Mount Vernon council approves amendment to Martin Marietta quarry lease, extending access and royalties

The Mount Vernon City Council on May 14 approved a first amendment to the city's lease with Martin Marietta that relocates an access road, modifies the benchmark depth for mining and extends the lease term to allow additional aggregate extraction.

City Attorney Kevin Robertson described the amendment as one that will “allow 5,000,000 volume cubic ... 5,000,000 tons of fine base course and sand gravel because they're going deeper,” and said the change “will result in approximately another million dollars of additional royalty payments ... from 10/10/2028 to 10/09/2034.”

The amendment modifies the existing lease for roughly 60 acres of city-owned property at 42411 East Hickok Road on the south side of Little Mountain Park, which Martin Marietta operates as a rock quarry. Robertson said the parties earlier agreed to relocate the access road from inside the quarry to outside the mining footprint; he also noted that the change affects the reclamation permit held by the Department of Natural Resources.

A parks department representative told council the city had no immediate plans or capacity to use the site and supported the amendment. Council members moved and seconded approval; the motion passed without a recorded roll-call dissent.

The city attorney provided historical context, saying the land was deeded to the city in 1929 and mined since 1949. Robertson noted previous operators and that the amendment is intended to extend extraction while producing additional royalty revenue for the general fund.

Council did not schedule additional public hearings on the amendment during the meeting. Martin Marietta officials were on hand for technical questions but no detailed operational changes were debated at length in open session.

The council approved the amendment as presented; staff and Martin Marietta will follow up on any permitting steps with state agencies.