GRAVEL MINING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

A BALANCED APPROACH IN THE ROUTE 16 CORRIDOR

(A Presentation to the Cattaraugus County Legislature)

October 25, 2000

by:

Paul R. Bishop, Chairman, Cattaraugus County Planning Board 

Robert Keis, Sr., Chairman, Special Projects Committee

INTRODUCTION

Gravel mining was not a major concern in our County planning process prior to 1987. Beginning in that year, we began to receive complaints from municipal officials and citizens, about gravel mining activities and state mining permit procedures. 

WHY STUDY GRAVEL MINING?

Gravel mining became an issue and never went away. The following events also reinforced the sense among county officials that gravel mining needed further study:

• Our County has sponsored many meetings on the future of Route 16 communities since 1987, and people have brought up the topic of gravel mining again and again even when it was not on meeting agendas.
  
• Our County Planning Board has also attended state mining permit hearings since the late 1980s to express its many concerns. While the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is following its statutory mandates in how it conducts these hearings, the outcome is that local land use concerns are neglected in state decisions because NYSDEC does not get involved in land use issues. NYSDEC continues to approve gravel mining permits regardless. 

Finally, on April 14, 1999, the Cattaraugus County Legislature asked the Cattaraugus County Planning Board to study the impacts that the mining of aggregates may be having on communities in the Route 16 Corridor. This study was conducted by the Cattaraugus County Department of Economic Development, Planning and Tourism, under the sponsorship of the Cattaraugus County Planning Board and its Special Projects Committee.

Today, we submit our final report for your acceptance and approval as an advisory document. This report is designed to guide future discussions and decision making on gravel mining issues at local, county, regional, and state levels.

WHAT ARE OUR MAJOR FINDINGS?

Gravel Mining Is A Vital Industry

We need the gravel industry. There is a need for aggregates (sand and gravel) mining. Society cannot function without it. Our report describes the following uses: 

· All developers in the construction industry use aggregates (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial and institutional buildings, and for drainage systems, septic system leach fields, water and sewer systems, in-fill of low lying areas, parking lots, roadways, and as an ingredient to the cement they use).

· Industries and manufacturers use high quality aggregates for asphalt production, sand casting in foundry operations, glass manufacturing, abrasives, filtration beds for water treatment facilities, as a source of calcium for fertilizer, and in manufacturing cement, ready-mix concrete and pre-cast concrete. 

· Government agencies at all levels use aggregates. Public works agencies use aggregates in projects such as highways, bridges, rail beds, dams, airports, recreational areas, and for snow and ice control along highways in winter.

This is just a sample of the valuable uses of aggregates in our society.

Gravel Holdings Are Expanding in the Route 16 Corridor

In 1993, there were 53 parcels owned by gravel companies totaling 3,455 acres that were assessed for mining and quarrying in the Route 16 corridor of Cattaraugus County. Six years later, in 1999, this had increased to 76 parcels owned by mining companies in the same category, totaling 4,502 acres. In addition, in 2000, there were 49 active mining permits totaling 1,030 acres, giving ample room for future expansion of mining activities.

This Growth May Affect Other Land Uses

These 4,502 acres represent 66% of all industrially zoned land in the Route 16 study area. This is significant because industrial land tends to be located directly on or near Route 16 highway frontage, or in close proximity to other development assets that also depend upon the highway. Better planning and coordination are needed in this highway corridor because these prime locations will be needed for future development by a variety of stakeholders in these communities, for residential, commercial, industrial, recreational and other uses. 

We See A Need for Balancing Competing Interests

We need to use comprehensive planning and zoning to balance the interests of all stakeholders, if we are to leave a legacy that includes a diversity of jobs, attractive communities, and a clean environment. 
Municipal and County Planning Needs to be Improved

Over the past decade, municipal officials have asked repeatedly for county assistance, and this study is a major effort on our part to provide this assistance. It points out what municipalities must do to help themselves such as improving comprehensive planning and zoning efforts, and what the County can do to assist. Where necessary, we identify areas in which New York State statutes and regulations may need to be changed.

Mining Companies Can Benefit from Community Planning

This study also identifies ways in which mining companies can participate more fully, and we believe more effectively, in the established, constitutional planning and zoning processes of each jurisdiction in which they work. These municipal tools can help gravel companies.

Zoning Can Be Applied to Mining

Municipalities have the authority to coordinate land uses in the public interest, and when necessary, to prohibit new mining sites through zoning (but they cannot prohibit existing mining uses). Not all municipalities, however, choose to do this, which is their prerogative.

