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Abutters press Select Board for details after Tormeo intent-to-excavate filing; board defers pending maps and conservation input
Summary
Residents near Jericho and Hunt roads raised concerns about quarry expansion, blasting and tree clearing after Tormeo Industries filed an intent-to-excavate for an 82-acre parcel; the Select Board said it will wait for maps and Conservation Commission input before taking action.
Residents from Jericho Drive and neighboring streets told the Kingston Select Board on April 7 that they had not been notified about Tormeo Industries’ intent to excavate an 82-acre parcel (Map R2 Lot 8) and asked the board to demand clearer location information, wetland protections and abutter notification.
Sarah Taglieri, a Jericho Drive resident, told the board the application lists an 82-acre lot and proposes to excavate 20.67 acres and that “the current request to excavate ... has 11 direct abutters.” Several speakers said they found no map attached to the application and that Conservation Commission members likewise lacked the site-specific information needed to comment on wetlands or where the work would take place.
Multiple abutters said earlier work by Tormeo — including tree clearing in 2020 — had brought heavy machinery within roughly 25–50 feet of residential property lines and that blasting, truck traffic and visual impacts have intensified. One resident said the town’s previous efforts to require a 50-foot setback had not been enforced in practice.
Board members said they were not prepared to make regulatory findings without more detailed information. Glenn Koppelman, chair, told residents the board had received the filing and a note from the Conservation Commission; he said the board would not act on the application until conservation and planning staff could review a map showing the excavation location and any requested timber-cut information.
The Select Board directed staff to ask Conservation for a formal response and to ask the town planner to review whether the intent-to-excavate expands a previously grandfathered footprint that might affect the company’s grandfathered status. The board confirmed it will not act on the application until those details are provided.
Residents asked the Select Board to check whether blasting notifications and buffers could be strengthened and to clarify whether the quarry’s grandfathered status limits the town’s ability to regulate current activity. A town official said RSA 155‑E (statute on mining/quarry operations) and other records would need to be reviewed to determine jurisdictional limits; the board said it would bring the file to the town planner and legal counsel if necessary.
No vote on the excavation permit took place at the April 7 meeting; the board’s action was to request further information and to withhold a formal decision pending Conservation and planning review.
