A Wright County Planning Commission hearing on Annandale Rock Products’ request to open a gravel pit southwest of Annandale has been postponed to Thursday night, July 21. The session had been set for Thursday, June 30, to follow a decision expected Tuesday, June 28, by the Wright County Board of Commissioners on whether to order an Environmental Impact Statement for the project. But Chuck Davis, environmental health officer for the county planning and zoning department, said he needed more time to receive information for his recommendation to the commissioners on the EIS. That pushed the matter back to the Tuesday, July 5, commissioners meeting, and the next planning commission meeting after that is July 21. The hearing is now scheduled for 8 p.m in the Courthouse Annex in Buffalo. ARP applied to the planning commission more than a year ago for a conditional use permit to mine gravel for up to 10 years and operate a crusher and wash plant on 38.5 acres east of County Road 3 and south of 67th Street in Southside Township. The county board ordered ARP last July to do an Environmental Assessment Worksheet after about 200 opponents of the gravel pit petitioned the State Environmental Quality Board. Davis has completed the EAW with information supplied by ARP, and a 30-day period for public comment has expired. He said he was waiting for information from an ARP consultant after an engineer on behalf of opponent Jim Hudson called for a study to determine if gravel washing would increase the concentration of naturally occurring metals in the sediment and groundwater. Davis said there weren’t many responses to the EAW. The Greater Lake Sylvia Association and the Lake John Association made submissions opposing the gravel pit, he said, as well as a Lake John property owner. The Minnesota Health Department and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency didn’t comment. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said mining shouldn’t go any deeper than 1,058 feet above sea level, which is the elevation of a nearby wetland. ARP proposes to mine gravel to 1,054 feet above sea level. Davis said according to the DNR, at 1,058 feet the drop in the water table from gravel washing wouldn’t affect the wetland. If the county board required more intensive study in an EIS, that process would probably take a year, according to Davis, and planning commission action on the permit would have to wait until completion of the EIS.