Current State Policy Needs Changing

This study also documents NYSDEC’s policy under the Mined Land Reclamation Law, and shows, first, why it frustrates local officials, and second, how it is implemented (it puts a potential major cost burden on municipalities through legal fees and time diverted away from other local needs when mining is already prohibited by zoning).

WHAT ARE OUR PROPOSALS?

We have found that changes are needed at all levels in order to encourage mining companies and local communities to coordinate their respective activities in the Route 16 corridor. To accomplish this, our study recommends five strategies:

Require Full Disclosure and Mediation

Full disclosure and mediation should be required in the state mining permit approval process when zoning prohibits mining at a particular site. In cases where zoning clearly prohibits mining, the NYSDEC should not process or approve a mining permit for that site.

Use An Ecosystem Approach

An ecosystem approach should be used to look at mining activities, and all other land uses in the Route 16 corridor. In particular, the state should provide training services on sustainable development and watershed planning, and add a definition of cumulative impact to state regulations. Local communities and mining companies should use these tools.

Improve Comprehensive Planning

Improve county and municipal comprehensive planning activities. This should be done in order to protect mining access to prime gravel deposits in context of an overall community planning process. To accomplish this, Cattaraugus County should provide staff or consultant services to municipalities to encourage better planning and zoning practices. While assisting communities with planning has been a part of the planning staff’s agenda for many years, a new agenda would require greater staff resources at the county level. Municipal and community leaders have indicated many times during our meetings that they do not have the resources to do effective planning on their own. An expanded county operation would create improved services throughout the highway corridor, and lead to a greater level of trust between county, municipalities and gravel companies.

Make Better Use of Zoning Tools

Zoning should be used more effectively to protect reclaimed mining sites once mining activities are completed. Improved reclamation plans that have a wider variety of re-uses would increase mining company revenues, promote economic development opportunities, and benefit local communities.

Look for Opportunities

We need to turn conflicts into opportunities. We need to work together. For example, our report includes a proposal to create a state-of-the-art gravel mining museum/education and tourist center and, we are pleased to report, in response to this study, a letter from the Mineral Resource Division of the NYSDEC in Albany offers the agency’s planning assistance in conducting a proposed gravel resource inventory:

In closing, the Division of Mineral Resources would be pleased to offer planning assistance regarding your proposal to conduct a resource inventory. Although specific information regarding precise locations of mineable sand and gravel would require a more detailed evaluation, including sub-surface testing, the Division can generate a Cattaraugus County based map illustrating locations of permitted mines and potential sand and gravel resources as mapped by the New York State Geological Survey. This map could be a very useful tool, especially when coupled with detailed soils information from the County Soil and Water Conservation Office. Also, we can assist you by providing educational materials on mining or making a presentation, if appropriate.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we have made every effort to make this an objective, fair and practical study. It has been discussed in public meetings of the County Planning Board and the County Legislature’s Development and Agriculture Committee over the course of one year, and in addition, we have met with municipal and state officials, representatives of mining companies, and members of the public to discuss their concerns. 

The future of Cattaraugus County holds much promise. If we work together in a public planning process, we can achieve the following vision of the future:

• Mining companies can become increasingly successful over the coming decades, especially if their reclamation plans are broadened in the range of ultimate end uses that are allowed on depleted mining sites, and if these uses are brought under zoning controls. Mining companies will earn greater revenues from this approach over time.
  
• Comprehensive planning can protect and improve the people’s standard of living, quality of life, and the community’s character and rural ambiance, to everyone’s benefit even as a wide variety of land uses are added to the Route 16 corridor.
  
• These five strategies can protect and promote a clean environment at the same time that the population in the eastern half of Cattaraugus County doubles or triples in the next 50 or more years, with sustainable economic development.

This report points the way. It shows all stakeholders how to be good neighbors. From this point of view, we are neither pro-gravel nor anti-gravel.

This report also identifies many other land uses in addition to mining, and the five strategies would support their continued development to the benefit of everyone.

The long-term results of this new approach would be an improved quality of life, a clean and attractive environment, and a growing, vibrant local economy.

We ask that the Cattaraugus County Legislature accept and approve this study as a policy advisory document, to provide guidance to all stakeholders in the future, and in particular, to consider taking action on proposals that are relevant to county government.


Thank you.

Paul R. Bishop, Chairman	Robert Keis, Sr., Chairman
Cattaraugus County Planning Board	Special Projects Committee