ANTHEM WINERY APPEAL January 7, 2021
Testimony by George Caloyannidis
Architect PhD / General Contractor / Developer
The project is served by a long, winding, substandard driveway which has required more than one dozen variances. The extent of heavy traffic impacts on this driveway have not been properly quantified in granting these variances.
The unresolved questions are:
EXPORT OF EXCESS SOILS
A) How much dirt will be generated?
The application states 14,000 c.y. of cave spoils of which 5,100 c.y. will be deposited on site and that a total of 5,400 c.y. total will be exported (1).
To my inquiry as to whether staff had checked the applicant’s stated quantities and specifically those of cave spoils, Mr. Barrella answered “NO”, and to whether he was able to identify what portion of the caves was bored and what portion was above ground, he answered that “all caves are anticipated to be bored with the exception of possibly a small portion of the cave extension portal” (2).
I asked Mr. Barrella because despite my considerable expertise, I was unable to discern this important distinction based on the application drawings.
The stated caves encompass 43,798 s.f. (3).
The generally accepted formula is 1.3 c.y. per 1 s.f. of caves (see recent Vida Valiente application 15,159/20,000). The Planning Commission relied on staff’s interpretation, but the actual spoils would be 57,000 c.y. not 14,000.
In addition, cave spoils as well as grading cuts of undisturbed soils are subject to a “fluffing” factor of 1.5 when extracted which brings the total cave spoils to 85,500 c.y., not 14,000 c.y.!
B) How much dirt will be deposited on site and how much will be exported?
The applicant states that 19,900 c.y. will be deposited on site, including 5,100 c.y. of cave spoils forming a mound (4). This leaves a deficit of 80,100 c.y. of export, not 5,400 c.y.
It gets worse: This figure does not account for the fluffing factor of the 14,800 c.y. grading cuts which adds 22,200 c.y. of export for a grand total of 102,300 c.y. of export not 5,400 c.y.
TRAFFIC STUDY
Based on the applicant’s figures, W-Trans states (5) that “the project is anticipating two to six truck trips per day on Dry Creek Road during construction due to removal of some spoils” and that they would “occur outside of peak hours”, and that “no change to its analysis during construction is necessary”.
With the applicant’s figures being incorrect, this is not the case.
The export of 102,300 c.y. represents 12,000 ten-wheel loads or about 20,000 total truck trips over this substandard driveway.
A maximum efficiency export model of 6 trucks continuously running from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm five days a week will impact traffic for 3 years (6).
This is 17 trips not 2 to 6 trips per day W-Trans was given to work with and the Planning Commission approved.
THE CAVES MOUND
I engaged REB Engineering to verify the amount contained in the mound which it confirmed at 5,100 c.y. but the mound does not account for the 2-feet of topsoil placed on top of it which would extend its total footprint, thus burying the two drainage inlets.
REB also created a computer image of this mound (7). It speaks for itself. Yet the RSA report states that the “cave spoils fill areas will result in minor changes to terrain” (8).
Is disfiguring the terrain the new way of disposing excess dirt on projects?
In closing, the project data on cave spoils, grading cut and fill, their effect on a substandard driveway, on overall traffic, on resulting truck CO2 emissions, none have been properly quantified and therefore have escaped mitigation.
Thank you.