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Thursday, April 27, 2006

Environment - Gravel pits in the news in Martinsville and Carmel [Updated]

Martinsville. The Martinsville Reporter-Times reports that "Neighbors get to state their case against gravel pit." Aaron Blevins writes:

WAVERLY. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management will hold a hearing at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Mooresville Public Library to address residents’ questions about an air permit for U.S. Aggregates’ proposed second plant.

But it may not be enough for residents opposed to the creation of a new gravel pit to stop the plan.

Robert Elstro, a public information officer with the department, said that the hearings are held based on the amount public interest expressed through letters.
***

However, stopping the mineral extraction business from digging into Waverly may be an arduous undertaking.

“If the applicant provides all of the necessary information to show they will operate within the parameters of the permit, IDEM is required by law to issue the permit,” Elstro said. “IDEM expects no adverse impact on public health based on this permit.”

He also said that the agency received 28 separate comments on the air permit.

U.S. Aggregates’ proposed location for the new gravel pit is at 7201 East Centenary Road. The company is already extracting sand and gravel from a plant at 10351 North Mann Road, on the opposite side of Ind. 144. The area is home to several other operating gravel pits as well.

Here is the IDEM press release, including a link to the draft permit. Here is an earlier ILB entry (last item), from 3/1/06, about the proposed gravel pit. The link to the earlier Reporter-Times story still works.

Carmel. "Carmel blocks new mining operations" was the headline to a story yesterday in the Indianapolis Star by Lesley Rogers Barrett:

Martin Marietta won't be allowed to expand its mining operation in Carmel, after neighboring residents launched a campaign to fight the company.

The Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals on Monday voted 4-0 against expansion on about 96 acres on the southwest corner of 106th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway.

More than 100 residents -- many wearing yellow "No Blasting Expansion" buttons -- packed into the City Hall chamber to hear the decision.

"It's certainly a good day," said attorney Larry Kane, a resident of Kingswood, the neighborhood closest to mining activity. "We'll relish this while we can."

Martin Marietta will likely seek an appeal of the decision in the Hamilton County courts, said Zeff Weiss, an attorney for the company.

Martin Marietta has mined sand, gravel and industrial limestone for more than 50 years. Carmel annexed the mine in 2002, and the city and Martin Marietta are at odds over another issue -- a mining ordinance that would regulate permits and blasting levels. The Carmel City Council approved the ordinance last year, but the ordinance isn't in effect while the company challenges the decision in court.

In meetings over the past two months, the Board of Zoning Appeals heard from residents who said their homes shake when the company uses explosives, saying Martin Marietta needs restrictions on blasting levels. More than 1,170 families in six neighborhoods fought the expansion, Kane said.

"We would like to see them regulated before they're allowed to expand," said Susan Becker, who lives in Kingswood.

Martin Marietta contends that the mining operation was in place long before neighborhoods like Kingswood were developed. "Nobody can come in and say they didn't know that mine was there," said Wayne Phears, an attorney for Martin Marietta.

The mining company has been trying to expand its operations since 2002. The land, which Martin Marietta leases, is currently zoned for low-density residential use, so the company needs special use approval from the city to allow for the mining expansion.

[Updated] Note that there will be Ct. of Appeals oral argument 05/09 on a Carmel/Martin Marietta appeal.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 27, 2006 05:47 AM
Posted to Environment