-- Local Government Issue Updates --

INDEX:
AB885 Requires Septic Regulation
Alex Rorobaugh Center
CFAR Lawsuit
County General Plan Update   
Former Masonite Site
General Plan Update
Gonzalez Building and Planning Director   
Harris Quarry Asphalt Proposal
Medical Marijuana Zoning
Nuisance Liens

AB885 Targets Septic Systems  January, 2009
   State Water Resources Board  staff conducted a workshop in January in Santa Rosa on AB885 implementation. The 8 year old law requires intricate and expensive regulation of septic tanks throughout California, including residential propertie
    Prompted by AB 885 (Jackson), which was signed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2000, the law requires the regulation of discharges of waste that impair or threaten to impair surface water or groundwater quality. The timeline for implementation of those regulations is July 2010.
    According to SWRCB staff, septic systems, when properly installed, remove bacteria and viruses, but may allow soluble materials resistant to degradation to reach and pollute groundwater and impair the quality of groundwater and nearby surface water.
    The proposed regulations state that persons who discharge waste must file a report of waste discharge with the regional water board or have their septic tanks inspected for solids accumulations every five years by a qualified service provider. The estimated cost is $325.    
    Owners whose existing septic systems are within 600 feet of a surface water body that does not meet water quality standards (impaired water body) will be subject to additional requirements including possible retrofit of the septic system with supplemental treatment systems at an estimated cost of $45,000.
    All of the requirements for existing septic tanks will also apply to new septic systems, plus several other requirements, including a site assessment and design of all new septic systems, including determinations of seasonal high groundwater. 
    According to the SWRCB timeline, once the workshops are completed, staff will analyze responses and make revisions over the next few months. There will be another 30-day comment period in August, followed by the adoption of the regulations and waiver. Effective date of the regulations would be Jan. 1, 2010, followed six months later by implementation. The six-month delay was stipulated in AB 885.
    Further details about the proposed regulations and maps of impaired water bodies with septic system discharges may be viewed at http://www.waterboards.ca.gov



CFAR Lawsuit January, 2009
    As a result of a law suit filed by Santa Rosa attorney Rachel Howlett on behalf of Citizens for Adequate Review (CFAR), CFAR, Mendocino County, and Diversified Developers Realty (DDR) have reached an agreement which requires environmental review prior to DDR proceeding further with their proposed Mendocino Crossings Development on the old Masonite site north of Ukiah.
    Under the terms of the settlement agreement between the parties, the existing slabs, buried footings, underground utilities and other improvements at the site of the demolished Masonite facility will remain in place and be included in the scope of environmental review for the proposed Mendocino Crossings Project. This is an important victory for local control of our community’s development.
    This agreement confirms that, prior to work beginning, all development proposals must be reviewed, that sites be safe and clear of toxics prior to any permitted use, and that County approval must be obtained.
    The issue emerged In July of 2007 when the County issued DDR a permit to demolish the Masonite facility. CFAR asserted the demolition was the first stage in the development of the site for commercial purposes, stating this was a piecemeal approach to development, and a violation of California environmental law. Validating DDR’s investment in the demolition by issuing the permit was setting a precedent to keep moving forward with the project.
     The County issued the permit with full knowledge that commercial development in this area was controversial, including opposition by the City of Ukiah.
     Demolition was step one of a multi-staged project that the County should have known required review under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA.)
    The County Planning and Building Department ignored the magnitude of the structures on site, the air quality impacts from demolishing these improvements, the proximity of the demolition to a school, and also did not send the application to demolish the historic structures to all relevant County departments and agencies for review and comment.
    Without benefit of a clear and comprehensive review of its potential deleterious impact to the environment, and the community, the County abdicated their responsibility to protect the environment.
    There was no recognition by the County that by issuing the permit they were effectively eliminating existing manufacturing capacity for future use, and opening the door for DDR to move ahead with a project in an area not zoned for retail commercial use.



