Some Scott City residents set to oppose reopening of old quarry

For the third time this summer, a group of residents is upset about a quarry.

Residents of a Scott City neighborhood are organizing to stop the renewal of a permit for nearby defunct quarry.

According to Glenda Cassout, whose Lakeview Drive home sits next to the old quarry, owned by a Dexter, Mo.-based company Seminole Agriculture and Lime, letters were sent to residents two weeks ago telling them the permit process with Missouri Department of Natural Resources had begun.

In June, residents living near a proposed Cape Girardeau County quarry near County Road 319 and Route K crowded into a Cape Girardeau County Commission meeting to ask for help opposing a new quarry. Last month, the unhappy neighbors of Neely's Landing Quarry aired their frustration over dust, mud and possible encroachment.

Scott City Councilman Norman Brant said he does not live near the defunct quarry but has several reasons for opposing a permit that would allow it to reopen.

"We've got a 10-inch water line right beside the quarry, I'm worried when they dynamite, it'll shake the line loose and weaken the joints," he said. "Up on the hill, on both sides of what would be the quarry there are about 25 homes, nice homes. We've got city streets there and the one going west floods every year, so any traffic would have to go east and that's all residential."

The homes are 15 to 20 years old, according to Cassout, and have a market value of about $200,000 each.

Scott City Mayor Tim Porch said the quarry was discussed at Monday's city council meeting.

"We don't want to make a stance against jobs, or things of that nature," Porch said. "My personal feelings are the quarry is in a real bad spot, as far as trucks going in and out."

City Administrator Ron Eskew said the quarry is within a half-mile of his Lakeview Drive home. He learned about it after his next door neighbors, Glenda and Jay Cassout, received the letter. He said he can see the city's point about jobs and development, but, at the same time, "I don't want my home devalued."

"We can't have our water supply muddied up, our pipes tore up, our roads tore up," Brant said.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Kelso Township Memorial VFW Post, at 1408 Main St., in Scott City (across from the caboose).

For more on this story, check back at www.semissourian.com or see Thursday's Southeast Missourian.