To the editor:

Would you like a little sand with your asparagus? At the same time we read about efforts to produce and consume more local food, we learn about a proposal by a local concrete company to put a huge sand pit on prime agricultural land just east of town. If approved, the sand pit will span about 400 acres from East 15th Street to the Kansas River and be in operation for 30 years.

It is to be dug through one of the best aquifers in the valley, the one that supplies Eudora’s water. Before they can begin digging the pit, the Lawrence/Douglas County Planning Commission and the Douglas County Commission must approve a conditional use permit, as this land is all zoned agricultural, not industrial. The Planning Commission will meet today at 6:30 p.m. in Lawrence City Hall. This is an opportunity for the public to speak on this huge proposed project just a few miles outside Lawrence.