Opposition in front of Randall Town Board

September 9, 2004

Randall Town Board
Bassett, Wisconsin

In re: Application of Thelen Sand and Gravel for Gravel Pit between Highway C and Highway F fronting County KD

Esteemed Board Members:

I am very much concerned about the idea of putting a major sand and gravel extraction mine in the proposed area. Currently the land is zoned A-1 Agricultural reserve. This land is quickly disappearing from the area, although it provides a necessary open space, and has been granted preferred lower property tax rates for many years on the basis that it is being “reserved” for Agricultural use only. The property tax advantages received for all those years are now seen as a ploy since the owner wants to simply do away with the long-term zoning of A-1 to put a mining operation into the middle of an area that is surrounded on all sides by residential homes.

Some of my concerns involve the following issues:

SMART GROWTH: When you run for election and re-election, all of you speak about your commitment to the “smart growth” process. However, this application is being pushed for approval prior to adoption of the smart growth plan, and will willy-nilly topple the prior smart –growth zoning plans for this area. In addition, if we look at the smart growth of the area, putting a surface mining operation into an area surrounded on all sides by residential homes is not very smart. It will inevitably increase air pollution, affect the property values and quality of life for all residences in the surrounding area, and potentially have long-term negative impacts on issues such as the water table as well as impact on roads. For an area with a fast growing residential population, putting an industrial development such as the proposed mine is directly in conflict with the concepts underlying the entire Smart Growth developments. Any action taken by the Board on this proposal PRIOR TO the implementation of the Smart Growth plan would be simply an attempt to circumvent the necessity of the planning, controls and long-term benefit / detriment analysis required by Smart Growth and would clearly work against the interests of a majority of the voters in the district who have elected each one of you with your representation that you would support and stand behind the Smart Growth program and its intent to preserve the “rural” character and lifestyle of our community and deal with the growth of residential pressure in this community in a “smart growth” manner.

AIR POLLUTION AND AIR QUALITY: Sand and gravel mining creates large amounts of particulate matter (dust) and also puts silica into the air. This occurs at the stage of mining and at the stage of conveying or trucking. Both particulate matter and silica have serious health concerns. I am attaching hereto various reports on the health impacts and concerns relating to this which include respiratory problems, emphysema, asthma, detrimental effects particularly on the elderly and the very young, silicosis and cancer.

These reports are not intended to either be a complete recap of the problems, nor an indicator of the solutions required in this specific area, but rather simply to illustrate the types of concerns that arise and need to be dealt with prior to putting such an operation into an area. Further, there are numerous other extensive studies and policy papers that are not attached here that go into questions such as siting such facilities away from residential areas, etc. This is an area that requires very extensive review and consideration before any ‘rubber stamp’ can be placed on such a proposal. Putting such an operation in an area surrounded on all sides by residences, including growing numbers of young children and a rather sizable elderly population is sure to increase the negative health impacts on the citizens that you are charged with representing and protecting. For this reason, most governmental bodies nowadays are ensuring that sand and gravel extraction operations are safely located away from populated areas. The current application flies in the face of this trend and will clearly put the people of Randall residing in the area around this enormous proposed mine at a serious health risk.

GROUNDWATER IMPACTS: The proposal includes requests to utilize very large amounts of ground water at various points in the proposal, which will clearly affect the water levels and potentially the availability of clean, fresh and uncontaminated water to the many residences in the surrounding area, who all rely on wells for their water. Most of these wells are relatively shallow in depth and any lowering of the water table will have serious negative consequences on the availability of water and the water quality for the surrounding residents.

SEPTIC SYSTEM IMPACTS: Extraction of large amounts of sand and gravel, and the use of large amounts of groundwater, both of which are going to occur if this application were to be approved, can change the ability of an area to “perk” for septic systems. Since virtually all of the residences surrounding the proposed mine site (with the possible exception of those located on Highway F) are operating septic systems, we run the very substantial risk that we will destroy the perkability of the septic systems and thereby threaten groundwater contamination as a resultant impact of the long-term consequences of putting this mine in a residential area.

IMPACT ON ROADS AND INFRASTRUCTURE: While the proposal suggests that the sand and gravel will be conveyed, the fact that there is a substantial need for heavy equipment to undertake the mining operation, to construct the facilities and to construct and maintain the conveying, even assuming that there is only limited trucking of sand and gravel permitted, will inordinately impact the roads and infrastructure of the community, a cost which the general taxpayers will have to bear, in terms of both the cost and the inconvenience and delays involved when repairs and construction must take place on a more frequent basis.

NOISE POLLUTION: An increasing problem in today’s society is the impact of high levels of ambient noise. A residential/rural area generally has low levels of ambient noise and this contributes significantly to the quality of life and the ability to have lower levels of stress and tension on a daily basis. This tends to improve overall health and immune system strength. The development of an operation that will create high levels of noise throughout the day immediately destroys the ability of the residential community to promote relaxation, tension reduction and the ability of children (and adults as well) to concentrate without undue distractions caused by ambient noise.

OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: It is frequently the case that mining companies utilize “friendly” engineers or paid staff to construct “friendly” and “favorable” environmental consequence statements, which minimize the short and long-term negative impacts of their actions. Given the fact that so many residences and citizens of Randall are going to be impacted by this project, we formally request that before any application is considered that an independent third party Environmental Impact Analysis and Statement be completed so that all other potential environmental harm can be understood by those of us who are affected but who are not experts in environmental impact of industrial mining in a residential and agricultural area.

BONDING AND FINANCIAL SECURITY ISSUES: There is a long history of mining companies in this country stripping an area and then for one reason or another, over time, going out of business, selling out, filing bankruptcy and otherwise finding ways to not restore the land as is generally required in their application for opening the mine. The recent regulatory trend has been to require extensive financial performance bonds and security to be put in place to ensure that the taxpayers are not stuck with either the cost of a failed restoration, or any remediation required for negative impacts, both foreseen and unforeseen, that occur from any major mining site over the entire time that the mine is open, and after it is closed. Given the potential impacts on many residences and the health consequences that can occur over the long term, such as increased rates of cancer, emphysema, asthma, it is possible that in addition to the restoration of the land itself, and mitigation of impacts on the air, water and land quality, there would be substantial health impacts to deal with as well. Any proposal should ensure that adequate bonding and financial security is in place for all these contingencies before any application is reviewed by the Board.

QUALITY OF LIFE and PROPERTY VALUES ISSUES: The property owners who have built their homes and purchased homes in the area did so based on the zoning rules in place and the general Smart Growth guidelines of our community that have been surveyed in the past. This includes a strong preference for maintenance of a generally rural and low density residential town. The existing quality of life has led to the building of substantial numbers of high value homes and an ever increasing valuation on those homes. The taxpayers have been paying property taxes based on these higher values with the understanding that their quality of life and environment would be maintained. Sticking a surface mining operation into this area would immediately change the quality of life, increase air pollution, and increase health risks. At the same time, it would clearly depress property values for all these residences, and thereby reduce the property tax base of the township as well.

EQUITY OF OWNERSHIP AND TAXATION ISSUES: For many years now, the residential areas surrounding the proposed mine site have been paying higher and higher amounts for their property and ever-increasing levels of property taxes. For most people, their home is their largest single investment and represents in many cases the asset they will require in order to have a comfortable retirement.

On the other side, the current owners of the land where the proposed mine is to be sited have been avoiding paying high property taxes by having the land designated “A-1” reserved agricultural and it has been thus indicated for many years as such and the tax savings they have received for this allocation have been enormous.

The proposed mine would dramatically upset the balance in equity under the law between these parties. The party who has benefited from very low property tax rates and valuations for all these years would suddenly obtain a “windfall” benefit from changing the status of this property to productive surface mining of sand and gravel, and the eventual conversion of the “spent” mine in the future to residential, while the parties who have invested in their homes for these same years will find their property values depressed and their investments in their homes destroyed, in some cases placing them in a position where the appraised value will now fall below the mortgage loan values they carry particularly if they have “home equity” loans on the property. This is tantamount to seizing the property of the citizens of this community without providing them equity and is eminently unfair.

Public policy holds that the elected representatives of the people need to protect the interests and benefits of the people of the community and when those interests are in conflict, the larger good for the larger number must be preserved. Where there are also impacts on the environment, as in this case, preserving the quality of the environment and the integrity of the community is also a major factor. In this case, the interests of the single taxpayer who has had the advantage of a preferred low tax rate on A-1 land for many years is clearly not to be compared with the interests of dozens of residential taxpayers and their families who are negatively impacted on a number of levels from this proposal. When we add the environmental impact, we see that this application should not be accepted.

CONCLUSION: We have elected each of you to represent the interests of the members of this community. In the past you have surveyed this community and found that overwhelmingly the citizens are concerned with quality of life, preservation of the rural and low density residential nature of our community, and with maintaining clean air, available water and a healthy environment. In addition, for a number of years the mandate for Smart Growth has developed so that communities have an affirmative duty to plan intelligently for the growth and land use of the community. It would be a direct repudiation of the expressed needs and concerns of the people who elected you if you were to approve the development of a sand and gravel mining operation on land that has been designated A-1 for the long-term, and in an area surrounded on all sides by numerous residences. It would also represent an overturning of the principles of Smart Growth, particularly if you agree to act on this proposal before the Smart Growth plan has been fully developed, debated and adopted after substantial public comment and input has been obtained. As our elected representatives, you have the duty and obligation to protect us from just such types of proposals as we see here being developed.

We very much hope and expect that you will reject this proposal outright based on the concerns of the people whom you represent. If you do not reject it outright, we expect that you will at the very least set up a process that includes very extensive review of the environmental and community impact, as well as the balance in equity of the rights to enjoyment of their property of the large number of property owners who would be negatively impacted by this plan.

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