Sierra Club lawsuit challenges project
University proposed in western Placer cited
The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the county’s approval of a plan that would create urban growth and allow for a new university campus in western Placer County. The lawsuit challenges the Regional University Specific Plan, which the club argues would trigger major growth in a remote area, cause traffic congestion and air pollution. County officials say they are confident with how they’ve handled the process to approve the plan. Part of the project includes a 3,232-home subdivision, 22 acres of shopping centers, 230 acres of park, open space and public lands, as well as a site for a university. The Placer County Board of Supervisors gave the plan an initial approval Dec. 10. Drexel University, a private four-year institution based in Philadelphia, has expressed interest in building in the county but no plans are concrete. Last May, the university opened a Sacramento gradate school. Sierra Club officials argue the plan will mean a loss of nearby farmland because of the Curry Creek Community Plan, which would reportedly house 56,250 new county residents. “A new surge of development in a location like this harms our health and contributes to climate change,” said Terry Davis, spokesman for the Mother Lode Chapter of the Sierra Club, in a press release. County Counsel Anthony La Bouff said the office was served with the suit Thursday afternoon. “The applicant and the county are disappointed that litigation is the next step, but I’m not surprised,” La Bouff said. He said the suit challenges that the county did not follow the California Environmental Quality Act legal process. “I’m confident with what the county staff, working with the applicant, presented to the board of supervisors is appropriate and consistent with the law,” La Bouff said. “Someday we’ll all be happy that the university will be built there.” Club officials say there are other “responsible” locations for a university such as within Roseville or Lincoln city limits. Drexel University officials have previously stated that they want to work with the community, including local businesses. “We’re all about trying to bring higher education and technology-rich education and making it practical,” said Tobey Oxholm, Drexel University executive vice president and chief of staff, in a May Journal report. “We’re known for use-inspired research. Everything we’re doing is practical and useful.” The Journal's Jenifer Gee can be reached at jeniferg@goldcountrymedia.com or post a comment.
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This is the same Terry Davis from the mother lode chapter who was unwilling to help fight an asphalt plant, concrete plant and strip mine located on the Bear River adjacent to some 5,000 rural residents, ranches, wetlands and regional habitat. Foothill residents end up with increased air pollution, water pollution in the Bear River from storm runoff from the operation, noise, dust, fumes, etc. Instead, they waste money fighting a rather well planned and carefully studied land development plan on the western side of the county where there is already more density and demand for growth. This is why I stopped supporting the Sierra Club and Earth Justice with my dollars.
Lets not build homes on that dead grass, hard-clay soil with rocks all through it...instead, lets build tens of thousands more homes in Elk Grove where they used to grow fruit, alfalfa, corn, beets and other unessential things.
Sheesh!
If the developer is smart he will just pay off Terry Davis and the Sierra Club. Many a developer has fought with the Sierra Club and ended up paying big bucks. Pay off the Sierra Club and they will go away. Legal extortionist.
Thankfully we have a Sierra Club and Terry Davises who ARE willing to step up and fight against horrific projects that are disguised with a hidden carrot that will never materialize. The Sierra Club cannot take on every battle; so sounds as if there are some sour grapes going on here.
If anyone thinks the university is “well planned,” then no amount of discussion will allow them to see the truth. Since when is it appropriate to jam a university down in the middle of isolated Ag land? The answer to that question is when the developer orders the county to change the rules for him. In turn, the county “may” (get that: it’s a “may”) claim it's getting a university to placate and snooker the public. There are no guarantees at all of getting a university, but the developers are getting all the development entitlements on farmland, the middle of no where that will create huge commutes, worsen our already out of compliance air quality, and destroy even more wetlands.
Someone hasn’t done their homework; this is viable, prime ag lands that are going to be destroyed—that’s how much the county cares about its own mandate to protect those lands. Since the county won’t uphold the General Plan and zoning rules, then citizens’ groups have to do their job for them via the courts.
It’s odd that when a non-profit works to protect the environment it’s called extortion. The Sierra Club, Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, etc., reap NO PROFIT from any lawsuit. It is a "wrong" they are righting, and I hope they win big time.
Sierra Club is our last chance to stop developers from using Drexel as a conduit to develop farmland that can only be developed by indirection and subterfuge. Drexel gets 600 acres and the developers get to use flood plain land to develop tacky homes that will make them a fabulour profit at the expense of the quality of life of those unfortunates who unknowingly buy the houses and live the elbow-to-elbow lifestyle of the crowded tract home dweller.
Wealready have William Jessup University for the religious, we have Sierra College for the genera public but Sierra College is literally fall apart from neglect.
