Комиссия по планированию Невады запретила измельчение древесины на территории бывшей Rise Gold Corp

Wood grinding will not be recommended at the former Rise Gold Corp. property on Brunswick Road following a recent vote from the Nevada County Planning Commission regarding an application from Mountain F. Enterprises, a vegetation management service. The commission voted four in favor of the applicant’s request for a development permit so that Mountain F. Enterprises can finally come into compliance for using the paved lot at 12503, 12625, and 12791 Brunswick Road, Grass Valley for vehicle storage; however, it was not recommended that any wood grinding occur on the property. The commission also recommended that Mountain F. Enterprises be required to add new asphalt to the seven-acre asphalt pad where they currently park heavy trucks, store equipment and utilize two mobile trailers for their offices. Commissioner for District 2 Steve French abstained from the vote on the final action. Mountain F. Enterprises (Mountain F.) is a vegetation management service that originated in El Dorado County and operates throughout Northern California, assisting government agencies, municipalities, and various utilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). The company currently leases a site on East Bennett Road and grinds up to 200 tons of wood waste per day, five days a week. That wood waste is then transported to biomass energy facilities for electricity generation or wood product manufacturing outside of the county. Mountain F. was seeking to move the East Bennett operation to a 66-acre property they purchased from Rise Gold Corp. with the stipulation that if Rise Gold was ever permitted to continue mining on that location, the land would be sold back to them. In an additional 5-0 vote, the commissioners also recommended that a special (-SP) zoning overlay be removed from the district map; the special zoning was added in the 1980s when a business park was proposed but never constructed. The environmental action was also adopted in a 5-0 vote, recommending that the proposed mitigated negative declaration and mitigated monitoring and reporting program be adopted, instead of a full environmental impact report (EIR) which would take years and may produce the same results based on the same noise, traffic, and air studies that were conducted. A Phase 1 environmental report was conducted for the site years ago. The report showed that there is arsenic-contaminated mine waste laying underneath the asphalt pad, and that is the main reason Mountain F. chose to “steer away” from any underground trenching that might disturb the asphalt, said Theodor Goodman, land planner at Millennium Planning & Engineering who was representing Mountain F. “When it came to perhaps putting in a septic system for a more permanent structure, we didn't want them disrupting any of the soil,” Director of Environmental Health Amy Irani-Leaverton said. Next steps for the application from Mountain F. include a final decision from the board of supervisors at a date to be determined. Noise and pollution Although most residents in Nevada County agree that vegetation management is necessary, over 50 members of the community told the commissioners they felt moving the wood grinding operations to the Brunswick site was not appropriate as it is too close to homes in the neighborhood that have grown in numbers over the years. “Some homes are only about 270 feet away,” resident and former wood-waste operator Paul Elias said. “Anyone who has spent time around this kind of operation knows it isn’t just the grinder you hear. It’s loaders, trucks and those backup alarms going beep, beep, beep throughout the day.” Mountain F. proposed using diesel-powered equipment, including the grinder and generators for two mobile home offices. Many members of the public who turned out for the more than three-hour meeting voiced concern for the air pollution in the area and potential harm to the ozone layer, as well as traffic, noise, and the company’s failure to be in compliance with required permitting over the past months. Commissioners questioned why the Mountain F. offices operated with diesel-powered generators could not be moved closer and connected to the electrical service available along Brunswick Road. Mountain F. was proposing a 1,000-horsepower wood grinder be used at the site. It was suggested Mountain F. use electric equipment wherever practical. “I've been involved with electric grinder installations of approximately the same scale,” Elias said. “Electric grinding isn't theoretical; it exists, it works, and for the fixed location operation like Brunswick, it's often the preferred approach, including operation cost.” Fire inspections and water access Cal Fire Inspector Dan Ziebron answered questions from the commissioners regarding California Fire Code requirements for wood chip storage and monitoring. The wood debris and chips on operational sites like Mountain F. are supposed to be “spaced out under a certain amount of cubic storage per ton,” Ziebron said. A 10,000-gallon water tank was required to be stored at the Brunswick site as well. There is a fire hydrant across the street, but usually chip piles contain “green vegetation” and are considered to “be a small fire behavior,” Ziebron said. In addition, Brunswick Road is a “main artery” that “should not have fire hoses dragged across it in the case of an evacuation,” Ziebron said. A second fire hydrant could have been installed on the other side of the street closer to the lot, but the old system and pipes left over from the Bohemia Mill, formerly the Brunswick Mill, was “deteriorated” and it “needed to be tested, and that would take years,” Zisbron said. “The tank was more of a quick action to get them in compliance than the years it was going to take to dig up the pipeline, reinstall it, have it approved and tested and certified,” Ziebron said. “That's why we went with the tank versus redoing that hydrant system because it's a private system; it's not monitored by NID like across the street.” On-site water tanks are inspected annually to confirm they are full and in good condition at sites such as the one proposed by Mountain F. “It'll be the same thing we do with cannabis farms,” Ziebron said. “When I do my annual inspections with the cannabis… They will be checked yearly to make sure that they're in compliance and by the fire marshal, which in this case will now be Nevada County Consolidated Fire.” Commissioner Jo Garst for District V asked if there are monitoring requirements for the heat in the piles that could be dangerous; Ziebron explained that when chip piles are wet and become tightly packed, spontaneous combustion could occur, but that he hasn’t seen too many in Nevada County he “would call a high risk.” A 24-hour employee hired as a fire watch is not required; however, video monitoring is used at the site. To contact Staff Writer Marianne Boll-See, email [email protected].