The McHenry, Ill., City Council delayed action on a sand and gravel mine proposal from Jack Pease and Super Aggregates until next month, according to the Shaw Local News Network.
At issue is a proposal for a wet-processing gravel mine on 110 acres at Routes 120 and Chapel Hill Road. Currently not annexed into McHenry, the proposal was last considered at a June 5 council meeting when Pease asked to withdraw the proposal to give him more time to speak with neighbors who live near the proposed site.
Despite the delay, even more residents packed the City Council chambers, with an overflow audience listening in from a nearby training room. For an hour-plus before the vote to table the matter, residents, those in the concrete and construction industries, and others who live near the proposed gravel mine weighed in on the issue.
Ron Fischer, of Fisher Brothers Concrete, spoke in favor of the mine. If approved, his trucks would only need to drive three miles for sand and gravel “instead of the 20 [miles] we are currently running” and leading to 80% less truck traffic, Fischer said.
Residents however continued to voice concerns brought up at both the June meeting and at a June 28 town hall meeting: what the mine could mean for water, dust, their private wells and home values.