[A] rock crusher in Barre has been granted a permit under Vermont’s Act 250 land-use law after a six-year battle with neighbors seeking to halt its operation.
Northeast Materials Group operated a rock crusher at the Graniteville site without a permit for years. After the Vermont Supreme Court required the company to apply for a permit, they turned the crusher off and started up another crusher 3,000 feet away.
Neighbors have appealed multiple jurisdictional opinions by the District 5 Environmental Commission that would have allowed rock to be crushed nearly anywhere on the quarry’s 1,200 acres. The Vermont Supreme Court struck those commission opinions down twice, first in 2015 and again in 2016.
Northeast Materials Group sells the granite for industrial and commercial purposes.
The site has two spots where crushing has taken place. The first crusher, which was initially denied an Act 250 permit, was approved Wednesday after an appeal. The second was started without a permit after the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that the first crusher site needed a permit.
The Rock of Ages quarry, the location of the crushing, has been in operation since the 1800s. The long-term use of the site prompted debate over whether it could be grandfathered under Act 250, and exempt from potential restrictions on noise, pollution or traffic for the operation.
An exemption would have required the current use to be ongoing before the law’s adoption in 1970. The Vermont Supreme Court ruled in August 2016 that the rock crushing had not historically taken place on all parts of the property, and was therefore not permissible at all locations.
The court found that the company would only have the right to crush rock without a permit in a location similar to where rocks were being crushed before 1970.
The District 5 Environmental Commission initially rejected the company’s application for a permit for the first crusher.
“No reasonable person should be subjected to the excessive amount of granite dust that the crushing operation generates,” commission members wrote. Commissioners described the sound from the crusher as “shocking and offensive.”
That decision stopped Northeast Materials from continuing to crush rock without a permit at the first site; instead the company moved the operation to the second site, where rock crushing had reportedly taken place in 1969, making that site exempt from Act 250, at least in the company’s view.
Rock of Ages chief engineer Donald Murray said in a news release after this week’s decision that the company is happy to have a permit for the first crusher.
“We are extremely pleased that the court saw through the exaggerated claims of the opponents in this case and allowed continued crushing on property where crushing has occurred for decades,” he wrote.
Vermont’s District 5 Environmental Commission issued an opinion in December that an Act 250 permit would be necessary for the second rock crusher, a decision that is currently being appealed by Northeast Materials Group.
District coordinator Susan Baird wrote in her opnion that the crusher also has the potential for significant adverse impacts to neighboring residents.
Lori Bernier, a resident of the Graniteville section of Barre Town, has been working as part of the advocacy group Neighbors for Healthy Communities to fight the rock crushing for more than seven years.
She said although residents cannot see the second crusher, it appears to be active based on noise and truck activity, even though the court has ruled that an Act 250 permit is necessary.
The Graniteville section of Barre Town consists of two villages of around 700 residents, adjacent to the Rock of Ages quarry.
Bernier’s group of 14 residents has spent a substantial amount of time and money documenting the health and environmental impacts of the rock crushing site. She describes the area as a once peaceful neighborhood, and said she is frustrated with the lack of enforcement from the state on Act 250 regulations.
“I grew up here, I grew up with the quarry,” she said. “This activity is not inherent to how the quarry was, there was never loud noise and industrial banging.”
Residents have also complained about the odor of an asphalt plant constructed on the property by Northeast Materials Group in 2015. The plant had a permit, but the Supreme Court ruled the odors caused community and environmental harms. Neighbors maintain the state has not enforced regulations adequately in connection with the asphalt plant.
Residents say they are frustrated with the loud noises of machinery running and commercial trucks driving frequently through the area to transport the crushed granite. Some report sounds beginning as early as 6 a.m.
While Neighbors for Healthy Communities has yet to determine next steps following the permit approval, Bernier said she and other neighbors plan to continue advocating for the community of Graniteville.
“If we want to protect our properties and our quality of life, I don’t see how people can be expected to stop,” she said.
Rutland lawyer James Goss, who represented Rock of Ages Corp. and Northeast Materials Group in the proceedings, did not respond to calls seeking comment on Friday. Neither did company representatives.
In a news release issued by Rock of Ages, Goss said he believes the Act 250 permit should be the end of the long dispute over the rock crusher.
