GreenVolts, Inc., a San Francisco-based firm, has applied to the Planning Department for a Conditional Use Permit (C-8719) to erect a ten-acre solar array in the Mountain House area of the County. GreenVolts will lease about 20 acres of land across the road from a PG&E substation, approximately a third of a mile west of Mountain House Road and on the south side of Kelso Road. The project will use new technology with mirrors to concentrate solar energy onto high-efficiency photovoltaic cells, with the goal of producing energy at a cost that is competitive with fossil fuels.

The Planning Department, together with GreenVolts' environmental consulting firm ICF Jones & Stokes of Oakland, has prepared a proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration and Initial Study (MND/IS) for the proposal which provides a detailed project description and a thorough assessment of its potential environment effects, particularly with regard to compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act. Following a 30-day public review period for the MND/IS between May 16 and June 19, the East County Board of Zoning Adjustments is scheduled to consider adopting the MND and make a decision to approve the use permit, on June 28, 2008.

The proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration and Initial Study is divided into two sections - the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Initial Study, and separately, four Appendices. In addition, we have included the Notice of Public Hearing / Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration (NOI), the Notice of Completion (NOC) showing how the MND was circulated to the State Office of Planning & Research, which has distributed copies of the MND/IS to various state agencies, and finally, the recorded transmittal of the NOI to the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder.

• The Notice of Public Hearing / Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration (62KB)
• Initial Study for the GreenVolts Utility-Scale Solar Field (6.2MB)
• GreenVolt Study; Appendices (4.1MB)
• Notice of Completion and Environmental Document Transmittal (95KB)
• Environmental Document Transmittal (543KB)

The above documents, (Mitigated Negative Declaration, Initial Study, etc) are also available upon request, either as a read only CD disc (no charge), in complete printed form (at cost of reproduction) or in a partially-printed form (Appendices on a compact disc only).

You may telephone (510) 670-5400 for additional information or e-mail Andrew Young for more information.