Representatives from Mid-States Materials appeared before the county commission Tuesday morning to revive their request to create a rock quarry on the south side of Humboldt Hill.
The land between Humboldt and Iola is currently zoned for agriculture, which means the county must approve a conditional use permit before crews from Mid-States Materials LLC a subsidiary of Bettis Asphalt & Construction, Inc. can begin mining the rock.
Last May, David Gant, the landowner of the proposed site, appealed to the Allen County Planning Board for the zoning permit. The board at that time voted unanimously to deny Gants request. Less than a week later, Gant chose to temporarily withdraw his application. It was reported, then, that Gant wanted to postpone the commissions up or down vote on the quarry in hopes that he could visit with and presumably assuage the concerns of the handful of neighboring landowners opposed to the installation of a quarry.
By all accounts, Gant did reach out to his neighbors. So did at least one representative from Mid-States Materials.
And so last week, once again, quarry advocates appeared before the Allen County Planning Board in search of the groups endorsement.
And again they were denied.
ON TUESDAY, Rich Eckert, an attorney for Mid-States Materials, took his case for a quarry to the county commission directly. But he didnt arrive alone. On the pro-quarry side were a handful of field experts: a geologist, an environmental health and safety manager, the manager of a trucking company each person affiliated with Bettis Asphalt in some capacity. But the anti-quarry stalwarts were there, too: area landowners Calvin Parker, Dave and Sue Scantlin, and farmer Shawn Geffert residents who object, in the main, to the structural damage they believe blasting rock will inflict on their property and to the dangers that heavy-truck traffic at the base of the hill will introduce into an already vulnerable section of the narrow two-lane highway.
Eckert addressed these objections in turn, but first he reminded commissioners of Mid-States guiding motivation in establishing a rock quarry in Allen County in the first place. Our business model is to have smaller quarries throughout the state, explained Eckert. When we bid KDOT jobs, when we bid city jobs, county jobs if we can have a quarry somewhere close to that [project], we can control our cost with the aggregate [material]. That helps us make a low bid for the local taxpayers. And thats the main purpose of Mid-States Material to control our supply and, quite frankly, we need a quarry in this area.
And this particular hunk of earth is richer in rock than most, continued Eckert. We dont usually come and tell people what weve found on the property. Thats usually an inside secret. … But theres been a lot of concern in the community about this site, so we went to our leadership and said, Hey, I think it would be appropriate here to let everybody know what we found.
What they found, after a number of geologic studies, was that the proposed site contains 2 million tons of high-quality reserve.
Of course, for the four Allen Countians seated behind Eckert at Tuesdays meeting, how much rock underlays the land is not the relevant question. The rub, said Parker, is how you propose to extract it. In other words, its the blasting.
I worked for Monarch Cement for 28 years, said Parker, who lives roughly 600 feet from the proposed site of the quarry. And I was quarry supervisor for many of those. Ive sat and watched many shots and [Mid-States] cannot say that I wont feel every time that shot goes off. When you feel it, youre taking a chance at damaging your house. I would just ask that you follow your zoning commissions recommendations. Theyve listened to us twice now, and thats all I have to say.
Eckert made a promise to Parker and to the commissioners that Mid-States, should they receive permission from the county, would agree not to blast within 1,000 feet of the quarrys nearest neighbor. Eckert pointed to other quarries in the area namely, Nelson Quarries which operate within 500 feet of some homes. The point is that you can safely blast within 500 feet and not harm the property.
Furthermore, Eckert continued, this isnt a site where were going to blast every year. Were going to blast a couple hundred thousand tons and that might be good for a couple years. This isnt something where were blasting every week or every month. Well come in, well blast, well crush, and it could be a couple of years before were back. So, again, the concerns about the blasting might be a bit overblown.
SHAWN GEFFERT had another worry on his mind. My main concern is the safety aspect, with trucks pulling out on the highway there, said the young farmer. I haul a lot of grain to Humboldt and coming up over that hill, I just dont think theres adequate amount of time to stop if youve got a truck pulling out there. Theres just not much room there, less than a thousand feet, and plus its a decline that Ive got to stop on.
To Gefferts point, Eckert said that Mid-States has committed not to sell any rock out of there until [the road construction currently blocking Highway 169] is done. We wont add any truck traffic of our own to that road until the state is done with their project.
He also promised to work with a county engineer to find the safest, most intuitive access road in and out of the quarry, and has pledged, if the county decides the measure makes sense, to ensure that Mid-States trucks make only right turns when exiting the site.