Conservatives  Gripe City Funding of Rec Center 12/25/08
    The Mendocino County Employers Council has stuffed a letter into the Ukiah Daily Journal bemoaning the December 3 decision by the city council to fund completion of the Alex Rorabaugh Community Center for nearly a half million dollars.
    The funds would come from the City-County Redevelopment Authority. Originally, the proposal was that the Ukiah Unified School District, Mendocino College and the County would partner with the City to raise just under $1.5 million to pay off debts and complete construction. Under the contract, city recreation programs manager Sage Sangiacomo and his staff will manage the rec center once the gym is complete.
    Until now the partially completed center 21,000 square foot center has been managed by former supervisor and city councilman Richard Shoemaker who deferred operational decisions to the teens at the Boys and Girls Club which has gone in and out of existence since the center opened several years ago.
    While the city has plunged ahead with its share of the obligation, the other agencies have balked.
    The MCEC letter is signed by Margie Handley of Willis, owner of Hot Rocks construction company and partner in the Harris Quarry. She is a former Republican candidate for state assembly, a former CalTrans commissioner and the daughter of the late Robert Harrah, founder of Retech.  It complains that the redevelopment funds should go toward infrastructure that benefits businesses, not "social projects."
    The recreation center, only partially constructed, is part of the Grace Hudson School complex built on the site of the former Bi-Lo Market and Montgomery Wards. It is located just south of the Ukiah city limit in a low income, high crime, largely Hispanic neighborhood.  City police chief Chris Dewey says the center will help  to pacify the barrio.
    Handley's letter complains because the center is located outside the city, and is operated as a non-profit, that it will not generate city tax revenues.
    She also points out the city's budget per citizen is twice that of the county, and that the entity has major construction problems in its sewer and water plants, as well as a $5 million bond payment on the new sewer plant coming due.
    "As the business base vacates Ukiah, how can the City of Ukiah survive?" she asks. "How can we stop the City Council, the City Manager and the City staff from growing their personal empire's (sic) with public funds!" she asks.
    Outgone second district supervisor Jim Wattenburger told the press he was shocked the city would come back and ask the county for more rec center funding. He said the county and city had just adopted a five year plan for the RDA, and had removed language supporting the Rorabaugh Center.
    Incoming supervisor John McCowen said that decision could be reversed by the new board.


Gonzalez is Building and Planning Director. 12/12/08   
    In early December, 2008, county CEO Tom Mitchell picked Nash Gonzalez as the County's new Director of Planning and Building..
     Ignacio (Nash) Gonzalez was born and raised in Willits. and has been a land use and planner for 23 years in Mendocino County and beyond.. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Planning from Sonoma State University and is also a certified planner by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Nash previously worked for the Mendocino County Department of Planning and Building Services between 1986 and 1999 as a planner.
    To further his career, in 1999 he went on to the City of Healdsburg to assist the City in it’s development application review efforts until 2001, when he went on to work with PMC, a municipal contract planning firm that works with hundreds of public agencies throughout the western United States.
    During his tenure with PMC, Nash had the opportunity to work in a variety of communities throughout California managing both staff and a variety of projects from residential, commercial to industrial developments, as well as environmental reviews and long range planning efforts. The communities in which Nash has worked include: the Cities of Cotati, Corte Madera, Walnut Creek, Hillsborough, Willows, Clearlake, Fort Bragg, Willits, Grass Valley, Lompoc, Santa Barbara; and the Counties of Amador, Butte, Orange, Solano, Sonoma, Kern, Siskiyou and Santa Clara.
    For the last two years, Nash has been the county's contract planner for the Harris Quarry expansion.
     . He  has also worked as an adjunct instructor at Mendocino College, where he has taught Real Estate courses since 1989. Most recently he was instrumental in re-establishing the Real Estate Degree program at Mendocino College.
    He replaces Ray Hall who was building and planning director for 25 years.
    The department confronts significant challenges in the completion of the UVAP, the General Plan, the Harris Quarry, the DDR project at the former Masonite Site, and the renewed threat of offshore oil development.
    In selecting Gonzalez, Mitchell overlooked interim director Frank Lynch, another seasoned veteran of the department. This is expected to cause friction within the staff as it attempts to wrestle with the ongoing work load in a time of shrinking budgets.


