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Commission approves Doherty quarry as a Goal 5 large significant aggregate site
Summary
The Morrow County Board approved a comprehensive plan amendment adding a long‑operating Doherty rock quarry to the county’s Goal 5 aggregate inventory as a large significant site, removing the 500,000‑ton extraction cap set in a 2019 CUP; staff set a Jan. 7 ordinance second reading date.
Chair David Sykes opened a public hearing on an application by Cliff Doherty, with owner Patricia Doherty, to add an existing quarry off Spur Loop Road to Morrow County’s Goal 5 aggregate inventory as a “large significant” site. Planning Director Tamara Mabbit told the board the site has operated for years and was permitted in 2019 under a conditional use permit that limited extraction to 500,000 tons.
Tamara Mabbit, planning director, said the requested designation would remove the administrative extraction cap and allow the site to be classified under state Goal 5 rules as a large significant resource. She described the technical submittal — a material testing analysis that demonstrates the rock meets ODOT asphalt specifications — and noted agency notice was provided to DOGAMI and FEMA; no agency objections were recorded in the staff packet.
Tamara also showed drone footage and staff maps and told commissioners the site includes a culvert system that appears to preserve floodplain drainage. “The 2019 conditional use permit limited the extraction to 500,000 tons of material, and the applicant said we're getting really close. We'd like to extract beyond that limitation,” she said, describing the permitting history and technical basis for the designation.
No opponents appeared to testify; the planning commission had unanimously recommended approval. After brief deliberation, the board moved to adopt the staff findings, add the aggregate site to the county’s comprehensive plan Goal 5 inventory, apply the aggregate resource overlay to the quarry boundary and acknowledge that the existing conditional use permit for the concrete batch plant remains unchanged. The motion passed on the record with an affirmative vote and the chair closed the hearing.
Tamara Mabbit told the applicant the board expects to return to the site for a second reading and adopting ordinance on Jan. 7. The approval adds the quarry to the county’s list of significant aggregate resources and removes the county’s previous extraction limit by reclassifying the site under the Goal 5 administrative framework.
What’s next: Staff will prepare the adopting ordinance for the Jan. 7 second reading and finalize any map and overlay updates required to reflect the designation.
