Item 1: PH on Ordinance Amending Metro Plan (Delta Sand and Gravel)

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Transportation (ODOT) specifications for base rock for air degradation, abrasion, and sodium sulfate soundness, and the estimated amount of material is more than 2,000,000 tons in the Willamette Valley EGR has been retained by the applicant to evaluate the aggregate material reserves in the proposed expansion area. EGR is a long-standing engineering firm in Eugene, Oregon, with licensed and experienced engineers. EGR is a legitimate technical resource that has the expertise and experience to conduct evaluations of aggregate material deposits in Lane County, Oregon. EGR published the results of its evaluation in the document titled “Evaluation of Aggregate Resources: Delta Sand and Gravel Expansion Area, dated June 2005, and a copy of the EGR report is attached as an exhibit to the application. In that report, EGR determined that coarse aggregate samples obtained during its field exploration of the expansion area met ODOT base rock specifications. The report contains laboratory data demonstrating that the coarse aggregate (gravel) fraction present at the expansion site meets the base rock specifications required by ODOT and Goal 5. Similarly, the report demonstrates that all of the coarse aggregate samples meet the ODOT soundness requirements for Portland Cement Concrete. Furthermore, EGR concluded that the estimated volume of aggregate available within the proposed expansion area is 9,082,260 tons (more than four times the volume required by rule). That information demonstrates that the expansion area meets the criteria of OAR 660-023- 0180(3)(a). Opponents of the application testified that they believed that EGR’s methodology for sampling should be challenged and that EGR’s sampling and conclusions regarding the quantity, quality and location of the aggregate resource existing within the expansion area should be independently verified. In testimony following the joint planning commission public hearing, EGR effectively rebutted the arguments of opponents regarding the quantity, quality and location of the aggregate resource. Furthermore, in testimony during the joint elected officials’ public hearing, the applicant provided evidence to support its methodology and conclusions in the form of correspondence from ODOT and DOGAMI. ODOT’s correspondence confirmed EGR’s conclusion that material sampled from the aggregate deposit on the subject property met ODOT specifications for base rock (ODOT tested representative samples from the EGR borings to reach its conclusion). DOGAMI’s correspondence confirmed that the sampling and conclusions by EGR and ODOT were correct and result in a finding that the subject expansion area contains a significant deposit of aggregate material and that the site is a significant aggregate site that meets the criteria of OAR 660-023-0180(3)(a). We also note, for purposes of providing supporting reasoning for these findings, that the expansion area is proposed as an extension of an existing significant resource site that has been mined by the applicant for more than 80 years. We find it reasonable to expect that land immediately adjacent to an existing significant resource site will also contain a significant deposit of aggregate material similar to that of the existing site. Based upon the applicant’s testimony, ODOT and DOGAMI confirmation of the conclusions contained in that testimony and the fact that the applicant is proposing to expand an existing aggregate site containing a significant deposit of aggregate material, we find that the subject property is a significant aggregate site as defined by the Goal 5 administrative rule. (d)Notwithstanding subsections (a) through (c) of this section, except for an expansion area of an existing site if the operator of the existing site on March 1, 1996 had an enforceable property interest in the expansion area on that date, Page 9 – FINDINGS OF FACT