11-4-15 sand mine controversy-county planner react

The Fond du Lac County planner says a dispute between property owners and non-metallic mining companies is not something new.  A group of residents in a town of Auburn subdivision has filed a lawsuit in attempt to stop a proposed sand mine across the road in the town of Ashford.  Fond du lac County planner Sam Tobias there are six or seven lots that abut the property.  Tobias says he can understand the property owner’s frustration.  However, Tobias says that’s one of the risks you’re taking by living in the country.  “It is, whenever you live in a rural area and build a home there’s always a chance that somebody’s going to open a large dairy operation, completely legitimate, a mineral extraction situation.  They’ve got to go somewhere,”  Tobias told WFDL news.  Tobias says for town appeals boards it can be a real balancing act between the mining interests and disruption of the residents.  Tobias says the mining company needs a special use permit.  “They consider everything in the Ashford town zoning ordinance related to the special exception use.  That is minimal disruption, that it meets other codes, buffers between surrounding uses, reclamation, operation is open no more than ten years so there’s a finite time these things can run.”   Tobias says another consideration is minimizing the use of town roads that run past residences.  ‘To me, going to the east to County V on Haven Road or going east from the quarry site on Auburn-Ashford Drive to V, you’re going right past a bunch of homes.  South of Auburn-Ashford Drive you have another large subdivision of homes down there,”  Tobias said.  “It seems like they should be requiring truck traffic to this non-metallic mine to go another route.”    Tobias says the other factor is that while the potential negative impacts to the residents  are significant, the subdivision and mine are in different townships.  Tobias says it’s a tough situation anytime there is a municipal boundary.