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5. ALTERNATIVES ALTERNATIVE 3 - OFF-SITE ALTERNATIVE DESCRIPTION The off-site alternative locations selected for review included the Tracy area and the Laguna Formation located along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The CDMG, in their mineral land classification report(Special Report 160,dated 1988),classified several resource sectors in the Tracy area. Many of these sectors were not,in 1988,controlled by an aggregate company and were not encroached upon by a competing land use. This area is closer to the majority of the market as reported by the CDMG. Additionally, the CDMG reported that the Laguna Formation located along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada may meet PCC grade aggregate. These areas were looked at for availability and accessibility of PCC grade aggregate. The off-site alternative would assess whether these sectors are available today for aggregate extraction. If so,the closer proximity of an alternative site to the market may significantly decrease truck traffic. An off-site alternative in the Laguna Formation of the foothills was considered for inclusion in this E IR,but was rejected because of the lack of an adequate aggregate resource to meet the sponsor's basic objectives. This off-site alternative is further discussed in Section 5.4, Alternatives Considered but Rejected as Infeasible. _ An off-site alternative location was chosen in the Tracy area based on the aggregate resource availability as shown in the Stockton-Lodi P-C Region(CGS, 1988). After reviewing the available resources and the availability of undeveloped land within those resource areas, a site consisting of thirteen parcels of land and a total of 452±acres was selected for an off-site alternative (Figure 5-1). Although there are 13 parcels of land included in this alternative with six different property owners, it was chosen due to the availability of contiguous land of similar size and land use. There are no pending mining or development applications for these parcels. Although the size of the site is smaller than the proposed project site of 688 acres,the amount of aggregate that could be mined would be similar to the proposed project. BASIS FOR SELECTION An off-site alternative was selected to assess whether certain sites outside of the Vernalis area are available for aggregate extraction that might be located closer to the San Joaquin County aggregate market in the Tracy area. The off-site alternative is located within MRZ-2 classification, Sector A-2(Special Report 160, 1988). The MRZ-2 classification is identified as "areas where adequate information indicates that significant mineral deposits are present,or where it is judged that a high likelihood for their presence exists. This zone shall be applied to known mineral deposits or where well-developed lines of reasoning,based upon economic- _ geologic principles and adequate data, demonstrate that the likelihood for occurrence of significant mineral deposits is high." The Sector A-2"contains approximately 68 percent PCC- grade aggregate and 32 percent clay and silt. . .Most of the available aggregate resources in Sector A that are not currently permitted for mining are contained within Sector A-2." RMC PacdlC Vernalis Quarry Mining and Reclamation Project 5-14 PSA/203015 Ad..:nuaraun Draft QR March 2004