at Dutra. As a senior reporter at digital financial news outlet The Deal, I see probably 25 of these statements a week in my inbox. And while there are no hard and fast rules about what has to be included, there are some standard ingredients. One of them is a quote from both the acquirer and the acquiree. The quotes always depict the transaction as the best thing ever. Quite often they include the advisors who helped pull off the deal, the value of the transaction and how the acquisition will help shape the surviving company. The deal announcement came from CRH, the controlling partner in the transaction, so they determined what information would be included. Aimi Dutra says she had worked hard on a press release about the sale and sent it to CRH. After it was run through the chain of command, it was a mere shadow of itself. No price for the Dutra operation was included, and Dutra demurred from revealing that information, pointing to their status as a private company, though she did detail that it was an all-cash transaction. “I know you have to ask,” Dutra said. Which is absolutely true, and the fact that no value was included by CRH means that is how they want it. That said, the last thing Dutra wants to do is upset CRH since they have to work with them on a continuing basis via the barge business. However, CRH is a public company which is obligated to report developments that are deemed “material.” This is a semi-nebulous word used by the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect investors and ensure that public companies present important information to their shareholders. So, in the report known as a 10-K, the annual report required of every public company, it will have to reveal the value of the deal when it does file the report for 2024. I pointed this out to CRH in an email. The following was their response. Crickets. There was no response.
Dutra purchased the San Rafael quarry in 1986, at a time when residential development was on the uptick near the shores along the east side of the city.
intensified. Neighbors complained of more dust and noise. The quarry erected buildings on its property without obtaining county permits. In 2001, the Marin County Grand Jury looked into the quarry operations and questioned just how serious the county was about overseeing operations. The grand jury report concluded that while the quarry was operating at a higher level, the county had, in many ways, failed to deal with those changes. Meanwhile relations between quarry neighbors and Dutra deteriorated. The Point San Pedro Coalition was formed in 1999 to represent the interests of east San Rafael quarry neighbors—from 25 neighborhoods including Peacock Gap, Loch Lomond and Villa Real. In 2003, lawsuits were filed by the coalition, the State of California, a small group of neighbors and the County of Marin against the quarry. A judge initially ordered the quarry to halt operations and that an amended reclamation plan be drafted. The quarry agreed to put the reclamation plan together and the judge allowed the quarry to continue to operate. The wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly and a valid environmental impact report (EIR) took six years to complete, with the EIR tied to both the reclamation plan and an updated operating permit. The county signed off in 2010. The operating permit came with 172 different conditions which included change to blasting regulations, air testing, marsh restoration and a repaving of a portion of Point San Pedro Road. The Dutra Group has built a formidable business, in part by being in the right place at the right time. In June 2004, the State of California awarded an emergency contract to Dutra to repair the Jones Tract levee failure in San Joaquin County. To accomplish the repair on time, the company asked the County of Marin to allow it to operate 24 hours a day. The county said no, but Dutra got the job done 20 days early anyway. While relations between the neighbors and the quarry have at
For the record CRH declined to comment for this story or make anyone available to participate in an interview. And while the sole response from the company was both professional and polite, it didn’t explain why there would be no chat. They wrote they hoped I would understand. Alas, I do not. A look back at the quarry In the interest of full disclosure, I’m familiar with the quarry because years ago I covered issues over Dutra’s operations for the Pacific Sun . Dutra purchased the quarry in 1986 with a non-conforming status attached to the property. That’s planning speak meaning that Dutra could operate the quarry but could not expand the property or grow its use. If you are asking yourself what a quarry is doing in a residential area, that’s a fair question. The quarry in one form or another has been around since 1870. But a previous quarry owner had told the county in 1982 it planned on shutting down the operation and pursuing a different use for the land. Based on this information, more residential development took place. But in the best tradition of competing uses, neighborhoods and the quarry would inevitably have challenges coexisting. Some houses were added, and the quarry continued to operate. In other words, trucks leaving and arriving at the quarry shared the road with residents driving to work, going to the grocery store and running the kids to soccer. The quarry blew rock from its walls and some neighborhood windows shook. More conflict arose when the quarry’s production increased, and its hours of operation grew. Truck traffic in and out of the quarry
March 2025
NorthBaybiz 25
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