The Valley Women’s Club of San Lorenzo Valley

Update on Mt. Hermon Proposal for Felton Meadow

Posted on: October 23, 2015 11:45 am
Posted in Environment, Felton Meadow Project

As expected, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved to “contract with Rincon Consultants, Inc. in the amount of $131,916, to prepare the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Mount Hermon Felton Meadow Project, and approve the Applicant Agreement with Mount Hermon Association, which provides that costs of the EIR are borne by the Applicant, as recommended by the Planning Director.” (BoS Agenda October 6, 2015)

The EIR will review existing documents and update technical students, and report on them, on the following topics:

-Environmental Setting. Impacts & Mitigation Measures Aesthetics:
-Visual Impact Analysis and Report
-Biological Resources
-Cultural Resources
-Geology and Soils
-Greenhouse Gas Emissions Materials
-Hazards and Hazardous
-Hydrology and Water Quality:
-Land Use and Planning
-Transportation/Circulation
-Utilities and Service Systems

-Other CEQA Considerations
-Effects Not Found to be Significant
-Significant Environmental Effects Which Cannot be Avoided if the Proposed Project is Implemented
-Significant Irreversible Environmental Changes Which Would be Caused by the Proposed Project Should it be Implemented -Environmentally Superior Alternative -Growth Inducing Effects:
-Cumulative Impacts
-Alternatives to the Proposed Project
Environmentally Superior Alternative:

You are urged to read the details about each of these items, as well as the Background and Project Summary in the RFP’s EIR description, to understand the extent of potential impacts of the amusement park proposal…

For a revealing summary of the issues of concern, visit the article from last month’s VWC e-Newsletter.

The VWC’s Environmental Committee is starting a public information campaign about the proposal in order to have as many people as possible aware of the intensity of the development, and the permanence of its impacts, in order to prevent its construction. To support this effort, contact Subcommittee Chair, Nancy Macy.

 

Felton Meadow Project

The title given to the Mount Hermon “Adventure,” the Felton Meadow Project, is misleading. It is not Felton’s own plan, nor is there any “meadow” in the Felton Meadow Project — except in the name. Instead, it destroys rare open space, damages the cherished bucolic nature of the town, increases already severe traffic congestion, and potentially threatens both neighbors and the watershed.

When first hearing that a “bike park” was planned for a historic and unique meadow on Graham Hill Rd. and Conference Dr., it sounded like a fun idea for kids, like a skate park. Mount Hermon is a well-known and highly respected Evangelical Christian organization founded in 1906. It has a well-crafted plan, but that plan goes too far beyond their first assurances when announcing their purchase of the property. Because of that, we find ourselves leading a rapidly growing groundswell of opposition, as the massive scope and enduring impacts are understood of what is now being called an amusement park, transforming more than 12 acres at the entrance to the SLV. Mt. Hermon changed the name from The Mount Hermon Youth Recreation Project to The Felton Meadow Project, in an attempt to reshape both the ownership and intent of the development that rivals The Beach Boardwalk in size.

 

 

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