Save Our Sunol, Inc. v. Mission Valley Rock Co.

The voters of Alameda County (County) adopted an initiative in November 2000 amending the County General Plan governing land uses. The initiative, known as Measure D, was enacted to protect agriculture and open space. Among the initiative’s many amendments to the general plan was the added requirement that County approval of new quarries outside an urban zone be sanctioned by the voters. Measure D exempts from its application preexisting legal land uses and rights to development. At the time of the initiative’s adoption, a quarry project located in the County’s rural Sunol Valley had been under development for years, and the County had already issued a surface mining permit for the project. (Pub. Resources Code, § 2770, subd. (a).) Following passage of Measure D, a Sunol Valley preservation group sued to enjoin the quarry project under Measure D. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court found Measure D inapplicable because the Sunol Valley quarry project had already received County approval and was not a new quarry subject to voter approval. We agree that Measure D is inapplicable to the previously permitted quarry, and affirm the…