Opponents derailed for the time being plans by Monarch Cement Co. to open quarries on about 200 acres northeast of Humboldt. SHERI YOWELL and family live along 1300 Street just south of where initial quarrying would occur. “I UNDERSTAND there are valid concerns,” said Harry Lee, board chairman. “Our role as a board is to find a balance with the community.”
Monarch had filed for a conditional use permit to move heavy equipment into the agricultural area. Allen County Planning Board members, after hearing nearly two hours of testimony — from both sides — voted unanimously Thursday night not to recommend a permit be issued.
The board’s recommendation is just that, though. County commissioners will decide the issue in an 11 a.m. hearing at their March 11 meeting.
Concerns often mentioned by landowners — adjacent and nearby — were blasting could damage their homes and buildings and be a disruption; dust from trucks hauling material on two miles of 1300 Street would be pervasive and dangerous; 1300 Street is too narrow and not structurally suited for trucks carrying up to 15 tons, plus the weight of the trucks themselves; others using the road would not be safe, or would children at two homes adjacent to the road; land values would be depressed and, generally, the esthetics found in a rural setting would be damaged beyond recognition.
Monarch’s commentary dealt with most issues, somewhat by meeting state and federal regulations, but never seemed to resonate with board members.
Brent Wilkerson, environmental manager, laid out Monarch’s position. He noted the acreage contained generous amounts of topsoil, shale and limestone — in layers of 30 feet thick each — that were used in manufacture of cement.
Grass buffer zones of 50 feet width would protect neighboring properties as well as the Southwind Trial, which dissects the property, he said, and once quarrying was completed “unique recreation areas” would replace the quarries, he said. Four lakes are envisioned, he said, although none would be available within their lifetimes, was foes’ retort.
Reclamation of quarried land has been a state requirement since the 1980s.
Monarch estimated quarrying would go on for nearly 100 years and the first parcel wouldn’t be completed and ready for reclamation for more than 25 years.
Blasting to free rock and shale would be done three times a month by an experienced contractor, Wilkerson said. One whose expertise is such that it has performed blasts within 200 feet of homes and even interstate highways, said Harvey Buckley, vice president for manufacturing at Monarch.
Buckley said several times he had “talked to the county” and 1300 Street was recommended for transport from the quarry. The route would be two miles south to Hawaii Road (old K-224), half a mile east to U.S. 169, two miles south and onto what is commonly called Tank Farm Road (Delaware Road) and to Monarch’s plant.
“If there were another way, we’d do it,” Buckley said, apparently discounting going west on Iowa Road to old U.S. 169, which would entail an extra two miles driving time and significantly increase traffic at the north edge of Humboldt.
Hauling would occur eight hours a workday and range from 40 to 70 loads a day, Wilkerson said.
Landowners seized those numbers to point out that they were “loaded trips” and that empty trucks also would drive the same route, putting the total at 80 to 140 a day, or one trip on 1300 Street every three-plus minutes.
Quarrying would start in about a year, Wilkerson said.
At one point, he said the site in question was preferred over quarrying on additional land Monarch owns east of the plant — much of which has been quarried — because the layer of topsoil is much deeper. Topsoil is an ingredient of cement.
“We’ve lived here 18 years,” Yowell said, recalling the family had an option to purchase land south of Humboldt but deferred because of quarrying there.
“We built a new home seven years ago,” she said, and a priority for her family and that of others is safety. “We’re totally against” the quarrying. “We don’t want trucks going by five or six times an hour (actually it would be more).
“We’ve worked hard to reach our goals and we want a safe place to live,” she said. “We’re not enticed by the lakes (reclamation phase) that we wouldn’t see in our lifetimes.”
Layne Sterling lives a mile south of the Monarch property. He spoke as a resident, truck driver and on behalf of Allen County Farm Bureau.
“I don’t think the dust suppressant (which would be put on 1300 near homes) will work and the dust will be a problem,” he said.
Sterling also thinks large trucks driving the road many times a day would endanger other traffic, particularly on a hill where accidents have occurred, and including school buses and young drivers. Yowell noted the road wasn’t low-traffic, as Monarch advanced, rather a short cut many use between Humboldt and Iola.
Extending rail service from the north edge of Humboldt, which would replace two miles of the Southwind Trail, might be a better approach, Sterling proposed. Buckley said topsoil “is difficult to haul by rail,” because of moisture it contains and problems with freezing in winter.
Sterling read a letter from Farm Bureau that argued land values would be adversely affected by quarrying, and that the project generally wasn’t a good fit for an agricultural area.
Nicolle Hoepker reiterated many of the same concern others had.
“Have you done a traffic study,” she asked. Also, “I think it will devalue property and limit the sale desirability” if the Hoepkers or others decided to move if quarrying occurred. “Who’d we sell to? There’d just be one buyer, Monarch.
“We’re an agricultural community. We want to sit outside and enjoy the country air,” Hoepker said. “Other quarries are eyesores. At what point can you drive down the road and not see chaos,” were quarrying is under way. “It’s scary to think about looking at this the rest of your life.”
“I can’t vote for it (the conditional use permit),” said Mitch Bolling. “These families live there. I can’t rightfully make their dreams disappear. I don’t think the road will carry the (heavy) traffic. It’s dangerous. There has to be a different way.”
He moved to deny the permit, which Marvin Stanley seconded.
Lee said he recognized the value Monarch brought to the area , but “1300 isn’t much of a road and a truck every three minutes is a lot of traffic.”
None of the board members was reluctant in the vote to unanimously deny recommending the conditional use permit.
County planning board turns back Monarch request
