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Commission approves lease amendment to expand Sonol/Alameda Creek quarry operations with restoration commitments
Summary
The commission adopted CEQA findings and authorized the general manager to execute a lease amendment with Oliver DeSola (ODS) allowing expanded mining and deeper excavation at SMP 30, coupled with habitat-restoration commitments including a slurry cutoff wall, utility relocation and fish-passage investments supported by conservation agreements.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission voted to adopt CEQA findings and authorize an amendment to the mining lease with Oliver DeSola (ODS) covering SMP 30, enabling Phase 2 of a three-phase plan to expand quarry operations and deepen mining in parts of the Alameda Creek watershed while requiring a package of habitat-restoration measures.
PUC staff and contract counsel summarized Phase 2 elements: ODS applied to Alameda County for revisions to the SMP 30 mining permit to allow a deeper mine and the addition of an adjacent 58-acre parcel owned by the PUC; as part of the lease revision ODS agreed to a conservation agreement and to fund or implement measures including construction of a slurry cutoff wall to retain flows in the creek, relocation/burial of a gas utility line that currently creates an artificial dam, partial revegetation of Alameda Creek and San Antonio Creek, and construction of riffles and passage measures to improve fish migration.
Staff emphasized the city retains rights to review and approve the county permit revisions and environmental documents and retains the right to disapprove revisions should significant impacts not be mitigated to less-than-significant levels. Environmental and community groups—represented in testimony by the Alameda Creek Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity—voiced support for the lease amendment and for ODS’s commitments, and Save Our Sonol (SOS) leaders described lengthy local consultation and expressed support.
Speakers noted ODS’s proposed contributions to fish-passage projects (up to $2 million cited in public testimony) and a community improvement fund; staff said the lease amendment also schedules performance milestones and coordinates mining activity with ongoing watershed and WISSA projects to minimize impacts.
The commission adopted the CEQA findings and authorized the general manager to execute the lease amendment subject to Board of Supervisors approval.
