WILKES-BARRE – A Luzerne County Judge on Monday is scheduled to hear an appeal by Slusser Brothers, a subsidiary of Harrisburg-based Pennsy Supply, Inc., of the Dorrance Township Zoning Hearing Board’s decision denying its application to continue Small Mountain Quarry on the south side of Small Mountain Road. 

The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday, March 31, before Luzerne County Judge Ann H. Lokuta.  Attorney George Asimos of Saul Ewing will represent Slusser Brothers in asking the court to examine the legal issues surrounding the Board’s decision. 

Patrick Bartorillo, General Manager at Small Mountain Quarry, said the quarry is scheduled to exhaust its material in the next few years.  The continuation of the quarry operation on property owned by Slusser Brothers south of Small Mountain Road is needed to preserve approximately 150 jobs that rely on the quarry.

“We have truck drivers, equipment operators, asphalt plant employees and equipment maintenance workers whose jobs depend on whether we have the material that comes from this quarry,”  Bartorillo said.  “If the quarry is forced to close, those jobs are in jeopardy.”

 In its legal brief, Slusser Brothers asked the court to overturn the July 2007 decision by the Dorrance Township Zoning Hearing Board denying the quarry’s proposal.  The board denied the application even though it found that “the proposed use satisfies the objective requirements of the ordinance.”

 The 38-page legal brief explained that Slusser Brothers is proposing to continue the quarry on 128 acres of land across Small Mountain Road from the existing operation.  The property is zoned for industrial use, which allows quarrying operations.  Most of the natural woodlands and wetlands would lie on the south side of the property and act as a buffer between the quarry and abutting properties.

The distance from the proposed excavation would be 830 feet to the nearest business and nearly a quarter-mile (1,295 feet) to the nearest home.  There would be no increase in traffic, because the quarry plans to continue excavating at the same rate as the current operation.

The proposed plan also calls for an earthen berm, which is more than 30-feet high, to mitigate sound from the quarry.  An expert determined that the berm would reduce the sound to a level below the sound from nearby Interstate 81.  The sound expert also testified that, because of the earthen berm, the sound levels from the equipment would be below the standards set in the township zoning ordinance.  The initial plan also called for a conveyor across Small Mountain Road to move materials to the current crushers on the north side. 

The legal brief added that the quarry would not disturb the Balliet Run or the wetlands that surround the stream.  In fact, the quarry would maintain a minimum 100-foot buffer between the quarry excavation and the stream and wetlands.  In addition, the brief stated, detailed hydro-geological studies, which will be reviewed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), show that quarry activity will not interfere with off-site well water supplies.

Expert witnesses testified at several Zoning Hearing Board meetings that, based on the above studies, there would be no adverse impact on the health, safety or welfare of the public by continuing the quarry operations on the property.

Following the Zoning Hearing Board denial of the plan, Slusser Brothers and its engineers designed a new proposal that, among other actions, removes the need for a conveyor over Small Mountain Road.  The new plan is being considered by the Dorrance Township Supervisors, which has held several public meetings to consider the new application.

 “We have an obligation to our employees and to all the businesses that rely on our materials for construction and road projects throughout region,” Bartorillo said.  “That is why we are pursuing this quarry proposal in both Dorrance Township and in Luzerne County Court.  Many people depend on this quarry, as does the economy of Luzerne County.”