photo by: Meeting screenshot/Douglas County Commission

The Douglas County Commission meets through an online video conference on Wednesday, July 8, 2020.

The Douglas County Commission has again deferred taking action on a company’s request to expand a rock mining operation near Eudora.

This time, the commission scheduled about a month before it will reconsider the issue, providing time for the Hamm Quarry representatives to meet with the Eudora Planning Commission to discuss the project.

Hamm Quarry, 2364 North 1200 Road, is seeking an amended conditional use permit, which would allow it to expand its extraction operation into 51 acres located at 1258 East 2300 Road, west of its property. The amended permit would also allow the quarry to expand the amount of land that can be mined at one time from 30 acres to 50 acres.

Last week, the commission deferred taking action on the item to make sure Eudora residents had time to consider the application and provide comment.

The commissioners on Wednesday chose to again defer the issue until Aug. 12 after hearing from Eudora City Manager Barack Matite, who said the Eudora Planning Commission wanted to discuss the application again.

Matite said the planning commission first considered the issue in January but did not have a public hearing on the plans because the quarry is outside of the Eudora city limits, so the planning commission was not aware of complaints from nearby property owners. He also said the Eudora Planning Commission forwarded the issue to the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission, but did not hear about changes the quarry made to its application after that January meeting.

Commissioner Nancy Thellman said giving the company and the Eudora planners time to discuss the application again would satisfy her concern that Eudora residents have not had the chance to hear and discuss the totality of the project.

Patrick Watkins, an attorney for Hamm Companies, told the commissioners that the company is willing to meet with the planning commission again. He asked for the meeting to occur within the next two weeks, but Matite said the Eudora staff is small and likely would not be able to grant that request. Instead, Matite said he plans to put the issue on the Eudora Planning Commission’s agenda for its next scheduled meeting on Aug. 5.

In other business, the commissioners approved a resolution that allows the county to accept nearly $25 million in federal coronavirus relief funding later this year. The purpose of the resolution was to show the county intends to use funds in the ways outlined in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as CARES.