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Residents urge Box Elder to oppose proposed gravel-mining operations east of town
Summary
Residents, including a school superintendent and a real-estate broker, urged the Box Elder City Council to oppose a proposed gravel/mining conditional-use permit east of the city, citing traffic, safety, dust and roadway maintenance concerns and asking the city to appear at a Pennington County hearing.
During the public-comment period, Kevin Case, superintendent of schools in Douglas and a Box Elder resident, urged the council to oppose a proposed rock/gravel operation east of the city and to be visible at the Pennington County zoning commission meeting. "I strongly encourage you to come out in some form of opposition to what's being proposed," Case said, noting concerns about traffic, safety and environmental impacts near residential areas.
Randy Olivier, a nearby resident and real-estate broker, provided specific operational concerns: he said the proposal anticipates extensive heavy-truck traffic "5 to 6 days as week, 10 hours a day for 4 years minimum," and warned that local roads already face maintenance pressures. Olivier noted recent county expenditures for aggregate road work and asked where long-term road costs would be borne if heavy industrial traffic begins on local arterials.
Mayor's remarks later in the meeting reiterated that the county had tabled the related mining conditional-use permit until June 23 so both applications could be considered together. The mayor said the council plans to place the issue on a future city council agenda (possible June 3 or June 17 meeting) so the city can formally decide its position and encouraged residents to attend the Pennington County meeting on June 23 at 9 AM.
The matter remains at the county level; no city ordinance or council resolution was adopted during the May 20 meeting. The public record and the mayor's follow-up indicate the council intends to discuss the issue in a future meeting before taking any formal position.
