County Commission to receive annual review of rock quarry permit

The Douglas County commission meets in the historic courtroom on the second floor of the old county courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

The Douglas County Commission will receive on Wednesday the county’s annual review of the conditional use permit for the Hamm/Buchheim Quarry just north of Clinton Lake.

With the review will be a proposal from Douglas County Public Works Director Keith Browning that the County Commission consider changing its maintenance agreement for the haul road from the quarry with N.R. Hamm Inc.

The two matters will be part of a meeting scheduled for the 6 p.m. time slot commissioners reserve for potentially controversial issues. The permit review finds the quarry located on 70 acres north of Clinton Lake on East 550 Road in compliance with the conditions and restrictions in the conditional use permit that was first approved in the 1970s, supplemental conditions added later and a road maintenance agreement approved in 2014.

The review is being presented to commissioners on an informational basis, and they are not required to approve it.

With the review, Browning is presenting a proposal to amend the current maintenance agreement for the quarry’s haul road. That agreement approved in 2014 requires Hamm to provide one full dust control treatment annually, plus additional dust control measures as needed and to donate 250 tons of rock per 20,000 for rock hauled from the site.

Browning is proposing a new agreement, requiring Hamm to pay 25 cents per ton of rock hauled from the quarry. The county would use the revenue to maintain the road as it deems necessary.

The Douglas County Commission meets Wednesdays at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. The commission’s full agenda can be viewed at douglascountyks.org/services/government/public-meetings.