Lecompton ? Bruce Silkey doesn’t want a rock quarry in his back yard, front yard or anywhere else near his rural Lecompton residence.

That’s why Silkey and his wife, Sue, were among about 70 people who gathered in the Lecompton Community Building Saturday morning to continue to prepare a game plan to block a proposal to put a quarry in their midst.

“We’re concerned about the dust, the noise of the beeping trucks, and we’re concerned about the blasting,” Bruce Silkey said.

Silkey is one of 17 property owners who would find themselves within 1,000 feet of a quarry, if the proposal by N.R. Hamm Quarry is approved by Douglas County officials. Hamm wants to put the quarry on 175 acres near the intersection of North 1825 and East 250 roads. The Quarry would be used to supply rock for the widening of Interstate 70 between Lecompton and Topeka. Hamm has been designated by the Kansas Turnpike Authority to be the rock supplier for the project.

Sarah Kirk, another landowner near the quarry site, expressed her concerns about safety, such as increased truck traffic in an area now popular with walkers, joggers and horseback riders.

“The safety of these people is of great concern,” she said.

Ramon Gonzalez, a Hamm representative, declined to comment on the issue. He noted that he had met twice with area landowners about their concerns.

Over the past few weeks dozens of signs protesting the quarry proposal have been placed by landowners and other residents along county roads and U.S. Highway 40. The Kaw Valley View Neighborhood Assn. was formed to help organize the quarry opposition. And about 400 people so far have signed a petition to be presented to the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission and to the Douglas County Commission, the government entities that will ultimately decide the issue.

Another petition is being circulated among the property owners who would be within 1,000 feet of the quarry. That petition will serve as the “legal petition,” said attorney Charles Benjamin, who along with attorney Price T. Banks is working with quarry opponents. It must be signed by property owners who own at least 20 percent of the land next to the quarry, Benjamin said.

The Planning Commission will vote on the quarry and the decision will serve as a recommendation to county commissioners. A properly completed legal petition would require a unanimous vote of approval by county commissioners, Benjamin said. There are three commissioners and normally only a simple majority of two votes is required to approve a measure.

Quarry hearing postponed to July (04-02-05) Town blasts quarry plan (02-07-05)

The quarry proposal had been scheduled for a hearing later this month before the Planning Commission. Hamm officials, however, have requested the hearing be delayed; it has been rescheduled for July 27. A public discussion on the issue will take place before the Commission votes.

“We don’t get to vote at the polls, but our vote is the number of people who show up,” said Paul Bahnmaier, who also owns property next to the proposed quarry site.