General Plan Update: 5/12/09
    More vitally important than DDR or marijuana legislation is the county General Plan EIR hearing on Monday, May 18 at the Low Gap Funny Farm. At that time and place, the Board of Supervisors is expected to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report and approve the Mendocino County General Plan Update.
    You should plan to attend that all day meeting. At stake is the future of land use here for the next 20 years.
     The legally mandated and much delayed Update of its General Plan (GPU) is intended as a basic permit for all development and planning for 28 million acres of the county except the incorporated cities of Ukiah, Willits and Fort Bragg until 2028. It incorporates the Local Coastal Plan and the Ukiah Valley Area Plan. Also excepted will be the former Masonite site owned by Developers Diversified Realty as its General Plan Amendment and Specific Plan initiative is expected to easily pass. It also lacks a Housing Element which is on a legally mandated separate track.
    Such plans are subject to the California Environmental Quality Act and thus must have an Environmental Impact Report. The Plan EIR is a program EIR which allows expedited or limited  review of individual projects subject to it.
    While it is grossly inadequate, and a number of organizations and individuals have called for it to be scrapped and a new process begun using local citizen advisory committees instead of outside planners, that's not likely to happen according to sources on the board who say the press of other business and general lack of funds makes that route unthinkable for the BOS at this time.   
   The County of Mendocino supervisors and the planning commission held a workshop on the Final General Plan Update and its EIR on  March 1. The Planning Commission held its own hearings on the Final General Plan Update on April 2 and April 16 taking  public comment. That was also the occasion for a presentation spearheaded by former supervisor Norman deVall asking for medical marijuana production zones. The chances of that happening approach zero, as the most liberal member of the commission privately told this author she thought medical marijuana was a hoax and her neighbor is endangering her by attracting thieves.
    The deadline for public comments on the final EIR is the day of the final hearing, and they should be delivered in person there, or by writing to the Mendocino County Planning and Building Department, 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah California, 95482.
    The GPU and its EIR can be accessed at http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/planningteam/gpu/mtg_fGPU.htm
   For more information, call 463-4281.
    The County planning team received over 120 responses to the Draft General Plan Update after public comment closed on November 18. The voluminous number of comments from public agencies, private entities and citizens indicates the many reasons the plan is inadequate and should be rejected. It is available as a 750 page pfd as a public service on our website www.mendocinocountry.com on the Voters Union family of pages. You are urged to skim through it to help develop your own thoughts and see the breathtaking range and technical depth of the opposition.
      This is the first modification of the County's General Plan since 1981. The so-called Update has a different structure than the original plan it modifies, reorganizing some 10 elements into four general categories: planning principles, development, resources, housing and community specific policies for Mendocino Town, Brooktrails, and the UVAP. This was at the convenience of PMC consultants of Davis, CA but obscures the route by which changes were made and makes review difficult.
   Along with the Update, some 33 specific projects received early and expedited approval under the previous board. They were vetted by the Planning Team instead of planning and building staff and individually greenlighted by the BOS.
     Certification of the final EIR initiates a one year period during which the County can be sued to vacate the Plan, but any such action must be preceded by a Notice 60 days in advance. And the suit can only claim causes that were raised at or before the public hearing, including the comments on the Draft..
    The Draft Ukiah Valley Area Plan will come under consideration after the General Plan process is complete.
     The present GP was written in 1981 after a lawsuit successfully challenged the 1970's collection of County planning polices as inadequate. It reflects the frontier assumptions of 40 years ago when nature was something to dominate and convert to economic uses with little or no concern for consequences.




