Lane County’s Board of Commissioners could soon make a final decision on a proposal to build a gravel quarry just outside of Oakridge.
The Old Hazeldell Quarry would be located on TV Butte. Last year, the county commissioners voted 3-2 to tentatively approve the project, asking staff to draft an ordinance in favor.
On Tuesday, the commissioners heard more public testimony before setting Dec. 1 as a day for deliberations.
The project continues to draw criticism from city leaders and community members in Oakridge and Westfir, who have concerns about noise, air and water pollution, as well as potential damage to the local wildlife, economy, and tourism industry.
At Tuesday’s meeting, critics urged commissioners to consider new testimony, including a preliminary study from University of Oregon researchers, which found evidence that the groundwater under TV Butte may mix with Oakridge’s aquifer.
“The scary part about something like that is if something were to happen, if there was some kind of contamination, knowing that the first signs of it would be our health,” Sabrina Ratkowski, the Director of Save TV Butte, told KLCC.
An attorney representing the quarry, Bill Kloos, spoke briefly at the hearing, but did not respond to environmental or economic concerns expressed by opponents. He said a second public hearing was “completely unnecessary as a matter of law.”
During the meeting, County Commissioners Heather Buch and Laurie Trieger unsuccessfully tried to order findings of denial for the quarry application.
But instead, Commissioners Ryan Ceniga, David Loveall and Pat Farr voted to give three more weeks for all parties to submit more evidence and set a date to reconvene.
“I have some compelling testimony that I'd like to digest,” Farr said.
The meeting was sometimes tense, with Chair Ceniga warning audience members to stop cheering or to be removed. One attendee threw water from a water bottle onto the floor of Harris Hall.
Meanwhile, some speakers accused commissioners of being influenced by campaign donations. The three commissioners who’ve voted for the quarry–Farr, Loveall, and Ceniga–have all received contributions from the proposed mine’s owner, Ed King.
“This is corruption in plain sight, and you should be ashamed of yourselves,” Oakridge City Administrator James Clevenger told commissioners. “And I have no idea how you sleep at night.”
Another commissioner, Heather Buch, received donations from King in her first election campaign, but not in more recent races. All five board members said Tuesday they had no ex-parte communications or conflicts-of-interest to report.
Loveall said while he took in the community’s concerns about their community and livability, this is a quasi-judicial decision with limited criteria to consider.
“Noise, dust, environmental roads, major big game habitat,” said Loveall. “That's what we're there to discuss and decide on.
The City of Oakridge has already taken steps to formally oppose the project. A resolution signed last week by the mayor and the council said the city will not supply any resources to the quarry or any businesses supporting it.
This includes potentially denying the quarry and associated businesses access to city water, the purchase of city-owned land, and even city-owned roads and rail lines in the Oakridge Industrial Park.
“We don't want to support those operations at all,” said Clevenger. “So we certainly don't want to make it easier for them or more profitable for them.”
Ratkowski said it’s not over if the commissioners approve the application. Instead, she said, the Oakridge community will send the issue to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.
“We're going to continue to reach out to our community and anybody else who will help assist us in this fight,” said Ratkowski.
If the commissioners don’t make a decision by the end of the year, or if LUBA sends the issue back to the county level, it could wind up in front of a different set of commissioners.
Loveall, who voted in favor of the quarry, lost in the May primary to current Springfield Mayor Sean VanGordon. Reached by phone Monday, VanGordon declined to publicly state a position on the quarry, saying he will follow the quasi-judicial process.
Meanwhile, Buch is in an expensive run-off with Jake Pelroy, a candidate with financial backing from King. In an email to KLCC Monday, Pelroy said in quasi-judicial proceedings, he will follow state law and engage in a fair and unbiased manner.
KLCC has reached out to the Old Hazeldell Quarry for comment.
