The Tooele County Planning Commission got its first look at a proposed ordinance Wednesday that regulates all mining, quarry, sand and gravel excavation operations in the county.
The 13-page document requires all current excavators, both those currently permitted and those operating as nonconforming uses, to obtain an excavation permit from the county within one year after the ordinance is adopted.
It did not take South Rim residents long to object to the provisions of the proposed ordinance. Scott Hunter, South Rim resident, was the first to his feet to speak during a public hearing on the proposed ordinance Wednesday night.
“As written it [the proposed ordinance] is more dangerous than what we had,” he said. “Some of the arguments we have used to close the gravel pit are gone.”
Since August 2016, Hunter and other South Rim residents have been trying to enlist the support of county officials to close a gravel pit that is across Silver Avenue from their rural residential neighborhood.
The proposed ordinance the planning commission reviewed Wednesday night was drafted with the assistance of the county’s outside legal counsel, Jody Burnett of the Salt Lake City-based firm of Snow Christensen & Martineau.
Burnett’s services were engaged by the county in September 2017 in part to prepare for a potential lawsuit involving the gravel pit near South Rim and also to help the county update its ordinances relating to sand and gravel extraction.
Excavation processes regulated by the proposed ordinance include the removal of rock, sand, gravel, clay, and any other soil by digging, leveling, scraping, blasting, screening, processing, and operating, maintaining and repairing equipment, marketing, advertising, and selling aggregate products and services to the general public, or any other process, together with all other types of mining operations where material is removed from the earth.
The ordinance places limitations, restrictions and controls on dust, noise, vibration, smoke, lights and odors. Fences or other suitable barriers are required for excavation sites, along with the prevention of the discharge of waste water onto private or public roads and property.
All trucks, equipment and machinery operating on public roads are required to comply with county and state road limitations such as weight limits, according to the proposed ordinance.
It also restricts the hours of the transport of aggregate materials from excavation sites to between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturdays. No hauling is permitted on Sundays and no excavation operations will be allowed on eight specified holidays.
The ordinance also requires remediation of the excavation site and a surety bond to guarantee remediation.
During the public hearing, South Rim residents criticised the proposed ordinance’s requirement that extractive operations must be 10-feet from the outside of the permitted property.
“You just discussed a 3-mile buffer for solar arrays from residential areas. You require a 5-mile distance for windmills and hazardous waste sites,” Hunter said. “The dust from gravel pits is hazardous, so why not a 5-mile buffer for gravel pits?”
Other South Rim residents agreed with Hunter.
“The ordinance should include a distance from residential areas,” said James Shaw.
Some planning commission members expressed concerns with the proposed ordinance’s procedure to approve excavation permits.
According to the proposed ordinance, applications for an excavation permit will be submitted to the county’s community development director. After the community development director determines the application is complete, the director will make a recommendation to the county’s legislative body, which is the county commission.
With at least 10-days public notice, the county commission will hold a public hearing on the application and vote to either approve, deny, or approve with conditions the application. Appeals to the county commission’s decision could be made to district court within 30-days, according to state law.
Mike Donivan, planning commission member, suggested a process similar to that used for conditional use permits. With conditional use permits, the planning staff prepares a report, the planning commission makes the decision, and the county commission acts as the appeal body.
The proposed ordinance as written is applicable to all existing excavation operations in Tooele County, according to Burnett.
Any new excavation operations still needs to comply with current land use ordinances, which include a rezone application to an MG-EX zone and a conditional use permit. After complying with existing land use ordinances, the new operator may then apply for an excavation permit., Burnett said.
The planning commission is seeking additional public input on the proposed ordinance. Planning Commission Chairman Lynn Butterfield encouraged the public to read the proposed ordinance and submit written comments.
The proposed ordinance may be downloaded from the Tooele County Planning Commission’s Feb. 21 agenda on the county’s SIRE Public Access website at http://tcdms.org/sirepub/meet.aspx. Comments may emailed to Jason Losee, Tooele County planning staff, at jlosee@tooeleco.org.