Legality of quarry questioned by attorney

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/06/10/news/061009fzwashcoquarry.prt
The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas

Quarry's Legality Questioned
By Dan Craft
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE — A limestone quarry west of Fayetteville that owners want to expand may never have been legal in the first place, according to an attorney representing upset neighbors.
The Rogers Group seeks county planners' approval to expand their 45-acre quarry into an adjacent 98-acre red dirt pit off Hamestring Road. Neighbors have been opposed to the plan, and Jay Edwards, a lawyer representing some of the surrounding landowners, says even the existing quarry isn't properly permitted.
Rogers Group was blasting and crushing rock, but never had a limestone permit from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality certifying them as a quarry, when Washington County zoned the area agricultural in 2006, Edwards said. The existing quarry should never have been allowed to continue operating under a grandfather clause, let alone be allowed to expand, Edwards said.
The confusion is a result of changing state mining regulations just as the county was implementing zoning regulations in 2006, and all parties agreed the quarry was legal and could continue operations, said Terry Sossong of Rogers Group.
The existing Rogers Group quarry has seven to 10 years worth of material left, Sossong said. The neighboring Stephens Red Dirt Pit has already extracted most of the dirt, leaving behind a mineable seam of limestone, Sossong said.
Traffic, noise, a nearby creek and effects from blasting are all reasons to deny the request for the quarry, neighbors said.
About 30 residents protested outside the quarry last month as members of the Washington County Planning Board toured the facility. The tour was coordinated to occur the same day as a planned explosion to loosen more material from the quarry walls. Neighbors say the explosion was small compared to what they normally experience. Quarry owners characterized the blast a a typical size, using 450 pounds of explosives to shear limestone walls into piles of smaller rocks.
Seismographic readings from four locations surrounding last month's blast, provided by a third party monitoring company hired by Rogers Group, indicate the sound and vibration levels were well below state maximums. Readings from a permanent seismograph on site, also provided by the third-party monitoring company, show none of the blasts since July 2007 have exceeded state standards.
Residents along Hamestring Road have dealt with two red dirt pits and the quarry for more than a decade, and protested earlier this year when Big Red Dirt Farm applied for a conditional use permit to quarry limestone. That permit was denied, appealed, approved, and is now in litigation.
The Rogers Group proposal generated 144 written or e-mailed public comments, all but one opposed to the quarry expansion, said Juliet Richey, county planning director.
Commissioner James Gallagher, who lives less than a mile from the site, abstained from discussion and voting Tuesday night. Gallagher stepped aside to prevent any appearance of a conflict of interest, he said.
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/06/10/news/061009fzwashcoquarry.txt