If these developers were really interested in education, they would fund Sierra College and bring it up the the state of the art condition it deserves, but they cannot make this great personal profit by so doing. Have these developers donated one cent to Sierra.\One of these tried to help the college recover? One of the developer gave tons of money and ran candidates for John Doolittle to help him take over Sierra College and failed miserably; now he is helping to fund Drexel for his private benefit while the students at Sierra continue to suffer from the political infighting caused by developr/politician intervention.
Drexel will really benefit the develops not the general public and once the county sacrifices this land it become a large part of the incroaching urban sprawl of Western Placer County. W must support Sierra Club's efforts to save our county from personal greed and profit at the expense of the many.
Sierra Club is our last chance to stop developers from using Drexel as a conduit to develop farmland that can only be developed by indirection and subterfuge. Drexel gets 600 acres and the developers get to use thousands of acres of basically flood plain land to develop tacky homes that will make them a fabulous profit at the expense of the quality of life of those unfortunates who unknowingly buy the houses and live the elbow-to-elbow lifestyle of the crowded tract home dweller.
We already have William Jessup University for the religious, we have Sierra College for the general public but Sierra College is literally falling apart from neglect.
If these developers were really interested in education, they would fund Sierra College and bring it up to the state of the art condition it deserves, but they cannot make this great personal profit by so doing. Have these developers donated one cent to Sierra? Has any one of them tried to help the college recover?
One of the developers gave hundreds of thousands of dollars and ran candidates for John Doolittle to help him take over Sierra College and failed miserably; now he is helping to fund Drexel for his private benefit while the students at Sierra continue to suffer from the political infighting caused by developer/politician intervention.
Drexel will really benefit the developers not the general public and, once the county sacrifices this land, it become a large part of the encroaching urban sprawl of Western Placer County.
We must support Sierra Club's efforts to save our county from personal greed and profit at the expense of the many if we love our homes here in Placer County.
Drexel just opened a multi million dollar campus in Sacramento. This deal was a favor to the Developers. Jim Cather said it right. I was not going to renew my membership to the SC but now I am.
That project approval was just another example of the Placer County BOS loyalty to political donors.
Well, I was debating whether to renew my membership in the SC, I guess I will now.
This approval was nothing more than highlighting the loyalty that the Placer County BOS has to the Developers. Like someone else said, if they are so concerned about education why have they not contributed to Sierra College.
Go Sierra Club
CattleRancher: You take a very narrow approach to this issue. What people don't realize is that we could end up with this mammoth development--and no university. It's not guaranteed. Go Terry!
You idealogues are so caught up with slamming the Sierra Club that you'd prefer to cut off your nose to spite your face. This development does nobody any good except the developer. It would be a disaster. I wish the Club success in their fight to prevent this from happening.
The article refers to "the loss of nearby farmland"...well what do the farmers want to do? If they don't want to sell their farms, where's the problem? All I see with this development is job potential in an economy where people, who are not fortunate to be lawyers, have the opportunity for employment! Fedayeen mentions the buidling of projects on flood plain...it would seem to me that is a separate issue that no BoS or city council would want to be responsible for. The Sierra club is not the last chance to stop developers...the tax-paying and VOTING RESIDENTS (not hiired guns who do not live or vote in those communities) of affected communities are the last chance to stop development. If they do speak up loud and clear aganst a project...and the BoS and/or city councils do not act accordingly, then RECALL THE OFFICIALS! If they don't bother to go to meetings to voice their opinions, then like Plato once said, "the punishment of men who do not get involved in government is to be be governed by worse men". I may be a tad off on the quote, but it was something like that!
What's the real information here? I've heard from sources, like KGO radio. that The Sierra Club is run by a group of lawyers who sue for monetary damages and lawyer fees to make money from the court processes under the guise of fighting environmental problems. If this is true they are no better than the "Pay to Play" politicians who accept money from lobbyists and campaign funds from developers. It amazes me how difficult "truth" is to find in these days of so many political shenanigans and hypocritical servants of the Public.
fotajoye,
This is not far from the truth. Earth Justice is the legal arm of the Sierra Club. Donations to EJ are tax deductible while donations to the Sierra Club are not since they are a lobbying organization. EJ and the SC are constantly raising money to fight "mountain top removal" for coal mining and protecting the "clean water act" stopping mining interest from dumping pollution into waterways in Alaska and the eastern US. However, they fail to be interested in protecting the Bear River right here in Auburn from mining threats such as “mountain top removal” at the Chevreaux gravel pit located in the ARP ranch along the Bear River and the asphalt plant and concrete batch plant that pollute the Bear River during heavy rains storm runoff and accidental spills. Terry Davis doesn't want to offend local mining companies because they are working on a joint project to vacuum the sediment from the Bear River and then use a centrifuge to separate Mercury from the dead fish and sediment. The Mercury will be recovered and sold along with any other precious metals all in the name of environmental concerns. Also, the sediment will be sold to the Idaho Maryland mine to make ceramics. This is big money and a boondoggle for local mining interests. Terry Davis supports the mines regardless of the adverse negative environmental impact. Something tells me that Terry has something to gain by ignoring these local “Motherload” issues and going after developers in the flatlands.
