Presentation to Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
6/14/05
Background: The Mendocino County Planning Department has submitted a proposal to the County Board of Supervisors to amend the County's zoning regulations to allow the production of cement and asphalt at quarries in the County that produce the mineral materials used in those products. This is the presentation made by Employers Council Executive Director John Dickerson in support of this proposal.
1) Today's Issue is Zoning, Not a Specific Facility.
The issue today is whether or not to amend the zoning codes to allow cement and asphalt plants to be located in areas previously denied them - specifically at quarries where the raw mineral material is produced, and whether in principle to allow more permanent production locations in the County.
2) Permitted Quarries In Fact Are Not Ag, Timber Or Grazing Lands.
In the case of existing quarries, the public decision has already been made to use the land for extraction. Once a specific site is a quarry, common sense tells us it is no longer agricultural, timber or grazing land. There's no point in pretending otherwise. The issue is whether to allow a further extension of the production process to occur on that site - making cement and/or asphalt from the material mined at the site.
3) The Employers Council Supports This Change in Zoning for These Specific Reasons:
- Cuts Transportation : By finishing the production process where the raw material is produced, transportation is greatly reduced over the life of the facility. This significantly lowers both financial costs and environmental impact.
- Long-Term Use of Costly Assets :
The investment required to set up these production facilities is significant. The longer the facility can be used, these costs can be spread out over longer periods of time which also lowers the cost of production.
- Will Lead to Lower Prices for Customers :
There are always at least two parties to a transaction - the seller and the buyer. When the seller's costs are reduced, and when buyers have several sellers to choose from, prices can and usually do decline. Asphalt and cement are expensive in Mendocino County. More competition and choice will benefit all purchasers, including County governments with roads to pave.
- Small Town Industrial Sites Doesn't Solve the "Smell" Problem :
To the extent that the smell of asphalt plants is a problem, (which is a separate discussion) putting them in our small town industrial zones doesn't solve that problem. Our industrial zones are so small that there are families living close to every one of them. If the proper permitting evaluations and ongoing inspections are conducted, asphalt plants located at many quarries (perhaps not all) would affect far fewer people, if any.
4) A Much Bigger Reason - Higher Paying Jobs and Tax Base
According to the State Employment Development Department, from 2000 through 2004 our County's private sector lost over 1600 "goods producing" jobs and gained nearly 1500 service jobs. Those lost goods producing jobs paid much better than the service jobs we gained. Looking at all sectors, EDD says we lost nearly 700 private sector jobs in total in those 4 years.
Bad news in the private sector becomes pain in the public sector a year or two later. Feeding off the good economy up until 2000, the County increased its workforce nearly 40% from 1998 through 2002 and added nearly $33 million a year in total salaries and benefits - a 70% increase. Then the bad private economy started pulling the County down. In the past 3 years you have had to reduce the number of funded County positions by about 8%. But total planned salaries and benefits still went up nearly $8 million. The result is that the average county salary and benefits per funded position grew from about $42,000 in 1998 to over $65,000 today.
You simply have to do what you can to rebuild the County's tax base. We don't see how you are going to avoid substantial cuts in your payroll, even to the point of having to actually reduce total payroll for the first time in decades. But this very painful problem - which is now unavoidable in our view - is going to be much worse if you don't do what you can to rebuild good paying jobs into the private sector and expand the tax base that pays your employees.
5) Once Again, The Issue is Zoning, Not a Particular Site
Adopting the principle of allowing concrete or asphalt production at quarries is not the same as approving any particular site or abandoning ongoing environmental protection. If you adopt this zoning change, each site must still be individually evaluated, through the CEQA process among others. And even if asphalt or cement production is allowed for a long time, there will still be ongoing and systematic environmental reviews and protections for water and air. Sites that do not stay within the prevailing standards (which should be reasonable) would be shut down.
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