By Brad Estes on Tue 08/02/2011 12:14pm
Posted in
The Sheridan County Commissioners, following about 20 minutes of public comment, approved amendments regarding quarry permits at their meeting Tuesday morning. Sheridan County Commissioner Terry Cram said that he was originally opposed to the quarry regulations, but now he says he feels they work better for landowners.
Members of of the public who were opposed to the amendments were concerned about trucks working to and from quarries not obeying the speed limit and noise problems, therefore decreasing property values. Commissioners took this into account, each saying that they believed the Planning and Zoning Commission wrote these amendments in order to take these things into account.
Passed Amendments, a total of four, account for these things through mitigation plans with public notices of public hearings sent to residents within one-half mile of the proposed quarry. Commissioner Mike Nickel said this was important because he felt each quarry is different and should be discussed individually before approval.
Impact on residents that will be taken into account in the mitigation plans included the size of the quarry, length of its operation, distance to residences, wind direction and subdivision roads and topography. The one-half mile distance applies only to the proposed quarry's distance from a residence where someone lives, not just structures on land like a barn.
We will have more for you from the meeting later this week.
