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Sunol Community Foundation
Background: In 1984, Oliver de Silva, Co. (ODS) was granted a county mining permit to extract basalt from the Apperson Ridge. This was opposed by Sunolians, Pat Stillman, Virginia McCullough and Hans Peeters because of the planned dynamite blasting, 1100 additional trucks on surface roads, dispersal of the Tule Elk herd, etc. Fast forward to 2007. Save Our Sunol (SOS), the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Alameda Creek Alliance (ACA) had planned to continue the opposition to the Apperson Quarry due to an inadequate and Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Jump to May 15, 2009. Members of the ACA , CBD and ODS approached SOS stating that they had worked out a Conservation Agreement (see http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/apperson_quarry_conservation_agreement/index.html) with ODS and that they wanted SOS' support. It was clear to the SOS board that many of its specific objections to the quarry were mitigated by the agreement. On May 20, 2009 a public meeting hosted by the Sunol Citizens' Advisory Committee was convened in the school auditorium with speakers from ACA, CBD, ODS and SOS. Representatives from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) were also in the audience. The position SOS took was that it agreed with many of the mitigations contained in the Conservation Agreement but was reserved in its support for ODS pending some benefit for our town. As it turned out, the SFPUC was amicable. After Pat Stillman, Derek Johnson, Irv Tiessen and Neil Davies met a number of times with the SFPUC, Commissioner Vietor agreed to amend the resolution granting the SMP-30 lease to ODS with language that provided for some consideration for our town. (ODS will need SMP-30, which is on SF land, before they can mine Apperson, SMP-17). Currently, one of these potential benefits for our town is a small royalty on product mined by ODS. Right now, these agreements exist as handshakes. In order for the parties to be comfortable, and, as documented in a letter from Ed Harrington, SFPUC General Manager to the SOS Board, it was agreed that a Sunol Foundation be created to manage and disburse any potential funds received from ODS for community projects and activities and that the Sunol Citizens' Advisory Committee be involved to assist with this process. Ben Coplan (chairperson of the SPEAC Committee) and Neil Davies have taken the initiate to start the foundation with the assistance of an attorney and input from the community. So far we have a name: the Sunol Community Foundation. The next step is to create a board of directors made up of representatives from each of the major groups in town. It would be up to each particular group to appoint/elect its own representative to the board. It was clear that this process was not well defined nor communicated adequately to those in town so for now it has been halted. In order to provide disclosure and an opportunity for Sunolians to provide input to the process, please come to the Sunol Citizens' Advisory Committee meetings on the third Wednesday of the month as the Foundation will be a regular agenda item. Foundation structure and bylaws will also need to be defined. Conceptually, the foundation could provide grants to groups or individuals in town to support projects or activities for our town. Any group in town could apply. The criteria is that the project or activity must benefit our town. The school enjoys no special status or dispensation. It could apply like any other group. The Foundation bylaws would also define how these decisions would be made. If you have questions, come to the SCAC meeting or email Neil at zenteker@mindspring.com . The Foundation's mailing address is P.O. Box 225 in Sunol.
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