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                      Issue Returned to New Hanover Zoning Officials 

            The controversy over the proposed Gibraltar Rock Quarry operation in New Hanover Township isn’t over yet.  The three-parcel proposal has come to be known as Gibraltar Rock I, II and III.

According to Stephen Harris, an attorney for the owners of Gibraltar Rock, the original 163-acre site (Gibraltar Rock I) has the necessary permits to begin operation.  Over the past seven years, Gibraltar Rock had their eye on a second purchase of land (known as the Gibraltar Rock II project) and a third purchase (known as the Gibraltar Rock III project).  The combined area encompasses more than 240 acres for the planned quarry and associated operations off Layfield, Big, Church and Coleflesh roads.  Gibraltar Rock II and III are not yet approved.  They have recently been returned to the Zoning Hearing Board.

A Zoning Hearing Board meeting is scheduled tonight for the Gibraltar Rock III project and interested citizens are encouraged to attend.

            According to the website of the Paradise Watchdogs/Ban the Quarry group (PW/BTQ), they are planning to ask the zoning board to allow residents with property near the proposed quarry site to sign up for “party status.”  During zoning hearings, the interested parties will then have the opportunity to ask questions and make comments regarding the proposal.

            Last month, the Township Supervisors decided to take no action on a proposed settlement agreement negotiated between township representatives and Gibraltar Rock Inc. that would allow the quarry operations to proceed on about 240-acres encompassing all three phases of the quarry project.  By taking no action on the settlement agreement, the supervisors allowed it to expire on May 31 – the deadline date for action on the agreement.

            Soon after the decision was rendered, Harris announced that as a result of previous decisions by the township’s zoning hearing board and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Gibraltar Rock has filed notice that they will begin operations at Gibraltar Rock I sometime in June.

Since the May 11 supervisor’s meeting, Christopher Mullaney, attorney for PW/BTQ, sent a letter to the District Mining Manager at the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) advising them of Gibraltar’s intention to begin mining in June, 2009 and advised them of discrepancies in their mining permit and deficiencies in their compliance with township ordinances.

According to PW/BTQ, New Hanover Township Solicitor Paul Bauer also sent a letter to the DEP opposing activation of Gibraltar Rock’s mining permit.

When asked if Gibraltar could begin mining operations today, Mullaney replied that, “My understanding is that unless the township gives approval, they are not permitted to begin operations.”

Also making its way through the courts is Gibraltar Rock’s appeal to conditions set forth in the Zoning Board’s decision on the application for Gibraltar I. 

Mullaney has filed a petition to “intervene in the appeal before the court” on behalf of several residents whose property is in the immediate vicinity of the proposed quarry.

According to Mullaney, the intervention is asking the court to allow the residents to intervene and protect their own interests as they feel the township won’t.  If the court feels their interests are adequately protected, they will not be allowed to intervene.  Judge Kent Albright in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County heard the arguments and no decision has been rendered yet.

            Tonight’s Zoning Board hearing is scheduled to begin at 7 PM in the Township building at 2943 North Charlotte St. (Route 663) in New Hanover Township.