acre minimum parcel size) / Agriculture
Document Description
CEMEX Construction Materials Pacific LLC (the “Applicant”) has applied to the County of Fresno Department of Public Works and Planning (County) for two Unclassified Conditional Use Permits (CUP Application Nos. 3666 and 3667) to allow the Rockfield Quarry a continuation and modification of its current aggregate (rock, sand, and gravel) mining and processing operations. The project is generally located at two separate sites approximately two miles apart, The first, the Plant Site, is located on the west side of North Friant Road between North Willow Avenue and Little Dry Creek, and the second, the Quarry Site, is located on the west side of North Friant Road between Bluff View Avenue and Lost Lake Road. The County is the lead agency for preparation of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR No. 7763) for this project and is circulating the Final EIR, including the proposed responses to comments, to public agencies that commented on the Draft EIR pursuant to Section 15088(b) of the CEQA Guidelines.
PROJECT LOCATION
The project site is located at two sites: 13475 N. Friant Road and 14765 North Friant Road, Fresno, CA 93636, between North Friant Road and the San Joaquin River, in an unincorporated portion of Fresno County. Continued surface mining disturbances are planned on the two locations, the Plant Site and the Quarry Site, as described below:
• Plant Site (CUP 3666): CEMEX’s current Plant Site is located on approximately 138.5 acres on the west side of North Friant Road, approximately 1.5 miles north of the City of Fresno and approximately 0.7 mile north of the intersection of North Willow Avenue and North Friant Road. The Plant Site includes approximately 126.6 acres owned by the Applicant (APNs 300-070-56S, 57S, 58S, and 60S) and approximately 11.9 acres owned by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (portions of APNs 300-070-43ST, 48ST, and 50ST).
• Quarry Site (CUP 3667): CEMEX’s current Quarry Site is located on approximately 352.4 acres on the west side of N. Friant Road (APNs 300-040-19 & 20, 300-080-01S, 300-250-12 & portion of 300-310-01) approximately 2.0 miles north of CEMEX’s current Plant Site and approximately 2.0 miles south of the unincorporated community of Friant.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Applicant is requesting a continuation and modification of its current aggregate (rock, sand, and gravel) mining and processing operations. The Project includes the following two project life stages that are estimated to span 100 years:
Stage 1:
- Continue concurrent operations at both the Quarry Site and the Plant Site for up to 30 years.
- At the Plant Site, the existing aggregate processing plant would continue to be used to wash, screen, crush and sort aggregate mined on site.
- At the Quarry Site the hard rock deposit that lies beneath the alluvial deposit currently being mined, would be mined. Excavation of the hard rock would require drilling and blasting and would occur to a depth of approximately 600-feet below ground surface (bgs).
- An aggregate processing plant would be added to the Quarry Site to wash, screen, crush, and sort the hard rock to be mined on site.
- Aggregate products produced at the Quarry Site used at the asphalt and ready-mix plants at the Plant Site would be transported approximately 2 miles south to the Plant Site via Friant Road in the
same manner as the raw aggregate currently being transported from the Quarry Site to the Plant Site for the existing operations. - Other aggregate products produced at the Quarry site not used by the asphalt and ready-mix plants at the Plant Site would be sold directly from the quarry.
- The existing asphalt plant at the Plant Site would be replaced with a modern Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) plant.
- Periodic use of a portable crushing plant to recycle come-back concrete would continue with the addition of asphalt recycling and import of concrete debris to recycle into crushed miscellaneous base (CMB) and asphalt debris to be recycled asphalt product (RAP).
- Mine the remaining alluvial deposit at the Plant Site to a depth of approximately 85-feet below ground surface (bgs).
- Relocation of the plant operations at the Plant Site to the Quarry Site in less than 30 years to recover the deposit beneath the plants.
- Upon approval of project permits, the combined annual sales of aggregate from both sites are estimated to ramp up from the 1.4 MT allowed under the current permits to 2.0 MT in approximately five years and up to 3.0 MT in approximately 10 years.
- When mining is completed at the Plant Site, reclamation would consist of approximately 138.5 acres of open space, riparian and open water wildlife habitat.
Stage 2:
- Continue hard rock mining and processing operations only at the Quarry Site for approximately 70 more years. The ready-mix concrete plant and the hot-mix asphalt plant would be relocated from the Plant Site to the Quarry Site.
- The periodic use of a portable plant to recycle concrete and asphalt debris (including imported) into CMB and RAP would be added to the Quarry Site.
- All aggregate products produced at the Quarry site would be used by the on-site asphalt and ready-mix plants or sold directly from the Quarry Site. The interplant haul would cease.
- Stage 2 operations are estimated to have annual aggregate sales of 3.0 MT.
- Reclamation of the Quarry Site would create approximately 352.4 acres of open space, riparian and open water wildlife habitat.
Contact Information
Name
Bruce Steubing
Agency Name
Benchmark Resources
Job Title
Principal Planner
Contact Types
Consulting Firm
Phone
Name
Christine Jones
Agency Name
CEMEX
Job Title
Senior Manager, Permitting & Land Entitlements
Contact Types
Project Applicant
Phone
Name
Marianne Mollring
Agency Name
County of Fresno Department of Public Works and Planning, Development Services and Capital Projects Division
Job Title
Principal Planner
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Fresno, Unincorporated Area
Counties
Fresno
Regions
Northern California, Unincorporated
Cross Streets
Plant Site: North Friant Rd/North Willow Ave; Quarry Site: North Friant Rd/Bluff View Ave
Zip
93626
Total Acres
490.9
Parcel #
See Attachment A, "APNs and Latitude/Longitude"
State Highways
None
Railways
None
Airports
None
Schools
None
Waterways
San Joaquin River
Township
N/A
Range
N/A
Section
N/A
Base
N/A
Notice of Completion
State Reviewing Agencies
California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Habitat Conservation Planning (CDFW), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Department of Transportation, District 6 (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Transportation Planning (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Energy Commission, California Fish and Game Commission (CDFGC), California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Natural Resources Agency, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Fresno Region 5 (RWQCB), California San Joaquin River Conservancy (SJRC), California State Lands Commission (SLC), Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Delta Protection Commission, Delta Stewardship Council, Office of Historic Preservation, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Central Region 4 (CDFW)
State Reviewing Agency Comments
California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Central Region 4 (CDFW)
Development Types
Mining (rock, sand, gravel)(Mineral Aggregate)
Local Actions
Use Permit, Reclamation Plan Amendment
Project Issues
Aesthetics, Agriculture and Forestry Resources, Air Quality, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Cumulative Effects, Drainage/Absorption, Energy, Flood Plain/Flooding, Geology/Soils, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Growth Inducement, Hazards & Hazardous Materials, Hydrology/Water Quality, Land Use/Planning, Mandatory Findings of Significance, Mineral Resources, Noise, Population/Housing, Public Services, Recreation, Schools/Universities, Septic System, Sewer Capacity, Solid Waste, Transportation, Tribal Cultural Resources, Utilities/Service Systems, Vegetation, Wetland/Riparian, Wildfire
Attachments
Notice of Completion [NOC] Transmittal form
Responses to Comments
State Comment Letters [Comments from State Reviewing Agency(ies)]
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