Commissioners reject Stoneco roads petition

CELINA - Mercer County commissioners Tuesday morning rejected a petition seeking the vacation of parts of Karch and Swamp roads near Stoneco limestone quarry in Jefferson Township, saying the move would not serve public convenience and welfare.

About 13 residents who filled commissioners' office, including some who have protested the roads' vacations on multiple grounds, welcomed the ruling.

Daileas Duclo came Tuesday representing ten people, among them three property owners, himself, his wife, her family and their nieces and nephews. He praised commissioners' decision.

"I'm happy that they didn't pass this. The elected officials are doing right by the people," he said. "Their job is to represent us and not just special interests so it seems like they've done that today."

Duclo said he would continue his opposition should company officials appeal the decision. Commissioners said their ruling could be appealed to the Mercer County Common Pleas Court.

Whether commissioners' decision will affect Stoneco's mining expansion plans is unclear. When contacted Tuesday for comment, a company spokesperson said there was no on available to address the questions.

At a Feb. 8 public hearing held by county commissioners, Stoneco Vice President Chris Pike had indicated that should the road vacation request be denied, company officials would consider options, such as tunneling under the road. However this option could put employees at risk, Pike had said.

Stoneco, by way of the petition, had requested to vacate Karch Road from the north right-of-way line to roughly 916 feet south of the intersection of Karch and Swamp roads; and Swamp Road from roughly 198 feet west of the same intersection to the east right-of-way line of Gause Road.

The quarry sought the vacation to expand mining operations on company-owned land on the west side of Karch Road, Pike had said at the Feb. 8 public hearing. The company also wanted to vacate part of Swamp Road to the northwest of the quarry in the event it decided in the future to mine company-owned land there, too.

The request had sparked an outcry from some people who lived and/or owned land near the roads in question and the stone quarry. Throughout the public process, residents voiced concern that blasting associated with new mining activity ushered in by the road vacations would result in property damage. Others worried vacating the roads could lead to flooding and hinder the response time of emergency service providers.

Commissioners Rick Muhlenkamp, Jerry Laffin and Rick Muhlenkamp on Tuesday morning unanimously passed a resolution refusing to proceed with the proposed vacation of parts of Karch Road and Swamp Road.

The resolution lists potential public detriments of a road vacation as traffic impact on adjoining roads, inability to access homes and/or delay in emergency response times to homes and lack of alternative travel routes during flood events.

On the potentially positive side, it states that a vacation would result in a small decrease in the amount of road maintenance for political subdivisions in the county and benefit Stoneco by allowing easier access to its properties to quarry.

"However, the Board also finds that Stoneco has acknowledged that it has other means of obtaining that access without vacating the roads," the resolution reads.

Additionally, the resolution notes the Feb. 8 public hearing was attended by roughly 50 people "concerned about and opposed to the road vacation."

Commissioners continued to accept feedback on the matter through Feb. 18, receiving numerous correspondence from concerned citizens opposed to the road vacation.

Commissioners also noted in the resolution that Stoneco operates a quarry that would be benefited by the proposed vacations, provides jobs to the area and was the primary impetus for the petition to vacate.

"Numerous people that signed the petition have requested their names be removed," the resolution states. "Stoneco has requested that its petition be amended to add its name to the petition and convert it to a petition from the owner of land owning the right to mine coal."

Taking all testimonies, facts, conditions and the county engineer's report into consideration, commissioners moved to refuse to proceed with the proposed vacations.

"Based upon the findings listed above, and such other competent evidence submitted for the Board's consideration, the Board of Mercer County Commissioners finds the proposed vacation will not serve the public convenience and welfare," the resolution reads.

Pike at the Feb. 8 public hearing had said permits to mine west of Karch Road have already been secured from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

"Everything has been permitted with ODNR … with the exception of this location just north of Swamp Road," Pike had said. "The reason for vacating Karch Road is to access reserves basically across the street. And by doing that, we're able to extend the mine life to 35 years, which is basically an additional five years, by vacating Karch Road."

Sight-and-sound barriers would be erected and trees planted near new mining areas, he had said. The company also plans to replace a bridge on nearby Burkettsville-St. Henry Road.

"In order to mitigate flooding issues that are in that surrounding area we plan on replacing the bridge and raising it up by three feet and also approaches leading up to the bridge, raising that up by approximately three feet," he had said. "The reason that we need to replace the bridge is we need to provide a larger opening. So it's going to increase by 20 feet, that span, to accommodate that 100-year flood event."

The project would ensure an economical source of department of transportation stone and construction specific materials to surrounding communities, retain jobs and possibly even create jobs, Pike had said.

The company has already invested in its plant to accommodate new mining activity.

"Along with this we've already started phase one as part of our plant replacement and we're looking at doing phase two," he had said.

Company officials prefer to expand mining operations by vacating the roads.

"It creates a safer, economical (process) by minimizing interactions between public and quarry-related operations," he had said.

The quarry has been around since 1928, Pike had said. It was acquired by Stoneco in 1988 and then The Shelly Company in 2003, according to Pike.   

"We supply 200 plus customers to the community which equates to about 650,000 tons annually," he had said.