Need for McHenry County gravel bumping into residential homes, leaving both sides aggravated

A sand-and-gravel pit already sits southeast of Mike Alva’s rural McHenry home. He doesn’t want another one.

Alva is among a growing number of McHenry County residents worried that more gravel mining could come to their area after Super Aggregates sought a new location near McHenry and purchased farmland between Spring Grove and Fox Lake.

“The (existing gravel site) is a lot farther from us, and we can feel and hear everything,” said Alva, who lives in the unincorporated Val-Mar County Estates, just east of the McHenry Outdoor Theater.

The pit is loud, spreads dust and does nothing for his home value.

More mines will be needed, to keep up with development happening in McHenry County, mining operators said.

“Where are you going to find the material for next year? We can only find it where it is,” Super Aggregates CEO Jack Pease said.

In a report prepared by Super Aggregates and provided to the Northwest Herald, Pease points to 16 aggregate mines that have closed over the past 20 years. Another eight that could close by 2026, according to that report.

He also said some prime gravel sites have already been covered by homes, leaving fewer remaining options.

Residents near proposed mines say they don’t want the dust and noise the operations can cause.

Residents of in the Sundial Farms subdivision between Spring Grove and Fox Lake began their own campaign to prevent a Super Aggregates gravel mine adjacent to their homes in 2022.

No proposals for that site have been brought forward, but Pease suggested that in 20 years or less, it would be developed into a housing development with a lake.

In pitching the projects, mining operators point to other housing subdivisions and parks in the region that were once aggregate mines, including Crystal Lake’s Three Oaks Recreation Area, McHenry County Conservation District’s The Hollows in Cary, and Carpentersville’s Silverstone Lake subdivision just over the Kane County line.

It is not uncommon for housing developers to purchase former aggregate mines or for companies to develop the housing themselves.

“We benefit if we can sell land for even more money” once it has been mined out, said Randi Wille, mining conglomerate Holcim’s regional director of land and environment.

“It is a built-in incentive if we own the land” to reclaim it with future development in mind, Wille said.

In Super Aggregates’ zoning request to the city of McHenry to allow a mining operation on 110 acres at Chapel Hill Road and Route 120, it said houses could be built on the site after the materials are depleted.

The commission did not give its nod to Pease’s request, McHenry Director of Planning and Development Ross Polerecky said. Pease can present the plan to City Council without the commission’s endorsement but has not yet requested that, Polerecky said.

Pease and others in the industry here say gravel mines near development – largely on the eastern and southern edges of McHenry County or along Interstate 90 – is vital to ensuring access during construction and to keep costs lower. That, they said, ultimately saves on overall costs for taxpayers and new home buyers.

Neither are gravel mines the dusty, loud operations they used to be, said Ron Raupp, the aggregates division manager for Thelen, which has pits around McHenry County and southern Wisconsin.

“Our industry wants to be good neighbors as well,” Raupp said.

Gravel mine companies have state, county and often municipal rules they must follow to ensure nearby residents are not adversely affected by its operations, Raupp said.

They also want the land development-ready when the aggregate is gone.

“You want to reclaim so you can sell the land off and recoup the purchase price of the property,” Raupp said.

Alva, the Val-Mar resident, scoffed at the suggestion that 20 years of mining would be wiped clean down the line with more homes built nearby.

“He is painting this beautiful picture of a lake view from your house in 20 years,” Alva said of Pease’s proposal. In the meantime, he has to live in and potentially sell a house near an aggregate mine.

Conflict between residents and mine operators is not new, said former Illinois State Rep. Jack Franks, who also previously served as McHenry County Board chairman.

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The crushing machine that breaks rocks into smaller rock on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, at Thelen Sand and Gravel, 28955 W. Route 173 in Fox Lake. (Gregory Shaver — gshaver@shawmedia.com/Gregory Shaver for Shaw Media )

In the early 2000s, McHenry County had one of the fastest-growing populations in the country. “We were not growing corn, we were growing housing,” Franks said of that time.

Franks helped form the McHenry County Gravel Advisory Council to help resolve those conflicts, Raupp said.

“Jack Franks set it up as a sounding board if people have complaints or issues. They can come to our meetings with people from the industry, people from the county. … Sometimes mayors and trustees come,” said Raupp, who is a co-chairman of the council.

Franks is no longer an Illinois lawmaker, but he does remember what issues shaped that council. Many were looking for a legislative answer to the issue, but he wanted a community approach.

“They were able to talk about issues and work it out, and if they couldn’t, … then it is a legislative solution. I would rather bring people together than have it dictated from the top down,” Franks said.

Some of the legislative solutions the state implemented include financial incentives for reclamation of the mined-out parcels later, Franks said.

When opening a new gravel mine, the owners buy bonds or letters of credit to ensure that when it closes, the land is reclaimed for other future uses, Raupp said. As the site is mined, it is done in a way to use clay and slit as fill as they go.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources inspects the sites to ensure the reclamation is happening as they mine, Raupp said. The Department of Health monitors wells for water quality, too.

As permits are granted, earthen berms are raised to block sight lines from the roadway or houses.

Still neighbors might not be convinced berms and fences will prevent noise and dust.

If he were a homeowner adjacent to proposed gravel mines, “I would be skeptical as well,” said Franks, questioning the need for additional gravel pits as many are still operating in both McHenry and Lake counties.

“They are dirty, they are loud, they create a lot of a lot of dust. It would affect the quiet enjoyment of my property,” Franks said.