Wind chills forced a site walk change for a proposed gravel pit expansion project.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

BETHEL – Brutal wind chill temperatures last Wednesday forced planners to reschedule a site walk of Keith Durgin’s proposed gravel pit expansion project off Route 26.

The Planning Board, however, did conduct a public hearing on Durgin’s proposed Bear River Sand and Gravel business, which will include woodwaste processing, composting and rock crushing, that night.

A handful of abutters and an interested resident voiced concerns about the impact, if any, of the rock crusher’s vibration on the nearby natural gas pipeline. Noise and odor concerns associated with the project were also raised.

Planners continued work on Durgin’s site plan application before tabling the matter until their next meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the town office. The site walk was rescheduled for 3 p.m. on the same day.

At Wednesday night’s meeting, planners addressed four areas of major concern that grew out of the board’s first contact with the proposed project on Dec. 10.

Those concerns – the pipeline, noise, hours of operation and an aquifer – were discussed in depth Wednesday night.

Project representative Darryl Brown of Main-Land Development Consultants Inc. of Livermore Falls said he could alleviate fears about fouling the underground water body.

Durgin, he said, has no plans to do any fueling on-site. Also, Brown said the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s requirement that composting materials be removed each year would reduce any potential affect to the aquifer.

Planners also asked Brown and Durgin to notify the pipeline owners about possible vibration effects caused by rock crusher operation.

As for odors, Brown said Durgin won’t be mixing products in with materials produced through grinding. Instead, he plans to mix rock that has been ground with sandy materials to create loamy materials.

And, although Durgin wants an option to truck in rocks to the pit, the raw material will not be larger than 10 inches in diameter, Durgin said.

But when Brown said Durgin will be storing processed materials in piles that cannot exceed 10,000 feet in size, resident Ed Yasco said planners must be aware of this.

“Depending on which way the wind is blowing, people are going to smell it,” Yasco said.

Planners also asked code enforcement officer Richard St. John to conduct a noise measuring test at the site with town equipment to determine the crusher operation’s decibel output.

The board altered Durgin’s operational hours for the crushing aspect from his desired 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday hours, to 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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