EJ will tell you that while they are sympathetic, they can’t fight every issue. However, much of their funding comes from settlements in the litigation they pursue. They basically fight where there is money to be had.
Cattle Rancher and fotajoye: If they gave prizes for throwing BS and misinformation around, you’d win. I have talked to folks from EJ, SC, and two attorneys’ offices to see if anything you say is correct—you should apologize. Here are the facts.
1—The Sierra Club rarely, if ever, uses in-house attorneys for ANY lawsuit; the people I spoke with could not name one lawsuit in this entire region (or elsewhere) where the SC provided its own attorneys. Instead, local Groups hire their own attorneys; SC looks over the issue to see if it has any merit (they don’t file frivolous lawsuits), but locals have to find the attorneys, raise the money and gather support for any SC lawsuits.
2—Many, if not all, of the attorneys hired for a SC lawsuit work at greatly reduced rates. When/If they win, the law provides an opportunity for them to have fees reimbursed, but it’s certainly neither a guarantee nor a get-rich scheme as you suggest. Every attorney who wins a lawsuit (environmental or not) is entitled to their fees, but these attorneys do NOT work for the SC.
3—No environmental groups want to see mercury “disturbed,” as it then turns into a form that CAN and WILL cause harm. No environmental group is interested in getting into mercury sales business (please substantiate that outrageous claim). Vacuuming sediment sounds great, but it much more complicated than what you suggest (otherwise it would be going on all over the place). If this Bear River project is so important to you and has merit, why aren’t you organizing opposition to it?
4—Earth Justice is an entirely separate organization from the Sierra Club. Go on line and read about them for the truth. Donations to the Sierra Club Foundation ARE tax deductible, but not to the Sierra Club.
5—What a crock for you to say, “Something tells me…” ; call around and find out the truth before you poison these discussions with false rants. Terry Davis has no vote at all in which battles the SC takes on or leaves behind.
It’s obvious that you have a grudge against the SC for not fighting your battle for you--out of the hundreds in this region they have to choose from. The SC is doing a great job in standing up for us with this phony university proposal and protecting habitat for all of us.
JimCather,
You need to reread my posts and this time put on your glasses. It is the mining companies that will profit from vacuuming the Bear River and if you read the papers regularly you would know that they have already done the proof of concept with government and environmental group support:
http://www.theunion.com/article/20080125/NEWS/705570094
http://www.sierranevadaconservancy.ca.gov/docs/SNC070150cmb.pdf
http://www.placercountyrcd.org/documents/minutes/brwgMinutes_080228.pdf
Yes, I have a grudge against the Motherload SC but mostly for Marilyn Jasper (club chair) urging people to eliminate beef from their diet to curb global warming when it is well documented that flooded rice fields contribute more to global warming than cattle production.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/major-methane-emitter-identified-in-asian-rice-fie.html
Terry Davis has publically expressed his support of the NID project and does not want to offend Chevreaux since they are leading the project with NID. Jeesh, do your research, man.
Oh, I almost forgot, you need to read the "About Us" (Our History) page at the Earth Justice website and then tell me that they have no affiliation with the Sierra Club and that the Sierra Club always lets other organizations hire and pay for litigation:
http://www.earthjustice.org/about_us/our_history/index.html
or try this Google search:
http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&client=pub-1756064267161983&channel=9969811387&cof=FORID%3A1%3B&q=lawsuit+sierra+club+earth+justice
The information is out there on the web. it is indeed surprising that your phone calls to the Sierra Club had them telling you that they have no affiliation with Earth Justice and denying that they file lawsuits.
Oh, poor Cattle Rancher: What is it you don’t understand about Earthjustice being its own non profit organization—no longer affiliated with the Sierra Club? They changed their name and split—one is located in Oakland, the other in SF, but even though they are not the same organization, you still believe they are. Okey Dokey.
Second, since you now bring up beef consumption, it is a fact that cattle have much more devastating impacts on human and earth health than rice growing. Whether it’s the resources needed for grains/feed, methane impacts, creek erosion (or pollution from CAFOs), mad cow disease, tuberculosis strains, antibiotic/hormone residuals, or the myriad of other impacts, rice is a much safer staple and provides good wildlife habitat, whereas beef does not. Better keep your day job.