Harris Quarry Asphalt Proposal  Updated 3/6/09   
    In January, Jack Magne of Keep the Code published an op ed in the Willits News with an aerial photograph of the Harris Quarry. The piece referred to an engineering report showing that Northen Aggregates, the owner operator, had removed substantially more material from the site than permitted or reported. Last year, the county planning department cited NAI for exceeding its extraction permit and NAI agreed to pay the county an undisclosed settlement.
    In early February, the company responded by hiring former supervisor Hal Wagenet as its public spokesperson and governmental representative charged with "sheparding" the quarry expansion and batch plant project through the county approval process. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement was to be approved last year so former supervisor Wattenburger could  supply the swing vote, but it has since been withdrawn with no known re-emergence date.
    In a Willits News interview, Wagenet claimed the company, the product and the project was "environmentally superior" and cited his membership in Willits Economic Locallzation as his environmental credentials. MENDOCINO  COUNTRY has asked WELL to respond.
    Late last yearr, BOS certification of EIR on the 100-year permit for the Harris Quarry expansion and batch asphalt plant on the Ridgewood Grade between Ukiah and Willits next to Highway 101 was withdrawn by applicant Northern Aggregates  pending mofication.
    As it stands, the current EIR is woefully inadequate, containing substantially no believable data on cumulative impacts, for example.
    In 2006, the applicant wanted to permit a processing plant for stone and concrete, but found that county zoning didn't allow it. So on the way to blasting throught to approval of its own project, it proposed the rezoning of all the county's quarries to permit industrial facilities as well.
    Organized community opposition resulted in supervisors requiring an EIR on both the proposed Mineral Processing Combining District and their specific project at Harris Quarry.
    The quarry's current operations are taking place under a permit that expired nearly 2 years ago. In addition, the company is extracting material in excess of the permitted rate of 75,000 cubic yards per year. The county  issued a notice of violation in July of 2008, but extraction continues apace.
    A local group of concerned citizens == Keep The Code -- hired a professional engineer, Richard B. Davis, a specialist in aerial photography surveying, to fly over Harris Quarry to determine volume of rock extraction over the previous fourteen years. The yearly average, over and above county permit limits was a troubling 45 million pounds.
    The survey was performed with a Cessna 310 mapping plane which is equipped with a GPS controlled Wild-Leica cartographic camera. Comparison with the earlier base topographical mapping data resulted in extraction estimate with a plus/minus 4 % accuracy. Use of "short tons", (2000 lbs.), instead of long tons, made the estimate very conservative.
    By itself, over extraction results in excessive and non-permitted truck trips at the dangerous intersection of the quarry entrance and Hwy 101 at the top of the Ridgewood Grade.     Serious accidents involving these trucks are a significant concern.  Furthermore, the over extraction of rock creates non-permitted and excessive dust (particulate), noise and degradation of water quality in the headwaters of a major tributary of the Russian River.
    Northern Aggregates provides unverified reports on its annual extraction to the county planning and building department on the "honor system," but the county is forbidded by state law from making the information public for "proprietary" reasons.
    Keep the Code is publicizing the photo in order to galvanize public opposition to the project and is soliciting funds to reimburse volunteer members for the survey which reportedly cost thousands of dollars.

Impacts:
    Asphalt plants are sources of air pollution that may emit significant levels of both particulate matter and gaseous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) considered to be dangerous to human health, including hydrogen sulfide, benzene, chromium, formaldehyde, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
    Charles Martin of Keep The Code stated recently: " The asphalt plant alone would disperse more than 30,000 pounds of yearly volatile organic compounds (VOC), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), both toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic (birth defects)-substances that will condense in the cooler atmosphere and precipitate downward over the headwaters of both river systems." The Harris Quarry is located near the watershed boundary of two major North Coast river systems- the Russian River and the Eel River.  Ground water pollution would flow down from this ridgetop location into both drainages with negative impacts on wildlife and fish.
    The 300-ton/hour hot mix asphalt plant project as it stands now would produce also produce air emissions impacting agricultural, residential and school property.    
    Simultaneous with the release of the photograph, County public health physician Dr. Marvin Trotter commented: “I am concerned with the level of pollutants associated with this project, and strongly believe further study of this matter is essential”
    Round the clock operations would create noise, visual impacts in a highly scenic area and light pollution at night.
    The project would obtain and use up vast quantities of spring water from the site. In addition, there would be increased risk of traffic accidents and fire from petroleum fuel trucks feeding the plant.

Expedite Cancelled:
    On October 21, the BOS unanimously granted Leonard Charles, its consultant on the project an additional $57,000 for changes to its contract in order to include the following. The expedite was subsequently retracted as a a result of citizen outcry over providing an opportunity for lame duck supervisor Wattenburger to form a third vote for approval. The accelerated schedule would have required the consultants to work through Thanksgiving weekend. Despite the withdrawal, the funds were spent.
    • The applicant was proposing to construct replacement channels  for wetlands on the site. The effects of constructing these wetlands and their value as mitigation for wetland loss must be reviewed.
    • The applicant proposed additional improvements to Highway 101 which will have different impacts on highway operations and will require additional roadway widening
    • The applicant prepared a revised traffic report that includes a different number of trips than the applicant originally provided. This changes the traffic impacts,
    • The applicant provided a new, and different, list of heavy equipment and generators that will be used on the site. This required a reassessment of air quality impacts. Because the number of truck trips has increased, the air quality analysis of emissions from trucks must be modified.
    • The applicant provided additional data about site drainage and the design and operation of the bioretention swale.

