Will County public hearing on proposed limestone quarry spotlights blasting, air and school‑safety concerns

A Will County Board public hearing on March 20, 2025, drew hours of testimony and large public turnout over zoning case ZC24‑066, a proposal by an applicant represented by Castle Law to open surface limestone mining east of Lily Cache (Lilycachet) Creek near Essington Road and Reagan Boulevard.

County and community officials and residents said the proposal matters because the site sits near established neighborhoods and Liberty Elementary School and because the operation would bring blasting, truck traffic and crushing closer to homes. Plainfield village and school officials, residents and outside experts pressed the board for clearer plans and tighter safeguards; the applicant’s team described multiple design changes and monitoring programs it says reduce risk.

Gary Davidson, an attorney with Castle Law representing the applicant, told the board the team “read each and every correspondence received by Will County,” removed underground mining from the filing and eliminated asphalt and concrete plants. Lead counsel Bill Graft said the applicant had withdrawn “almost 80%” of the original requests and presented new monitoring and berm designs. Graft and other witnesses said they had commissioned air monitoring (seven stations and a submitted report) and seismographic monitoring and would install a landscape berm that the applicant described as 30 feet tall with a 20‑foot flat top and roughly 200 feet wide along portions of the site.

The applicant also described other changes and conditions: a privately funded flood detention basin on the west side of Lily Cache Creek that the applicant said would store roughly 200,000,000 gallons and be used in part to build the berm; a site development permit process; and continued requirements for…