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Resolution No. 2022-69 | Opposition to Sargent Ranch Quarry Project | Adopted 09/12/2022RESOLUTION 2022-69 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GILROY IN OPPOSITION TO THE PROPOSED SARGENT RANCH QUARRY PROJECT IN SOUTH SANTA CLARA COUNTY WHEREAS, Sargent Ranch Partners, LLC, has applied to Santa Clara County for a conditional use permit for a proposed sand and gravel mining operation with aggregate processing facilities for 30 years on 403 acres of Sargent Ranch, located approximately four miles so uth of the City of Gilroy and one mile south of the U.S. Highway 101 and Highway 25 interchange; and WHEREAS, the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Sargent Ranch Quarry Project found that the project would create significant and unavoidable impacts in aesthetics; air quality; biological resources; cultural and tribal cultural resources; geology, soils, and paleontology; and transportation; and WHEREAS, the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Sargent Ranch Quarry Project found that the project would create irreversible impacts during project buildout and construction as well as during project operations; and WHEREAS, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band survived two centuries of violent persecution and displacement during the Spanish, Mexican, and American periods and today are working diligently to restore their Indigenous practices, regain stewardship of their lands and heal from historical trauma; and WHEREAS, Sargent Ranch is within an area known as Juristac to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, and Juristac is the location of numerous historic ceremonial and sacred sites, comprising a landscape of paramount cultural and spiritual importance to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band; and WHEREAS, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band maintains that the proposed mining pits, overburden piles, roads, and processing facilities would irreparably harm Mutsun cultural resources, landscape features, and the spiritual integrity of Juristac; and WHEREAS, the Tribal Council of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band has taken a unanimous stand in opposition to the Sargent Ranch Quarry Project and is requesting the support of surrounding communities in efforts to protect their sacred grounds; and WHEREAS, the city councils of the cities of Morgan Hill, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale have adopted resolutions supporting the efforts of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to preserve the entirety of Juristac as open space; and WHEREAS, in November of 2021, the Santa Clara County Human Rights Commission voted unanimously to recognize the desecration of the Amah Mutsun sacred site of Juristac as a significant human rights issue and to recommend that Santa Clara County deny approval of permits for the proposed mine; and Resolution No. 2022-69 Sargent Ranch Quarry Resolution City Council Regular Meeting | September 12, 2022 Page 2 of 2 WHEREAS, the proposed quarry could result in daily traffic of hundreds of truck trips through U.S. Highway 101 in Gilroy, adding to traffic congestion, pavement quality/infrastructure degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, and local air pollution; and WHEREAS, the City of Gilroy 2040 General Plan calls for regional communication, coordination, and cooperation regarding transportation networks and systems, including critical transportation facilities in Gilroy such as U.S. Highway 101 (M 7). NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GILROY, AS FOLLOWS: 1. That the City Council of the City of Gilroy urges Santa Clara County to deny approval of permits for the proposed Sargent Ranch Quarry Project. 2. Effective date. This resolution shall become effective immediately. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Gilroy at a regular meeting duly held on the 12th day of September 2022, by the following roll call vote: AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: ARMENDARIZ, BRACCO, HILTON, LEROE-MUÑOZ, MARQUES, TOVAR, BLANKLEY NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE APPROVED: Marie Blankley, Mayor ATTEST: _______________________ Thai Nam Pham, City Clerk Marie Blankley (Sep 14, 2022 13:02 PDT) Marie Blankley CERTIFICATE OF THE CLERK I, THAI NAM PHAM, City Clerk of the City of Gilroy, do hereby certify that the attached Resolution No. 2022-69 is an original resolution, or true and correct copy of a city Resolution, duly adopted by the Council of the City of Gilroy at a Regular Meeting of said held on Council held Monday, September 12, 2022, at which meeting a quorum was present. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Official Seal of the City of Gilroy this Monday, September 12, 2022. ____________________________________ Thai Nam Pham, CMC, CPMC City Clerk of the City of Gilroy (Seal)