WHAT ARE THE STANDARDS FOR GRANTING A CONDITION USE PERMIT (CUP) IN DANE COUNTY AND HOW DOES CUP 2260 VIOLATE AND NOT MEET THEM?
The standards of the Dane County zoning laws state:
(h) Standards. No application for a conditional use shall be granted by the town board or zoning committee unless such body shall find that all of the following conditions are present:
1. That the establishment, maintenance or operation of the conditional use will not be detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, comfort or general welfare;
THIS CUP 2260 ALLOWS BLASTING, CRUSHING, GRINDING AND HAULING FROM 6AM TO 6PM MONDAY THRU FRIDAY AND 6 AM TO 2 PM ON SATURDAYS FOR 10 YEARS! IT PROVIDES NO REQUIREMENT TO WET DOWN DUST WHEN TEMPERATURES DROP BELOW FREEZING. THE NOISE WILL EFFECT THE COMFORT OF NEARBY RESIDENTS THAT NEED SLEEP (SEVERAL RESIDENTS WORK SECOND AND THIRD SHIFTS AND CANNOT CHANGE THEIR WORK AND SLEEP SCHEDULES), THE DUST WILL CONTAMINATE THEIR AIR AND HAVE NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON THEIR HEALTH. BLAST FLYROCK HAS INJURED AND KILLED PEOPLE IN YARDS AND IN VEHICLES MORE THAN 1000 FEET FROM QUARRIES. NEIGHBORING PROPERTIES ARE WITHIN THAT RANGE AND HWY 73 PASSES THIS QUARRY.
2. That the uses, values and enjoyment of other property in the neighborhood for purposes already permitted shall be in no foreseeable manner substantially impaired or diminished by establishment, maintenance or operation of the conditional use;
THIS CUP 2260 IS BEING LOCATED NEXT TO PROPERTIES THAT HAVE THE ALREADY PERMITTED USES OF FAMILY HOMES AND HORSE ACTIVITIES. THE NOISE OF THE BLASTING, CRUSHING, GRINDING, AND HAULING OF THESE MATERIALS CREATES AN IMPAIRMENT AND DIMINISHES THOSE USES AS IT CREATES A DANGER TO THE HORSES AND THOSE HANDLING THEM, AND IT BOTH IMPAIRS AND DIMINISHES THE ENJOYMENT OF ALL OUTDOOR AND INDOOR PEACE AND QUIET FOR THE RESIDENTS. ACCORDING TO STUDIES SUBMITTED TO DANE CO. ZONING OFFICIALS AND COFIRMED BY LETTER SUBMITTED TO DANE COUNTY ZONING OFFICIALS FROM AREA BANK AND REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS, THIS WILL ALSO IMPAIR AND DIMINISH THE PROPERTY VALUE OF HOMES UP TO THREE MILES FROM THIS QUARRY, AND SPECIFICALLY SUBSTANTIALLY IMPAIR AND DIMINISH THE VALUE OF IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORING PROPERTIES BY AS MUCH AS 35%!
3. That the establishment of the conditional use will not impede the normal and orderly development and improvement of the surrounding property for uses permitted in the district;
CUP 2260 WILL CREATE PROPERTY VALUE AND PROPERTY INCOME LOSS TO NEIGHBORS, SOME WILL BECOME UNDERWATER IN THEIR MORTGAGES, THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS TO THEIR PROPERTIES.
4. That adequate utilities, access roads, drainage and other necessary site improvements have been or are being made;
IN CUP 2260 THE ACCESS ROAD TO THIS QUARRY IS TO BE PAVED FOR ONLY 100' , THIS IS INADEQUATE TO PREVENT EROSION AND DUST CONTAMINATING NEIGHBORING PROPERTIES AND FROM DRAINING DOWN INTO THE WETLANDS.
5. That adequate measures have been or will be taken to provide ingress and egress so designed as to minimize traffic congestion in the public streets;
CUP 2260 QUARRY ROAD WILL BE EXITING ONTO BUSY HWY 73, THE REP FROM YAHARA MATERIALS STATED IN MEETINGS THAT UP TO 200 TRUCKLOADS A DAY WILL BE HAULED FROM THE SITE. THAT REQUIRES 200 EMPTY TRUCKS TO ALSO ENTER THE SITE. THAT EQUALS ONE TRUCK ENTERING OR EXITING THE QUARRY ROAD EVERY 1.8 MINUTES! THAT WILL CAUSE TRAFFIC STOPPING AND BACKUPS WAITING FOR THESE TRUCKS TO TURN OR ACCELERATE TO HIGHWAY SPEEDS ON HWY 73 ON A CONTINUOUS BASIS FOR 1O YEARS. THAT IS BOTH A PUBLIC HAZARD AND A DANGER. CUP 2260 DOES NOT MEET THIS STANDARD.
