Quarry company: 'We can coexist' with nearby Cape County school

Developers with Heartland Materials LLC say their proposed quarry and Saxony Lutheran High School can safely coexist.

After eight months of planning, Heartland Materials filed an open pit mining application Oct. 4 with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Land Reclamation Program for a limestone quarry on 161 acres off Country Road 601 near Fruitland. The site would produce crushed stone for construction use and lime for agricultural use.

"We are not pushing so hard to get out there and get to work. Right now we are trying to meet with Saxony and others to make sure when this does happen that everything is going to go smooth," said Heartland Materials spokesman Danny Dumey Jr. "Our primary concern is Saxony. Saxony is our closest neighbor, and we're trying to come up with a plan. There's no doubt in our minds we can coexist with Saxony, but they've got some real concerns."

Dumey said the company kept the school in mind when planning the layout of the site. Although state regulations would allow Heartland to mine just 100 feet away from their property line, the company has set the proposed 17-acre mine back 1,200 feet from County Road 601.

"That is a very responsible distance," Dumey said. "If you look at a lot of the quarries in the area, they are right against their property lines. We have put a lot of thought in this."

Dumey said Heartland will landscape its property along County Road 601, including planting trees and keep the area mowed.

"It's not going to look like a volcano site, It's going to be kept in a very neat manner that will be pleasing to the eye," Dumey said.

However, people would see a lot of trucks on County Road 601. Truck traffic will vary at the site with most mining occurring from April through October. An average of 2,000 tons of rock could be produced daily, resulting in 80 to 120 trucks per day. In peak times there could be as many as 150 and in slow times as few as 40.

"We have had preliminary meetings with county and state officials and have told them we see problems on this road and would like to make some major upgrades," Dumey said.

If Heartland Materials is granted a mining permit, Dumey said, the company is committed to funding major safety upgrades on County Road 601 and is also willing to consider alternate routes.

He said Heartland Materials intends to make every effort not to blast during school hours.

"We are in a sensitive area, and we know that," he said.

Seismographs would be set up along County Road 601 to monitor blasts.

The company searched extensively for a quarry site, according to Dumey.

"The No. 1 thing you got to have is good rock," he said. "That eliminates about 80 percent of the countryside. Once you find it, you've got to be able to get to it and extract it economically and you've got to have access to transportation routes. We've found other sites, but this site is where it's at."

The company would employ about 50 people for nearly a year as preparations are made for extracting rock. Once the quarry is up and running, there would be eight to 10 full-time employees as well as subcontractors hired for various duties.

In addition to having its mining permit approved, Heartland Materials also must be granted permits for air quality and water.

The air quality permit application will require the company to explain how it will control dust produced in its rock-crushing operations.

The rock crusher machines and conveyors will be covered and insulated for both dust and sound, Dumey said. Misters and sprinkler systems will also keep dust at bay.

Dumey said the roads in the front of the mine property will be paved and others that are gravel will have sprinkler systems for dust control.

"We want to make sure all the dust falls on my property, not yours," he said.

A second company, Strack Excavating, filed with DNR in July for an air quality permit for a quarry near Fruitland but has not yet filed for a mining permit. Strack has purchased property near the proposed Heartland Materials site.

It is expected to take DNR two to three weeks to review Heartland Materials' mining permit.

The company will then be required to publish public notices in local newspapers for four consecutive weeks and must send a certified letter to adjacent land owners and county government officials.

A public comment period will start on the first day the advertisement appears in the newspaper and ends 15 days following the last date of publication.

A public meeting with officials from Heartland Materials is not planned at this time.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

County Road 601, Fruitland, MO