Digging up a controversy

Grinnell Enterprises resurrects a bid to allow soil mining at its Houses Corner Road site, By Fran Hardy Sparta — If at first you don’t succeed, try again. That’s what Grinnell Enterprises Inc. of Sparta will do at the May 20 meeting of the Sparta Planning Board. The company will once again present an application to amend Sparta’s Master Plan to allow a soil mining operation on farmland it owns off Houses Corner Rd. The area is currently zoned for residential use only. Grinnell Enterprises, which operates Grinnell Recycling and Container Service and Grinnell Concrete Paving Stones Inc. introduced a similar application in 2007 and faced strong opposition from residents living nearby. They formed a group called Concerned Citizens Against the Quarry and spoke out actively in meetings, newspapers, and on their Web site, www.fightthequarry.com. The application subsequently lapsed without a decision from the planning board. When news of Grinnell’s second attempt to submit an application for a zoning change surfaced, so did the red and white “No Quarry” signs and now the CCAQ group has reorganized. However, Jared Cofrancesco, co-owner of Grinnell, believes the major problem fueling this controversy is one of misunderstanding and misinformation. He said his company purchased 160 acres of land formerly known as Dobbins Farm in 2002. He said the land is rich in the sand and aggregate materials that could be used to make paving stones. Currently, Grinnell has to purchase these raw materials from an outside source and truck them onto its site. He said if Grinnell could mine the materials on its own property, the operation would be more cost effective and would eliminate some of the truck traffic to and from the site. To extract the materials from the soil, Cofrancesco said the procedure would not involve blasting and would not resemble a typical quarry with a large open hole in the ground. He said the company would dig in only a small portion of land at a time, staying well above the aquifer so as not to impact ground water. When materials are extracted, they will be processed in a sound-proofed building on the site. Before moving on to a new section of land, Cofrancesco said the company will re-grade and re-plant the area. Grinnell’s plan provides for at least 70 of the 160 acres as a buffer between its operation and surrounding residential areas. He said Grinnell has done its due diligence and has hired professionals to do a variety of environmental studies involving impact on the water table and on endangered species. Princeton Hydro concluded the soil mining would have, “less impact on the water table than a residential community.” Studies have also been done to measure the potential impact of sounds from the operation on the surrounding community. One way they plan to reduce noise is to disable the backup warning “beep” on the back hoes and other digging equipment. A strobe light warning would be used instead. There is an adjacent privately owned site that began its mining operation before Sparta’s zoning laws deemed the area residential. The area has been extensively mined and has not been restored, leaving a bare, gaping hole which looks very much like a typical quarry. Cofrancesco insists Grinnell’s operation will not look like this. However, the second attempt to gain approval for mining on the property will likely meet with similar, if not greater, opposition than the company’s first attempt. The CCAQ plans to attend the planning board meeting and speak against the application. John Ursin, lawyer for the group said this week, “Zoning is set up to separate uses of properties. This is a quiet, pristine, lake community and the citizens want the area to remain residential. They do not want it to become industrial.” Ursin added that even more disturbing to the residents are recent findings by the Department of Environmental Protection of violations by Grinnell’s new Material Recovery Facility. According to the DEP Data Miner Web site, inspections of Grinnell properties on March 26 and April 22 resulted in four separate violations involving improper storage of construction waste materials. Cofrancesco said these are the first citations the company has received since they began in 1983. The violations involve their newest endeavor, which is the Material Recovery Facility. The 25,000-square-foot facility, which opened in August of 2008, is the first of its kind in northwest New Jersey. It is capable of processing 400 tons of construction and demolition materials per day, which is recycled and sold into secondary markets. As much as 65 to 70 percent of construction waste is recycled in this way, leaving only 35 percent of residual materials that must be sent to landfills. Cofrancesco said the company takes the DEP citations very seriously and said they have or are in the process of rectifying all issues. He called them “administrative growing pains” and said the Material Recovery Facility is still in its learning phase. According to DEP press officer, Lawrence Hajna, the DEP has received information that Grinnell is working to remove materials not in compliance, but added that a site visit must be scheduled to confirm.