6. That the conditional use shall conform to all applicable regulations of the district in which it is located.
CUP 2260 DOES NOT MEET THIS STANDARD BECAUSE IT DOES NOT MEET ANY OF THE FIVE REGULATION STANDARDS BEFORE IT.
IN ADDITION, THERE IS OTHER REQUIREMENTS THAT A CUP MUST MEET AND CUP 2260 DOES NOT:
It is also not fair, nor legal for this mine/mineral extraction to be placed on this site because according to S.10.123(3)(a) it does not conform with the standards and factors that the ZNR committee must also consider when approving a CUP in the A-1EX AGRICULTURAL Exclusive District:
1. It does not conform with the statement of purpose of the zoning ordinance in that it is for 10 years it does not state specific dates required in 10.191 5. Proposed dates to begin extraction, end extraction and complete reclamation. They are not stated specifically. It is not specific in 10.191 10. Types, quantities, and frequency of use of equipment to extract, process, and haul. These are not fully stated. And regarding the application mapping in 10.191 15. (d) 2. 2. Zoning district boundaries in the immediate area. Label all zoning districts on the subject property and on all neighboring properties. The application map Yahara submitted failed to label the Zick property at all or the zoning on all neighboring properties. It would not be impossible for the Town of Albion Board to fairly determine the compatibility of CUP 2260 with the zoning on neighboring properties without this information in their application for this CUP. The application was incomplete and therefore could not be considered at public meeting.
2. This CUP #2260 has proven potential for conflict with our agricultural use of our property. Again, The application map Yahara submitted failed to label the Zick property at all or the zoning on all neighboring properties. It would not be impossible for the Town of Albion Board to fairly determine the compatibility of CUP 2260 with the zoning on neighboring properties without this information in their application for this CUP.
3. There is no unique feature to this site that has impeded the full planting of crops for the past three decades and the same mineral extraction potential is readily available all over the area, it is not unique to this site. There is no justifiable need for the proposed use of this property next to homes, and properties with non-compatible already permitted uses.
4. Crazy Acres Inc. is owned by James Wileman who also owns Dane County Growers and several other corporations with thousands of acres of land holdings in Albion that contain the mineral properties of this site, and are convenient to the projects the minerals will be moved to, and would not cause the traffic congestion on Hwy 73 that this site will cause, and that could be used without the close proximity and the harm to neighboring properties.
5. This CUP is absolutely and completely incompatible with existing permitted use on adjacent lands.
6. This will take this site out of the current level of agricultural use for 10 years, and not increase the agricultural use after reclamation. This field has been fully planted and harvested for the 28 years we and other neighbors have been in residence.
7. This site will not reduce the amount of productive agricultural lands converted, there is a REAL rock outcroppings that DOES impede planting and harvesting on lands that are owned by this land owner, this site is not one of them. Use of those sites would return more agricultural land to planting. Alternative sites were not considered.
8. There is a need for the public services of a quarry in the area, but not one located in such close proximity as to cause others that have the same rights to the safety, use, and enjoyment of their land, irreversible damage by use of this site over other sites available for this purpose to this land owner. This site was not selected for the good of the public, it was selected for the profit/convenience of Crazy Acres Inc. and Yahara Minerals as testified to by the Yahara Minerals representative in front of witnesses. It is unnecessary to locate this site in this location to provide the same service to the public need.
9. The Town Board of Albion has put a completely unreasonable burden on the neighboring property owners, and the interests of the Town of Albion residents as a whole in their failure to uphold the integrity of the procedure and follow the regulations and procedures required to issue this approval for CUP #2260.
10. No one has addressed the dust and silica particulate contamination that will occur after operation hours, after freezing temperatures set in, or from the hauling trucks and the mine road, nor has any plan to eliminate that possible. No one has addressed the destruction of existing and sensitive natural wildlife habitat due to noise and continuous mining activity in such close proximity to the wetlands and natural areas on private neighboring properties.
Also, the zoning staff report includes that no water shall be pumped on the site, but Yahara Minerals and Crazy Acres Inc. intends to sink a high capacity well to wash gravel on sight introducing an enormous amount of extra water flushing through bedrock filtering rock media material that is already contaminated with large amounts of farm chemicals, speeding the introduction of that natural chemical migration into the aquifer that supplies homes and animals with fresh drinking water. The run off containment plan is also deficient in the opinion of several people familiar with this process.
Link to photos by permission of David H. Thompson - photographer and environmental blogger
