Minutes - 11-27-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Paxton Badham spoke on behalf of American Stone Company. He described the history of the site plan on a map. He made reference to the flaw of compensation and said that in 1990, American Stone Company re-executed a lease with the Durham family, which greatly increased the minimum rental payments and the royalty payments, taking the lease to 2030. The payments will continue to increase until 2030. The payments to the Durham family was incentive for the Durham's to give the pit to OWASA at the end of the mining. In exchange, OWASA had incentive to let American Stone Company mine the property free of charge. The plan is to relocate State Road 1104 where it would intersect NC 54 and then to mine where ultimately the two pits will be joined. In addition, American Stone Company is giving OWASA 25 acres of land free of charge if the application is approved. He said that American Stone Company has been under a lot of scrutiny because of the apposition by the neighbors. He said that throughout all of the examination, no one has found anything that American Stone Company has done wrong. He said that the current regulations were not completely clear. He spoke about the permits that American Stone Company had obtained and said that the purpose of them was to protect the environment and to protect people and structures in the area of and adjacent to the quarry operation. He said that the conditions as presented by Craig Benedict were the reason that American Stone Company thinks the application should be granted because it goes well beyond what the state and federal permits require. He said that this was both the most extensive and expensive list of conditions that he is aware of. He would like to have some further discussion about a few of the conditions. He said that condition #29 seems to require American Stone Company to ensure that every truck has a cover. He said that this would put them at a serious competitive disadvantage because the trucks will go elsewhere. He said that ASC would support a countywide ordinance requiring all material haulers to cover their loads. He made reference to condition #39 and said that the concern was that if, at a later date, the County passed a different ordinance and then ASC was required to comply with it, that might make the operation impossible. He made reference to condition #47 and said that there could be a problem with the Type F buffer. Regarding bike lanes, he said that it did not make much sense to put bike lanes in the area. He spoke about what would happen if the special use permit were not granted. The existing special use permit has no expiration date and ASC could be there a long time mining deeper. He introduced the experts that would speak about the studies that they conducted. Mike Horn, with Kimley-Horn and Associates, conducted a traffic analysis; Montell Irvin, with Ramey Kemp and Associates, conducted a noise study; Peter Malin, with SONDI, conducted the blasting analysis; Vic Knight, with Chapel Hill Appraisals and Consultants, conducted the property value analysis; William Lyke, with Skelly and Loy, conducted the hydrogeology analysis; and John Richards, with Air Control Techniques, conducted the air analysis. Mike Horn, with Kimley-Horn and Associates, is a licensed engineer in North Carolina and has practiced traffic engineering for the past 19 years. They were asked by American Stone Company to review the proposal of the relocation of SR 1104, Bethel Hickory Grove Church Road by approximately 2700 feet. This relocation takes the existing intersection of Bethel Hickory Grove Church Road and moves it to NC 54. He has reviewed the relocation and has met with NCDOT on site. NCDOT does concur with the relocation of the intersection with the stipulation as proposed by the staff, which is the addition of left and right turn lanes. American Stone Company has also agreed with the construction of both of the turn lanes. Montell W. Irvin, a professional engineer registered in North Carolina, works with Ramey Kemp and Associates. He has been practicing engineering for about 11 years. He said that they were obtained by American Stone to do sound readings along the perimeter of the property and to compare those readings to the current performance standards. He went to the facility with a noise meter and conducted readings at several locations around the property. He determined that all of the levels were below the 68 DBA performance standard. He reviewed the mitigation offered by American Stone and feels that all of the measures should significantly reduce the levels that are currently at the property at this time. Peter Malin is a professor of Seismology in the Nicholas School of Environment at Duke University and also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Civil and