UPDATE, May 10:
On a 26-2 vote, the La Salle County Board voted to not rule on the zoning change until their July meeting. Board members criticized the sand company’s lack of follow-through on plans to build a sand pipeline and barge loading facility after the demand for sand dropped. Read the Times story.
UPDATE, May 4:
By unanimous vote, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved the petition from Northern White Sand on May 4th. The matter goes next to the La Salle County Board.
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Original Story:
The La Salle County Zoning Board of Appeals will consider an application for a special use for riverfront property just east of Buffalo Rock State Park at its May 4th meeting in Ottawa. Northern White Sand, LLC has filed a petition to allow the construction of a “barge fleeting operation” for the “transloading and hauling of grain, sand, gravel or other non-hazardous granular material.” The property is currently zoned for agricultural use.
Background: Northern White Sand owns and, until recently, operated a sand mine north of the state park near Route 6. The mine was shut down in late March because of slowing demand for fracking sand. The company previously was granted permission to build a pipeline that would carry sand slurry from the mine to the barge loading terminal. Land owned by the county just upriver from the county nursing home was leased to the sand company.
Questions remain. Does the shutdown of the mine mean that the pipeline will not now be built? Even if granted permission to operate a barge terminal, will plans proceed? And if so, what would be the impact on the Buffalo Rock anchorage that boaters have enjoyed for decades?
The Times reported on an environmental group that is opposing the mining company’s petition. The article is here.
The matter will be heard by the county board following the hearing by the Zoning Board of Appeals. The meeting will be at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 401 W. Main St., Ottawa, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 4.
Jeff Heimsoth of Quest Water Sports has provided this marked up satellite image of the area showing the boundary between Buffalo Rock State Park and the proposed barge fleeting area. From Buffalo Rock’s popular observation deck, visitors would have a clear view of the industrial site. Also shown is the barge staging area just a mile across the river, but well away from the popular anchorage and tourist area.
The full petition prepared by Northern White Sand is here:
NWS Zoning Application_ZBA-_5-4-16
Mike Nowak’s radio show on Sunday, May 1st, featured an interview with some folks most familiar with the legal fight over the sand mine proposed for a site just across the river, on the eastern boundary of Starved Rock State Park. “In an exclusive report, Mike talks to environmental attorney Alberrt Ettinger, who was involved in the lawsuit, about how and why the case was lost and how the deck is stacked against average citizens who try to protect natural areas in Illinois. Cindy Skrukrud from the Illinois Sierra Club and LaSalle County citizens Merlin and Susan Dodd Calhoun join the conversation.”
Listen here
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