Amador County – Amador County Supervisors in their last meeting of 2010 approved a letter to the California Department of Corrections notifying its director that a department decision to close the Preston Correctional Youth Facility violated state environmental law.

Deputy County Council Greg Gillott prepared the letter approved Dec. 21 and mailed Dec. 22. The letter to Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections, said its purpose was “to inform you that the recent decision to close the Preston” facility “appears to have been unlawful,” and out of compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act. It requested a cease of the closure activities until the department complied with CEQA. It also asked for written notification by Dec. 31, 2010, or “the county will have no other alternative but to initiate legal proceedings, including a request for immediate injunctive relief.”

Gillott in the letter quotes rulings, including two that he said shows the “closure of Preston as project subject to CEQA,” and not exempt from CEQA. It also said the “closure decision is an activity directly undertaken by a public agency.”

The letter cited a 2004 suit against Yosemite Community College District, which successfully argued that closing the college shooting range and transferring it and classes to “another facility constituted the whole of an action and was a ‘project’ under CEQA.”

Gillot said in 2006, “the court concluded that there was “no dispute that the decision” to “close a (San Leandro) school and transfer students” is an “activity directly undertaken by any public agency.” He said “CDCR’s decision to close Preston is similarly, indisputably” an “activity directly undertaken by any public agency,” and satisfies “the first prong of whether the closure constitutes” a project under CEQA.

The letter noted that “closure of Preston will cause direct and indirect physical changes in the environment,” noting that the San Lorenzo ruling while it “may be unlikely that the closure of a single elementary school would have a significant environmental impact apart from its effect on the use of the property … the possibility cannot be rejected categorically.” The ruling said “transferring students to other locations would potentially cause significant effect on the environment.”

Gillott said, potential impacts could affect Amador Regional Sanitation Authority’s wastewater storage on Preston land. It could also increase the “potential for blight caused by a closed facility,” or impact the historic Preston Castle, or cause other impacts that “may be identified in a properly conducted initial study.”

The letter concluded that since the decision to close Preston was made without CEQA documentation, the “CDCR must immediately cease all further closure activities, at least until it has properly complied with CEQA.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.