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County must write site plan for pits DLCD wants to see the big picture By Melissa Martin of the Mail Tribune JACKSONVILLE -- Jackson County must write a site plan for the 11 companies that own gravel pits on a hillside northwest of town, the state ruled recently. The state Department of Land Conservation and Development will require a master plan before allowing Jackson County to re-map aggregate lands in the Walker Creek area, according to a letter dated March 3. "We want to look at the big picture," Doug White, DLCD task reviewer, said in a telephone interview. "We want to calculate how much aggregate can be removed and give us an idea what the area would look like if it's all being mined." The state will discuss the matter April 27-28 at a meeting in Salem. Site plans address issues such as amount of material, means of mining it, hours of operation, mitigating neighbor complaints, truck traffic in and out of the pits, visual screening of pits, erosion control and more, said Laurel Prairie Kuntz, planning manager for Jackson County. Only one operator at the Jacksonville pits has a site plan; the rest have been in operation before site plans were required, Kuntz said. The state can't ask for site plans from operators who have grandfather clauses, said Curt Weaver, consultant for Rogue Aggregate/LTM, which is operating a pit on leased land that has a pre-existing permit. "Existing operators already went through the permit system," Weaver said. "There's never been any question about those operators that have prior, grandfather rights." George Groom, who has been mining aggregate near Jacksonville for 32 years, agreed. He has a site plan only because he voluntarily complied with Jackson County's request 10 years ago. His plan outlines how much material in his pit, how he will mine it and how he will reclaim the land. "I don't really have to do all the paperwork the other people do because I'm grandfathered in," Groom said. The Walker Creek pits near Jacksonville have supplied a great deal of the Rogue Valley's need for aggregate, supporting driveways, shopping centers and streets in West Medford, Weaver said. However, the aggregate pits have been a source of irritation for the 65 homes along or near Pair-A-Dice Ranch Road, the only access in and out of the mines, as well as for the City of Jacksonville. The city objects to the aggregate trucks that travel between the town's historic brick buildings on weekdays. (The city prohibits gravel trucks on Pair-A-Dice Ranch Road on weekends.) In 1993, the county proposed re-mapping the 320-acre Walker Creek hillside in an effort to extend the life of the existing mines. "The county's responsibility ... is to identify an inventory of significant aggregate resources and to protect these," Kuntz said. "One way to protect them is to rezone them. What we are protecting them from is conflicting uses." The county is mandated by the state to protect aggregate because it fuels Oregon's growing construction industry and highway maintenance programs, according to a state geologist. In 1995, neighbors and the city of Jacksonville appealed the county's zone changes to the state land-use board, objecting mostly to the truck traffic rumbling down Pair-A-Dice Ranch Road, which is not paved. Five years later, the board ruled in favor of the county in December. Then last week, the three home owners who appealed the December ruling received a letter notifying them that the state will seek site plans for the Jacksonville pits. Meanwhile, Jacksonville City Council member Dean Paddison last week met with 40 home owners to discuss paving Pair-A-Dice Ranch Road, estimated to cost between $300,000 and $400,000. Paddison said the cost could be shared by aggregate operators, home owners and the owners of the road -- the city of Jacksonville and Jackson County. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA