Residents concerned about a potential expansion of the mining area at Lehigh Cement Co.'s quarry in New Windsor will get a chance to speak at a public hearing on the proposed change when the decision goes to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted Tuesday to recommend the change to the board.
Bobbi Moser, of the county Bureau of Planning, said Lehigh submitted a petition to the bureau in February, asking the county to expand the mineral resource area and mineral resource notification area surrounding the company's New Windsor quarry.
J. Brooks Leahy, an attorney representing Lehigh, showed the planning commission maps with the current mineral resource area, which occupies 283 acres between Old New Windsor Road and Md. 31, and the proposed expanded mineral resource area, which would be 553 acres. The company is requesting the change because a wider surface area would allow the company to mine deeper and more safely, he said.
Lehigh purchased the property in 1955, Leahy said, because of the limestone deposits underground. In 1992, the county passed the mineral overlay zone, establishing the borders of the mineral resource area.
But it has only been in the past few years that the company has started the exploratory steps necessary to develop the technical mining plan for the property, he said. Tests on the property have revealed that the limestone deposit underground seems to resemble a trapezoid, with the deepest deposits of limestone heading to the east of the current mineral resource area, rather than directly below the borders of the current mineral resource area.
Expanding the area, which will still be contained to Lehigh-owned property, will allow the company to mine a much wider and deeper area, said Kurt Deery, environmental engineer for Lehigh. The expansion could extend the life of the quarry from about 30 years to 70 to 80 years, he said, based on the company's early estimates.
"We know we can do a better mine with this wider footprint," Deery said.
Commission member Alec Yeo expressed some concern with the request and the potential impact to the environment and community. Yeo also stated that he did not want the company to interpret a positive vote by the commission Tuesday as a sign that the group was totally on board with the project.
Several residents from the New Windsor area spoke at the meeting, raising concerns about their property values, dust from the operations, blasting schedules, well-water issues and how the expanded footprint would bring the mine closer to neighbors.
Warren Jones, a resident on Old New Windsor Road, told the commission that everything he heard Tuesday sounded like the proposed changes would only benefit the company and not the community.
"We thought we moved to a better area," Jones said. "And it seems like it's not."
Jones said he was aware of the quarry's location when he moved to his home several years ago, but he was told there wouldn't be any mining at the end near his house for 60 years.
Deery said the company needs to know what the mineral resource area parameters will be before it can develop its detailed mining plan, which will then be used for approval processes from the county and the state for several types of permits that will need to be granted before the company can start mining the New Windsor quarry.
Kent Martin, manager of the Lehigh plant in Union Bridge, said Tuesday's vote by the planning commission was a first step, but the commissioners will have to approve the change as well. And the bigger level approval will be when it comes time for the site plan approval, he said, which will be an open and public process.
Steve Powell, county chief of staff, said he believes the issue will be on the Board of Commissioners' agenda in mid-May.
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