New Board:
    Approval of both the renewal of the existing quarry expansion and the processing zone overlay was pretty much a done deal under the 2007-8 BOS for whom private property rights were absolute.
    The new board also believes in Ownership Uber Alles, but with better review. Second district supervisor McCowen has stated he believes the zoning revision should be separated from the quarry permit renewal.
    Keep the Code is the local citizen watchdog group that lobbied for the EIR and opposes the expansion and MPCD. The steering committee of KTC is Charles Martin, Jay and Lael Fraser, Roni McFadden, Dori Cramer and Sheila Jenkins.
    They urge all county residents contact their own supervisor with concerns over this project which in the wake of the closures of Masonite and Georgia Pacific will become the single most significant pollution point source in the county.
    They are appealing for funds to pay legal and organizing costs. Donations may be sent to KTC,  Keep The Code,  P.O.Box 598, Ukiah.Checks should be made out the the WILLITS ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER with Keep the Code in the memo line.     Once the EIR is certified, the group will have only 30 days to sue.. For more information, contact Charles Martin at 459-9005 or email bioorganic2@yahoo.com



Former Masonite Site (Updated 3/8/09) 
   Constant delay in preparing planning documents is the time honored tradition in Mendocino County. And that tradition is alive and well today, much to the dismay of out of county developers who have bet a pile of dough buying a closed down particle board plant in the northern Ukiah Valley.
    While Developer's Diversified Realty of Ohio and Los Angeles waits for its expected zoning change so it can start renting out space in its imaginary Mega Mall at Masonite (See Independent #51, April 2008), the mechanisms of county government that are designed to bequeath those boons on private developers seems to be falling apart at the seams.
    The zoning change to permit retail operations on the paved over brownfield north of Ukiah cannot be had before the approval of the Ukiah Valley Area Plan by the Board of Supervisors. And the approval cannot happen until General Plan Update Environmental Impact Report is certified, and the EIR cannot be certified until approved by the planning commission, and none of that can happen until the Draft Environmental Impact Report has been vetted through public hearings.
    Last summer, newly minted county executive officer Tom Mitchell announced to the board that the General Plan would not be finished until May of 2009, and the UVAP part will not be ready until October .
    Thus, former supervisor Wattenburger was frustrated in his lifetime political dream of casting the swing vote to approve the DDR project zoning change. Bitterly despondent, the active duty CDF  fire captain and stalwart defender of private property rights opted not to run for re-election at the last moment in March, allowing Ukiah City Councilman John McCowen to capture control of the race to succeed him in office.
    Water availability for at the Masonite Brownfield is problematic, as the state Water Resources Board has held that there is no percolated groundwater in California and all water is underflow of various stream tributaries. In addition, no one has used or reported on water use from the former Masonite well for over five years. Consequently the state has no obligation to recognize any use of that water.
    DDR claims in its marketing propaganda that it owns water rights at the site.
    Meanwhile, the staff structure undergirding the Developer Support Machinery of Mendocino County is coming apart, as planning team director Phil Gourney was phased out and long time planning department director Ray Hall etired.
    The UVAP draft EIR is currently under internal review by the Mendocino County planning department. On August 21, of 2007 the BOS chose a preferred alternative of maximum buildout, greatly pleasing DDR who took that as a sign their project would be fast tracked.
    The Planning Team is creating study document on three alternative projections: the DDR friendly preferred alternative chosen by the board in 2007, an alternative "mixed use" study, and the Smart Growth approved so called Alternative B which envisions keeping the site zoned industrial.


