Clay County planning panel recommends revocation and reissue of quarry conditional-use permit with new limits

The Clay County Planning and Zoning Commission on July 1 voted to recommend that the County Commission revoke an existing conditional-use permit (CUP) for an existing rock quarry and to recommend approval of a replacement CUP with new, stricter conditions that the applicant accepted.

The action matters because staff told the commission the current CUP’s renewal conditions from 2024 were not met by the owner and that neighbors had raised concerns; the commission’s recommendation now goes to the Clay County Commission for final action at its July 17 meeting at 6 p.m. in this room.

Planning staff said the quarry has had a CUP for resource extraction since February 2009, and the permit was administratively renewed in 2024. Staff told commissioners that many conditions from the 2009 and 2024 approvals were carried forward into the new draft CUP and that the applicant and an adjacent property owner met with staff and agreed to updated conditions. The staff report recommended approval with 22 conditions; staff said 18 of the 22 conditions were carried forward from 2024 and 15 date to the 2009 CUP.

Key new or tightened conditions in the draft the commission approved to forward include: increasing the minimum blasting setback from property lines to 250 feet (and no blasting of a named subsurface layer, the "snyabar" layer, within 400 feet of property lines); a requirement that trucks not cross the Old 210 bridge (the bridge is scheduled for replacement but would not be rated to handle fully loaded trucks); moving the interior haul road and relocating the truck entrance to lessen impacts on the neighboring property; requiring the CUP holder to maintain and repair the access section of Old 210 from the access point to Raines Road if haul trucks use it; separating the quarry’s sewer connection from the adjacent cold storage operation; and restricting the existing interior haul road to light vehicles only.

Neil Bueller, the CUP owner and applicant, told the commission he had agreed to move the entrance under the 2024 conditions but could not obtain a permit from the highway department for the originally proposed southeast entrance and therefore used a Raines Road entry. “I agreed to that, but when the road and bridge … they would not give a permit for that area,” Bueller said, explaining the grade and elevation made the relocation costly and difficult. He said he had obtained a driveway permit to access Old 210 the day before the meeting and that he had acquired a holding tank approved by the Clay County Health Department to address the sanitary sewer issue.

An adjacent property owner’s attorney, Anna Karstelich of Stinson LLP, representing Cold Solutions, said Cold Solutions supported the staff recommendation and the additional assurances in the revised conditions. “Cold Solutions was involved in the discussions with staff … and support the actions recommended tonight,” Karstelich said.

A neighboring landowner, Fred Foster, said he was not categorically opposed but raised safety and property-damage concerns, including dust, blasting near mapped subsurface cavities he said had previously caused collapses on his land, and heavier truck traffic on local roads. Foster said he wanted remedies available if additional blasting or truck traffic caused further sinkholes or damage.

Commissioners debated enforcement and timelines. One commissioner pressed Bueller on why prior conditions were not met; Bueller said easement arrangements with neighbors, permitting refusals and the site grade complicated moving the haul road and completing the sewer work. Commissioners then agreed to shorten two compliance deadlines in the staff report — the entrance relocation (listed at 120 days) and the sanitary-sewer separation (listed at 6 months) — to 90 days (three months). The commission voted on the amendment to shorten those timelines and the amendment carried by roll call.

The commission then voted, by roll call, to recommend revocation of the current CUP and to recommend approval of the July 11 CUP request with conditions as amended; both recommendations will go to the Clay County Commission for final decision. Commissioners were unanimous on both votes.

Because the county commission is the decision-making body, staff noted revocation by the planning commission is a recommendation only; final revocation and the new CUP adoption are actions the county commission may take after its public hearing on July 17.

The staff report and the record of the meetings between staff, the CUP owner and the adjacent property owner are part of the official record; staff also added the written staff report to the record at the meeting. The commission did not expand the permitted quarry footprint as part of the recommendation.

If the County Commission adopts the recommended revocation and replacement CUP, the conditions approved by the planning body — including the blasting setbacks, haul-road changes and the requirement that the CUP holder maintain identified public roadway segments used for truck access — will be enforceable under the CUP process and any follow-up county inspections.