Allen County commissioners will decide next week whether to allow Mid-States Materials to install a rock quarry on the south side of Humboldt Hill.
The contentious issue has been boiling for almost a year now. Twice the Allen County Planning Board has denied Mid-States Materials and landowner David Gant the conditional use permit required to mine rock from the land. But is was never enough to scare Mid-States away. Earlier this month representatives from the aggregate materials company took their case for a quarry to the commission directly.
Just as persistent, however, are a handful of local residents, who have pursued a polite but dogged resistance against the placement of the quarry, citing the potential for property damage, the increased chance for traffic accidents, the concern that the zoning change would set a doomed precedent, and, finally, the disruption of the quiet way of life that blasting a quarry portends. For its part, Mid-States continues to promise that any blasting they do will be safe and infrequent. Furthermore, theyve pledged to leave the land in better shape at least more aesthetically attractive than when they found it.
Commissioners will decide the matter at their Tuesday meeting. The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m., while the decision on the quarry is slated for 9:30 in the Allen County Courthouse assembly room.
COMMISSION chair Jerry Daniels recently received a promising phone call from Kansas Sen. Caryn Tyson, who told him after months of speculation that Allen County should indeed expect to receive funding from the Kansas Department of Transportation for the repair of the many sections of detour road that have incurred damage as a result of the major construction project blocking U.S. 169.
Daniels told Mitch Garner that he should expect a call from KDOT in the coming days, and urged the director of public works to organize a list of road-repair priorities to present to the state. I appreciate all those legislators that have been working for this on behalf of Allen County, said Daniels.
