Gravel mining proposal for Stitt Road and Route 158

 

GUILDERLAND — Frederick Wagner is currently applying for permission from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to mine on five acres of the 29 acres that he owns at 6457 Stitt Road and Route 158.

If he receives permission, his next step will be to go to the town’s zoning board to apply  for a special-use permit. Wagner is hoping to present his plans at the board’s meeting on June 7, depending on when he hears back from the DEC, said his surveyor, Stephen Walrath.

Public comment will be allowed when the project comes before the board, said  Jacqueline M. Coons, the town’s acting chief building and zoning inspector.

The property is zoned agricultural, which means that only a special-use permit would be required, Coons said.

The land to be mined would be four-and-a-half acres, while a proposed haul road would account for the other half-acre, according to documents on file with the town’s building department, which refer to the site as Helderberg Sand & Gravel Mine Site.

The proposed site sits in the northeast corner of Wagner’s property and has never been mined before. Almost three acres of the proposed site are open land, with no vegetation, while almost two acres are a wooded and brush area, according to documents on file with the town’s building department.

The proposed haul road would be 16 feet wide and about 1,300 feet long and would open onto Route 158.

The proposed site is bounded on the east by Stitt Road and by an existing 100-acre sand and gravel mine owned and operated by William M. Larned and Sons; to the southwest and west are residential properties fronting on Route 158. To the north is forested land owned by William M. Larned and Sons, with no residential development on it, according to the town hall documents.

The proposed site is not visible from any existing residences, say the documents. The closest residence is 850 feet from the west-southwest area of the site and is “buffered mainly by forested lands.” There are, however, 91 residences within one mile, according to the documents.

The project will not result in the “impoundment of any liquids, such as creation of a water supply, reservoir, lake, waste lagoon or other storage,” the State Environmental Quality Review form that Wagner filled out states; it also says that the project will not alter or encroach on any existing wetland or body of water.

But the SEQR form does say that the site is located over or immediately adjoining the Watervliet Reservoir.

The reservoir, owned by Watervliet, serves as Guilderland’s main source of drinking water.

Surveyor Stephen Walrath says that the project is “a good distance” from the reservoir; he estimates the distance at about 2,000 or 3,000 feet.

The SEQR form says that the project will include air emissions from diesel-powered equipment that will be present on the site during operating hours. Equipment is listed as a screener, track hoe, bulldozer, rubber-wheeled loader, and dump truck.

In addition, the form says that the work will result in the release of air pollutants from open-air processes. These will include diesel exhaust and soft/rock particulates/dust.

The project site is located near several historic buildings, the form says: Guilderland Cemetery Vault (which Coons said is a small family cemetery) and the Appel Inn.

The subsoil and topsoil on the site will be stored and later used for reclamation. The four-and-a-half-acre site has a depth of topsoil and subsoil of approximately six to 16 inches. This results in about 10,900 cubic yards of material to be stored and used for reclamation. In order to replace a minimum of six inches of soil over a five-acre site, about 4,000 cubic yards of topsoil would be required.

Total depth of the mine would be less than 20 feet from the top of the mine face to the floor, the documents say.

Hours of operation for the mine would be Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. through 7 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. through 4 p.m., during both construction and operation. No work would be done on Sundays or major holidays — specifically, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas Day.

Across Stitt Road, Wagner owns an additional 53 acres, said Coons.

In 2013, Wagner was granted a special-use permit for operation of an excavating and landscape contracting facility, off Maeotsa Lane, on part of the other 53 acres. The process of receiving that permit included a shared-access dispute with a neighbor on Maeotsa Lane about the number of trucks going in and out of that private, unpaved road, their speed, and the dust they raised.

If the mine is approved, he will be operating both sites, said Wagner this week, but the new site would not change the workflow or increase traffic at the Maeotsa Lane site.

 

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