Small Mountain Quarry seeks immediate approval for project, not annual decision.

By Rory Sweeney rsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

RICE TWP. – Small Mountain Quarry plans to expand incrementally each year, but still wants approval of the full 189-acre expansion at once, a quarry official testified at Thursday night’s hearing before the Dorrance Township board of supervisors.

Quarry general manager Patrick Bartorillo said the company will increase quarry operations by five acres each year but balked at a suggestion to seek approval for expansions annually.

He said Harrisburg-based owner Pennsy Supply Inc. is planning to invest $1 million for non-production improvements, such as rubberizing some surfaces to reduce noise. “To justify that, the company would need a timeframe to recover that cost, and we wouldn’t be able to do that in just this one phase. We would need the entire area to build and plan in advance for berms and erosion control and such,” he said.

Bartorillo also testified that the quarry is agreeable to almost all of the township Planning Commission’s 15 recommended conditions, except for constraints on certain working hours.

The quarry also called Creigh Rahenkamp, a land-use and planning expert, to discuss what he called the “disciplined application of common sense.”

He noted the township’s comprehensive plan, made in 1984, called for industrial use at the site because it was close to the highway, but noted that such use would be difficult because of the topography. That issue, however, could be remedied for the future by quarrying the site.

“The temporary use creates essentially what a developer would have to pay for to create an industrial park … a flat site suitable for industrial development.”

The test, he said, isn’t whether it would be better to leave the site unused. “The test is have we met the criteria set forth in this ordinance and I say we have,” he said.

Rahenkamp noted under cross-examination, however, that the comprehensive plan should be updated at least every 10 years because laws, regulations, public opinion and other variables can change, thus changing the municipality’s vision of its future.

He also admitted he did not evaluate the usage in reference to wild-trout streams, one of which, Balliet Run, flows adjacent to the site.

Later, resident Joe Chalawick posed to Rahenkamp: “What does this community gain by having this quarry in our midst?”

Rahenkamp responded that “finding a suitable place for quarrying where the material is” available is part of a municipality’s responsibility.

Resident Stanley Witinski had another reason.

“This is my bread and butter,” the 15-year quarry employee said. “That’s the way I look at it.”

He said he’s one of perhaps 15 to 20 residents employed by the quarry. “If you take the whole surrounding communities, there’s a bunch more.”

The hearing is scheduled to continue at 6 p.m. Feb. 21, at Rice Elementary School.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.