Commission grants conditional use permit for sand and gravel operation with added buffer and conditions

The Kearney City Planning Commission recommended approval to the City Council of a conditional use permit (CUP) to allow resource extraction (sand and gravel) on property east of Cherry Avenue and south of 11th Street, subject to 18 standard conditions and a specific modification requiring a 10‑foot landscape buffer along the east property line when extraction reaches that edge.

Applicant Roger Harters (representing landowner) presented the proposal and said operator Keith Becker intends to extract roughly two acres of gravel per year from the roughly 30‑acre site and use topsoil removed during extraction to raise portions of the property about 2 feet to get them out of the 500‑year floodplain. Harters said the operation would use berms, tree rows and staged stripping to reduce blowing sand, and that sand would be pumped back into ponds after initial extraction in the first two years in typical extraction phasing.

Multiple nearby residents opposed the CUP at the hearing. Sharon Rose, who identified her address as 4407 East 11th Street and said her property is…