Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/632397
AGGREGATES MANAGER / February 2016 9 STATE & PROVINCE NEWS OKLAHOMA The Board of Adjustment denied APAC-Central Inc.'s request for a special exception from city zoning on land where it currently operates a quarry. According to Tulsa World, one member of the board of adjustment said that he was uncomfortable approving the request decades before the company would actually mine that area. A spokesman for APAC said he couldn't comment on whether it would appeal the decision, but that it would continue operations at the existing quarry. APAC can also return to the board of adjustment with another request for a special exception. WISCONSIN The Village of Sussex board and planning commission approved land-use plan and zoning changes that could pave the way for the development of a 73-home subdivision on 41 acres of land adjacent to the Halquist Stone quarry. According to Lake Country Now, Halquist Stone sold the land to Johansson Farms — which it formed as an independent company 15 years ago — for $286,000. Blasting at the operation is expected to cease within two years, although processing activities are expected to continue. VIRGINIA Floyd County's quarry will reopen under new ownership, according to SWVAtoday.com. The quarry, formerly R&S Stone, was closed in spring 2015 following an investigation by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. It has since been sold to Salem Stone Corp., which operates 14 other quarries in Virginia and North Carolina. "We're in the people business first and the mining business secondarily," M.J. O'Brien, Jr., Salem Stone Corp. president and CEO, told the news agency. "Our philosophy drives our culture to include safety, environmental stewardship, and involvement of the surrounding communities." TENNESSEE Rogers Group paid $1.83 million to the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville for approximately 183 acres of land that is adjacent to 60 acres of vacant land it already owns near its current Whites Creek Quarry, the Tennessean reports. Rogers Group CEO Jerry Geraghty said the purchased land expands the buffer to the existing quarry, and the company has no immediate plans for expansion. Previously, the company nixed plans to relocate its operation underground and across from its current quarry. Danny Herron, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville, said that, under the sale agreement with Rogers Group, the 183 acres would remain green space above ground, with any future excavation requiring a minimum of a 100-foot buffer from underneath any home. His organiza- tion retains enough property to build 100 homes. Hit the road with: collect them all! Flexible payment plans Downtime reimbursement Online certificates Flexible payment plans Downtime reimbursement Online certificates Hit the road with: collect them all! Protecting the rig that runs your business! Protecting the rig that runs your business! Protecting the rig that runs your business! Protecting the rig that runs your business! Progressive Casualty Ins. Co. & affi liates. All coverage subject to policy terms. 1-800-PROGRESSIVE 1-800-PROGRESSIVE PROGRESSIVE.com WISCONSIN A proposed state law could end a long legal fight over Native American effigy mounds in Blooming Grove. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the bill would force the Wisconsin Historical Society to allow owners of the Wingra Stone lime- stone quarry to excavate their property to prove whether hu- man remains are buried there. The operator has been mining around the mounds for more than 20 years, and the company disputes the presence of human remains, which would remove them from the state's registry of protected burial sites. Approx- imately $10 million to $15 million in minerals lies beneath the mounds.