County sets Tarmac hearing for May 3

Chiefland Citizen – Published April 7, 2011


By Lou Elliott Jones, Editor

The proposed Tarmac King Road mine project won a recommendation for approval from the Levy County Planning Commission by a 4-1 vote in the wee hours Tuesday and will face a public hearing before the Levy County Commission at 6:30 p.m., May 3.

The Planning Commission vote at 1:22 a.m. — seven hours after the meeting started — came after an overflowing crowd in the courtroom that can hold 180 persons had dwindled to about 75 people. Most of the Levy County residents who attended and spoke at the meeting were from the Yankeetown/Inglis area and almost all were adamantly opposed to the mine.

Some came from Citrus County, including Crystal River Mayor Jim Farley. He said the 250 trucks the mining project will send through the middle of his city on U.S. Highway 19 will impact its daily life, efforts to unite the two sides of the bisected area, and possibly hurt tourism. He said the trucks loaded with tons of lime rock will be a danger to people trying to cross the road. “Will they decide to go elsewhere because it’s just too bloody noisy and scary here?” he said.

Williston resident Eddie Clements, a retired Tarmac employee, said, Tarmac has an emphasis on safety in their operations. "Every morning it’s about safety," he said.

Clements also said the company is a good employer. “Working with Tarmac was never just a job,” he said of his 42 years with the firm, “It was a career. I think that Tarmac would do a lot for this area.”

Tim Lytle, who heads security for the proposed mine site, said the only stipulation that the county had made in hiring "is that I hire local people." He said he makes over $50,000 a year and the payroll for four guards is $152,000. "My guys start out the same as the sheriff's deputies (pay)."

Darlene Barnhill of Chiefland, owner of a uniform shop, said Levy County is desperate for the 80 direct jobs and the 304 indirect jobs the mine will bring. "We're not going to survive in Levy County if we don’t help ourselves. I am totally for it."

The planning board did not discuss the application before it voted, and had few questions. This is not the first time the project has come before the board in the seven years since the first application.

Ron Grant of Williston, the lone vote against recommending approval, said he has questions about the lime rock mining project that have not been answered. He also said the application for the special exception zoning permit was not complete. “I was wondering why we were hearing it,” Grant said. “I didn't feel right about it. There are a lot of issues unanswered and the water issue is one.”

The mine’s owner, Titan America, is waiting on a federal Clean Water Act permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps has had the application for at least two years.

Yankeetown City Attorney Ralph Brooks, reading from the board’s criteria reminded they “shall not recommend unless it meets all applicable criteria.” Brooks said, “This mine is so big it triggers federal review.”

Grant said he was concerned about the company’s plans to drain wetlands, something voiced by many of the mine's opponents. They also voiced concern about the water use dropping well and aquifer leaves as the mine uses 13 million gallons of water per day returning 13 million to the ponds with 120,000 gallons leaving the site in trucks.

The planning commissioner also said he is concerned about a bridge on County Road 336, one of the routes to be used by the loaded trucks. “I am concerned about the liability of the county if that bridge falls down and kills somebody,” he said.

During the hearing Development Director Rob Corbitt said the county's concerns about the bridge's ability to withstand the weight of the trucks was alleviated after Tarmac paid for stress tests that showed it could handle the traffic and the Florida Department of Transportation concurred after reviewing the data.

Tarmac’s traffic analyst, Steve Harvey of Lincks & Associates Inc., said the 500 truck trips would be split with 32 percent heading north on U.S. Highway 19 in Levy County, 52 percent south on U.S. 19 through Citrus County, and 16 percent going east via U.S. 19, then County Road 121, and CR 336 to pick up State Road 40 in Marion County.

Answering Citrus County officials’ concern about the increase in traffic, Henry said, “There are no roadways where the loads would consume 5 percent of the traffic.”

He said U.S. 19’s level of service for 2014, the year the mine would open, can handle 2,390 vehicles per hour at peak times, Adding in the truck traffic, the number of vehicles is estimated to be 1,337 in the morning and 1,497 in the evening.

Tarmac is proposing to mine hard lime rock on 2,757 acres out of 4,750 acres it leases from Plum Creek timber company. In addition, Tarmac has said it will be restoring an additional 4,526 acres of land, most of which would be wetlands, to its original state. The lands are being used for pine tree farming. The "mitigation parcel" is on a priority list for the Florida Forever program and would be turned over to the state.

If approved, the mine would operate for 100 years, mining about 25 acres per year to depths of 120 feet. Any rock deemed of lesser quality will be used to backfill most pits, while 20 other dredged pits will be left behind as lakes.

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