By Bob Balgemann
Reporter
BELVIDERE - Beverly Materials' request for an early renewal of a special use permit for mining operations at the Plote Quarry is heading for another hearing before the zoning board of appeals.
That action came Wednesday night on March 19 in a 6-4-1 vote of the Boone County Board. Members Denny Ellingson, Bill Pysson,... Craig Schultz, Marion Thornberry, Ron Wait and Cathy Ward supported the motion, made by Pysson. Opposition came from board Chairman Bob Walberg and members Chris Berner, Brad Fidder and Paul Larson. Member Kenny Freeman abstained; member Karl Johnson was absent.
Reconsideration won't occur until the April 22 meeting of the zoning board. The current special use expires Jan. 30, 2015.
Pysson moved for the delay because he didn't believe residents had been given enough time to provide additional evidence to support their views on the quarry.
Some neighbors have claimed the quarry has violated conditions attached to the special use permit. But attorney Warren Fuller, representing Beverly Materials, said that's not the case.
"There's not one item in the settlement agreement that we haven't complied with," he said. "We have complied with the letter and the spirit of the agreement."
Presumably the additional time will give residents opportunity to prove their allegations of non-compliance.
Responsibility for keeping track of results from ongoing monitoring of groundwater took up most of the board's time Wednesday night. Beverly Materials has retained Patrick Engineering to collect the water samples, with testing done by another company.
NO SPECIFICS
The health department has been criticized for not paying close enough attention to test reports, resulting from quarterly water samples taken from each of the three monitoring wells. But the original agreement allowing the mining operation only stated that reports were to be sent to the county.
The current health department administrator, Cynthia Frank, reminded the board of the following facts:
• The department is not qualified, nor does it have the equipment, to monitor the wells.
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• The department tests water from residential wells. Monitoring well tests are far more extensive than those conducted on residential wells.
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Frank said she had no problem with monitoring well reports being sent to the health department. But she wanted language in the special use permit to be specific as to the department's responsibilities.
"I want to be sure that in 10 years, when this comes up again, that the health department isn't persecuted for not monitoring these wells," she stressed. "We cannot do that."
County Environmental Health Director Bill Hatfield also objected to some of the wording in Condition 18, requiring Plote to have not less than three nor more than six monitoring wells. He didn't like the following sentence: "The number and location of the wells shall be established with the advice and consent of the Boone County Health Department."
"The (three) wells are already there," he said. "They never had the advice and consent of the health department." He asked that the sentence be deleted.
"It's not accurate," Frank interjected.
Interim Planning Director Kathy Miller agreed the language didn't need to be in there.
There was uncertainty as to who approved the location of the current monitoring wells, which are situated between the quarry and nearby homes.
Dave Zumbrunn, general manager of Beverly Materials, said Patrick Engineering selected the locations of the wells, with approval by county staff. While he didn't specify who "county staff" was, he said with certainty that the Illinois Environmental Protection (IEPA) was not involved.
In the future, board member Ellingson said if more wells are sunk, the health department and IEPA should be aware of where they are located.
