BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2011-2012 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: AB 384 HEARING DATE: June 14, 2011
AUTHOR: Chesbro URGENCY: No
VERSION: April 5, 2011 CONSULTANT: Bill Craven
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: State forest land: Jackson Demonstration State Forest.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
Existing law requires the Department of Parks and Recreation
(DPR) to control and manage the state parks system. A separate
provision of the Resources Code vests the management of state
demonstration forests in the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection (CDF).
The Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority (MSWMA) provides
solid waste management, recycling, and disposal services
throughout the county and was created as joint powers of
authority by the county and three municipalities.
MSWMA currently contracts with Waste Management, a large private
waste hauler, to take solid waste from Ft. Bragg to Willits,
where the waste is reloaded and transferred to a landfill at
Potrero Hills, in Suisun City, in Contra Costa County. This is
not only inefficient, but the equipment used on the first leg of
the trip from Ft. Bragg to Willits uses equipment that is no
longer serviceable or otherwise available.
MSWMA operates a self-haul transfer station at a closed landfill
located south of Ft. Bragg near the Russian Gulch State Park.
Access is through an intersection that CalTrans considers
unsatisfactory and that local residents want to cease operating.
MSWMA paid for a siting study to locate a possible long-haul
transfer station and the preferred location is on Highway 20
east of Fort Bragg at an isolated corner of the Jackson State
Demonstration Forest (JSDF). The proposed facility would use 17
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acres of JSDF land.
The purpose of the bill is to authorize a three-way land swap
between CDF, DPR, and Mendocino County and Fort Bragg.
PROPOSED LAW
The bill authorizes the Department of General Services (DGS) to
effectuate a three-way land exchange, at fair market value, that
would:
1. Grant the City or County a five-year option to acquire 17
acres of the CDF's Jackson Demonstration State Forest for the
development of a solid waste transfer station.
2. Grant CDF a 12.6 acre parcel of the Department of Parks and
Recreation's (DPR's) Russian Gulch State Park, which would
become part of the JDSF.
3. Grant DPR (i) a covenant restricting the use and activities
on 60 acres of the City and County's Caspar landfill property
located on the boundary of the Russia Gulch State Park
(currently a closed landfill and small volume solid waste
transfer station) and (ii) a 99-year option to buy 35 acres of
the Caspar landfill property for $1.
The bill would also requires the local governments to reimburse
the state for any difference in the appraisal value of the
exchanged asset if the state receives less value in the exchange
and to reimburse the state for reasonable administrative costs
incurred to complete the transfer of title.
MSWMA would be required to complete an environmental review
pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.
If the bill is enacted, the local governments would complete the
siting process, go through CEQA, and designate a preferred
alternative site. An EIR would be prepared. Upon certification
of the EIR, final site selection would occur, and at that point,
the city and county would exercise the option if the Jackson
State Demonstration Forest site had been selected.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author and sponsor, this three-way swap would
benefit all the parties: The state forest would get higher
quality timberland than it currently has with some relatively
unproductive lands now in the state forest. DPR would benefit
because it has opposed the operations at Caspar, adjacent to
Russian Gulch State Park, and it would be granted favorable
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terms to add to the park. The local governments would benefit
because a new transfer station would satisfy many of their
immediate and longer-term waste hauling problems.
The California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has
endorsed the land transfer that affects the Jackson State
Demonstration Forest.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received
SUPPORT
County of Mendocino
Associated California Loggers
Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION
None Received
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