Medical Marijuana Zoning  112826 
    In November of 2008,  former 5th District Mendocino County Supervisor (1979-1995) Norman de Vall has submitted comments to the General Plan Update urging the Supervisors to include medical cannabis regulation. "
    He was retained by the Mendocino Medical Marijuana Advisory Board (MMMAB).
     MMMAB urged Supervisors to pass "reasonable Land Use regulations" to enhance patient access to medical marijuana as well as to benefit the County financially.
    Normalizing legitimate growing of medical marijuana for the benefit not only of patient-growers, collectives and cooperatives, but for the County as well, is overdue and it is time for the Board of Supervisors to begin to substantially engage in the process they said in a prepared statement. They said there is a window of opportunity to do so through in the General Plan Update process.
    The question is: Where and How can legitimate growers of medical marijuana be enabled to serve patient-growers, collectives and cooperatives, as well as the County?
    The answer put forward by de Vall & Associates and the MMMAB is through specific land use designations, either as a Use by Right (i.e., Ministerial with no permit required) or through a Minor or Major Use Permit for "collective cooperative cultivation projects" (SB 420) or by any other appropriate land use designation that fulfills the regulation purpose of the legislation.
    In de Vall's letter to the supervisors, he based his recommendation for the regulated, controlled and publicly beneficial production of Medical Marijuana California Health and Safety Codes 11362.5 et seq, (the Medical Marijuana Program).
    He said the  General Plan Update was an opportunity to designate the land use types on which medical marijuana can be produced and what conditions its production must meet.


Nuisance Liens 12/25/08    
   The county Building Department has released a list of 59 nuisance violations to MENDOCINO COUNTRY pursuant to the state Public Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act. We wanted to know if the nuisance laws were being abused to target back to the land owner builders or marijuana gardens in violation of the mmj nuisance ordinance limit of 25 plants.
    In releasing the list, code compliance officer Jim McCleary wrote that enforcement of that ordinance was responsibility of the Sheriff's office.
     The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors recently amended Chapter 8.75 of the Mendocino County Code establishing the Mendocino County Uniform Nuisance Abatement Procedure. Adopted by the Board to encourage compliance with nuisance abatement orders from various departments charged with preserving community health and safety, Ordinance No. 4183 provides for the assessment of civil penalties for failure to abate public nuisances, leading ultimately to recordation of tax liens against the title to property for those who fail to abate public nuisances.
    On October 21, Mr. Frank Lynch, Interim Director, Planning and Building Services, and Mr. Jim McCleary, Code Enforcement Officer, provided background information regarding revisions to Mendocino County Code Chapter 8.75 establishing the Mendocino County Uniform Nuisance Abatement Procedure.
     The violation and abatement process involves a flow chart tracking mechanism review to cases every 90 days, The same cases will come before the Board over and over again every 90 days with increasing penalties until the fees and taxes are paid or the property defaulted and sold at auction.
    The new County ordinance 8.75 provides for fines of up to $100 per day up to 90 days for first offense, added to up to $200 per day for 90 days, added to $500 per day for the third offense and running.
    This is all at the sole and exclusive discretion of the code enforcement officer whom you cannot bar from entering your property. There is an appeal process, but only to andministrative judges hired by the building department.  The fines are recorded as a tax lien upon action of the Board of Supervirors.
     The state revenue and taxation code says that if your property taxes are not paid in 5 years from when due, the property can default to the county and sold at auction  However yu can pay your fine directly to the Enforcement Officer who is the only person authorized to spend the money -- on enforcement activities.
    The backlog of cases is substantial as it has been in progress for over 10 years (the County process did not previously have sanctions in place to effectively abate violations). 
     Mcleary claimed that approximately 68 nuisance abatement orders are out right now, and staff are receiving approximately 40 cases per month, and issuing notices accordingly;
   However, the list he provided the Independent contains only 51 cases and many of them are closed. Of the open cases five years or older, there are only five. The case number includes the year opened.
  1. ZC-2003-0019, a junkyard in Fort Bragg
  2. BI-1985-0994, a remodel with numerous building code violations, and travel trailers. Burk Hill Road south of Ukiah
  3. ZC-2002-0015, buried refuse and slash from tree removal, Little River.
  4. ZI-1991-0068, a junkyard, abandoned vehicles in Little River. 
  5. ZI-2002-0011, a campground and travel trailers in Potter Valley
         McCleary said he would approach the Board with requests for liens; and will return before the Board every 90 days. This process will, as it develops, begin to take a substantial amount of the Board’s time.
    .