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Decision due on rock pit By MELISSA MARTIN Eagle Point builders would have a closer, cheaper source of rock if Jackson County allows a former log truck operator to mine his property off Highway 62, the miner's agent said Monday. There are few hard rock pits left in the Rogue Valley, none near the growing city of Eagle Point, said Medford planner Curt Weaver. The new pit would serve local construction projects, possibly cutting down on truck traffic into Eagle Point, as well as drop the cost by $30 or $40 a load, he said. Weaver was among seven people who spoke during a public hearing Monday before a Jackson County hearings officer regarding Bob Kimmel's proposal to extract and haul 400,000 cubic yards of shale from a pit with a five-year life. The property is behind the Eagle Point School District's bus barn off Highway 62, behind Willamette Egg Farms. Kimmel agreed to avoid blasting and extracting rock during the three or four months of the year that Willamette uses a brood hen house 400 feet away from the operation, Weaver said. Three neighbors asked the hearings officer to deny the permit, citing concerns about dust created from ripping out the shale, noise from a rock crusher and traffic problems where rock trucks meet school buses entering and exiting the bus barns. "We've got two pits there already, and I think we've paid our dues," said Virgil McReynolds, who lives on Rolling Hills Drive outside of Eagle Point. Those two nearby rock pits will be mined out and closed within two years, Weaver said. A third pit is on 40 acres zoned aggregate, which guarantees its mining use. Owner Daniel Jones testified Monday in favor of Kimmel's proposal. He and Kimmel share maintenance on an access road that the Eagle Point School District uses to reach the bus barn. The school district's appeal of Kimmel's permit caused the application to go before Hearings Officer John Eads. But Monday, Eagle Point Schools Superintendent Bill Jones withdrew his appeal. His concerns were satisfied when Kimmel posted signs around a 25-acre septic drainfield that services the bus barn to protect it from trucks and mining activity, Jones said. One neighbor whose concerns haven't changed is Gerald Clouse, who brought a photo of a dusty rock-crushing operation on Highway 140 as an example of what he fears will happen. "We get prevailing winds from the northwest and southeast and all that dust from the crushers will go right through our property," the Rolling Hills Drive resident said. Neighbor GayLynn Dunagan said she built a nice home last year knowing about the current pit operations but not about Kimmel's site. "My home is two lots above the proposed pit and I can hear Highway 62 like it's in my back yard and it's one mile away," Dunagan said. "To have a rock crusher below me, I can't imagine the noise." Eads is expected to issue his decision about the conditional use permit next Monday. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.