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Mining permit raises questions
Molly Salisbury
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
At Taghkanic's Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Monday details were discussed about an application for a Special Use Permit to mine for gravel on 29-acres off Livingston/Church Road.
Three representatives from the applicant, Berry Pond, sat in chairs facing the ZBA, their backs to the audience. Allison Bennet bought the property off north Livingston Road in Taghkanic three years ago for the purpose of mining it for gravel. “I know how to read soil maps,” she said, explaining how she knew gravel would be found under the hilly pasture.
Obtaining a gravel mine permit requires intensive paperwork and expensive information. Most of this work has been done. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is the lead agency in this process, and has performed the SEQRA for the mine application. The State Environmental Quality Review Act mandates an environmental impact review (SEQRA) for a Mined Land Reclamation permit in order to mine land in New York.
A 30-day public comment period is required by the DEC before the permit can be issued. The notice for comments was published in the Register-Star on May 29. Comments were accepted from the DEC until June 26. The DEC ruled there would be no serious environmental impacts.
SEQRA's used to be performed by the towns, but the state took over the process because the towns were, for better or worse, finding 'environmental impacts' that were precluding gravel mines from operating.
But Berry Pond's permit has not actually been issued by the DEC yet. Michael Higgins, of the DEC in Schenectady, says the permit will definitely be issued but the application is still “in process.” The DEC is, among other things, waiting on the required $164,000 reclamation bond.
The issue that presented itself as most problematic at Monday's meeting was Livingston Road's weight limit. The road currently has a 5-ton weight limit. A truck filled with gravel will weigh between 30 - 37 tons.
Berry Pond LLC is located in South Kent, CT, so many of the trips will proceed eastward through the Columbia County. Inextricable to the issue of how much weight the road can handle is how many daily trips the gravel trucks will be making down Livingston Road to Route 82.
The board decided to have Livingston Road analyzed. The applicant's engineer will take core samples and determine to what weight limit the road was constructed. The ZBA's engineer, Paul McCreary of Morris Associates, will then analyze findings. After this information has been presented to the board, and barring no surprises, a public hearing will be set at the next ZBA meeting on Nov. 16.
The proposed mine has about1.5 million cubic yards of gravel. The average truck can carry about 15 cubic yards of gravel. McCreary anticipates that if the mine is open for 10 months, Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., 150,000 cubic yards could be mined in a year, and the life span of the mine would therefore be 10 years. McCreary writes in his analysis of the Berry Pond application, “That's 40 trucks in, 40 trucks out, per day… These well-loaded large vehicles will greatly shorten the life of Livingston Road.”
At the ZBA meeting, McCreary reiterated that he is “concerned how long the roadway will last.” He put the increase in daily traffic at 17 to 19 percent. However, Ed Waldron, Taghkanic's Highway Superintendent, didn't seem worried. “We're getting truck traffic already. Hasn't done a thing really. No one is out there enforcing anyway.”
But the ZBA knows from experience that any question they don't answer in full will be brought up in a public hearing, and an answer will have to be produced. So the “due diligence” of getting the road cored will save many a debate as to whether the road is or is not built well enough and in decent enough shape to use as heavily as is proposed.
The other worry expressed at the meeting was the road's site lines and road width, in particular at a tight curve located close to the junction of Livingston Road and Route 82. According to Waldron, the warning sign on the curve was knocked down. Engineers will address these issues, and answers will be produced.
“We believe that given the nature of the adjacent residences that a reduction in the proposed Saturday hours would be appropriate,” McCreary said. Berry Pond LLC immediately agreed to shorter Saturday hours from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The applicant also pointed out that the gravel business is based on supply and demand — some times of the year will be busy, some not busy at all.
McCreary's analysis also suggested relocating the access drive for the mine because it was directly across from a house. Quickly acting on the suggestion, the applicants moved the driveway 50 feet down the road.
To receive a permit, the applicant must explain how the land will be returned to a natural state after the mine closes. Berry Pond will save the topsoil in a pile next to the mine, and when the gravel is gone, put the soil back where it was. The area is hilly, and the 'gravel pit' will not actually be a pit, but as owner Bennett put it, “the leveling off of an elevated area.”
Bennett said they will be leaving the old center hall farmhouse and the barn, but no plans for renovation have been made. The buildings will be utilized as buffers.
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
At Taghkanic's Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Monday details were discussed about an application for a Special Use Permit to mine for gravel on 29-acres off Livingston/Church Road.
Three representatives from the applicant, Berry Pond, sat in chairs facing the ZBA, their backs to the audience. Allison Bennet bought the property off north Livingston Road in Taghkanic three years ago for the purpose of mining it for gravel. “I know how to read soil maps,” she said, explaining how she knew gravel would be found under the hilly pasture.
Obtaining a gravel mine permit requires intensive paperwork and expensive information. Most of this work has been done. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is the lead agency in this process, and has performed the SEQRA for the mine application. The State Environmental Quality Review Act mandates an environmental impact review (SEQRA) for a Mined Land Reclamation permit in order to mine land in New York.
A 30-day public comment period is required by the DEC before the permit can be issued. The notice for comments was published in the Register-Star on May 29. Comments were accepted from the DEC until June 26. The DEC ruled there would be no serious environmental impacts.
SEQRA's used to be performed by the towns, but the state took over the process because the towns were, for better or worse, finding 'environmental impacts' that were precluding gravel mines from operating.
But Berry Pond's permit has not actually been issued by the DEC yet. Michael Higgins, of the DEC in Schenectady, says the permit will definitely be issued but the application is still “in process.” The DEC is, among other things, waiting on the required $164,000 reclamation bond.
The issue that presented itself as most problematic at Monday's meeting was Livingston Road's weight limit. The road currently has a 5-ton weight limit. A truck filled with gravel will weigh between 30 - 37 tons.
Berry Pond LLC is located in South Kent, CT, so many of the trips will proceed eastward through the Columbia County. Inextricable to the issue of how much weight the road can handle is how many daily trips the gravel trucks will be making down Livingston Road to Route 82.
The board decided to have Livingston Road analyzed. The applicant's engineer will take core samples and determine to what weight limit the road was constructed. The ZBA's engineer, Paul McCreary of Morris Associates, will then analyze findings. After this information has been presented to the board, and barring no surprises, a public hearing will be set at the next ZBA meeting on Nov. 16.
The proposed mine has about1.5 million cubic yards of gravel. The average truck can carry about 15 cubic yards of gravel. McCreary anticipates that if the mine is open for 10 months, Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., 150,000 cubic yards could be mined in a year, and the life span of the mine would therefore be 10 years. McCreary writes in his analysis of the Berry Pond application, “That's 40 trucks in, 40 trucks out, per day… These well-loaded large vehicles will greatly shorten the life of Livingston Road.”
At the ZBA meeting, McCreary reiterated that he is “concerned how long the roadway will last.” He put the increase in daily traffic at 17 to 19 percent. However, Ed Waldron, Taghkanic's Highway Superintendent, didn't seem worried. “We're getting truck traffic already. Hasn't done a thing really. No one is out there enforcing anyway.”
But the ZBA knows from experience that any question they don't answer in full will be brought up in a public hearing, and an answer will have to be produced. So the “due diligence” of getting the road cored will save many a debate as to whether the road is or is not built well enough and in decent enough shape to use as heavily as is proposed.
The other worry expressed at the meeting was the road's site lines and road width, in particular at a tight curve located close to the junction of Livingston Road and Route 82. According to Waldron, the warning sign on the curve was knocked down. Engineers will address these issues, and answers will be produced.
“We believe that given the nature of the adjacent residences that a reduction in the proposed Saturday hours would be appropriate,” McCreary said. Berry Pond LLC immediately agreed to shorter Saturday hours from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The applicant also pointed out that the gravel business is based on supply and demand — some times of the year will be busy, some not busy at all.
McCreary's analysis also suggested relocating the access drive for the mine because it was directly across from a house. Quickly acting on the suggestion, the applicants moved the driveway 50 feet down the road.
To receive a permit, the applicant must explain how the land will be returned to a natural state after the mine closes. Berry Pond will save the topsoil in a pile next to the mine, and when the gravel is gone, put the soil back where it was. The area is hilly, and the 'gravel pit' will not actually be a pit, but as owner Bennett put it, “the leveling off of an elevated area.”
Bennett said they will be leaving the old center hall farmhouse and the barn, but no plans for renovation have been made. The buildings will be utilized as buffers.
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