McHenry City Council delays action on proposed Super Aggregates mine, approves hydrological study

The McHenry City Council delayed action Monday night on a sand and gravel mine proposal from Jack Pease and Super Aggregates until next month, but not without controversy.

At issue is a proposal for a wet-processing gravel mine on 110 acres at Routes 120 and Chapel Hill Road. Currently not annexed into McHenry, the proposal was last considered at the June 5 council meeting when Pease asked to withdraw the proposal to give him more time to speak with neighbors who live near the proposed site.

Despite the delay, even more residents packed the City Council chambers, with an overflow audience listening in from a nearby training room. For an hour-plus before Monday’s vote to table the matter, residents, those in the concrete and construction industries and others who live near the proposed gravel mine weighed in on the issue.

“We want to hear your voices, what you want to say and your concerns.”

—  McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett

Those speaking remained mostly civil, with applause following many of the speakers both for and against the gravel pit.

Ron Fischer, of Fisher Brothers Concrete, spoke in favor of the mine. If approved, his trucks would only need to drive three miles for sand and gravel “instead of the 20 [miles] we are currently running” and leading to 80% less truck traffic, Fischer said.

Residents however continued to voice concerns brought up at both the June meeting, and at a June 28 town hall meeting: what the mine could mean for water, dust, their private wells and home values.

The discussion didn’t get testy until Pease, as the petitioner, made comments about his plan directed to the council, starting in on the need for sand and gravel for roads, schools, hospitals and homes.

At one point, the city’s attorney David McArdle asked Pease to focus not on the need for stone construction material, but to the dust, noise and water concerns voiced by residents. “They aren’t debating the need,” McArdle said.

In that vein, Pease spoke about the proximity of private wells to residents’ private septic tanks and the potential there for contamination.

Residents who aren’t worried about that sort of possible contamination should “get serious” Pease said as his voice raised, turning and pointing to the remaining crowd. “You get to clap, I get to clap once in awhile, too. You enjoy the roads ...” he began saying, until he was shut down by McHenry Chief of Police John Birk, who asked Pease to sit and address the council.

A few minutes later, Pease asked those against the gravel mine “to get involved and get informed” to which a few in the crowd replied “that is why we are here.”

Following a unanimous vote to table the matter until the Aug. 7 meeting, the council also voted to approve an agreement with Stanley Consultants, Inc. The Chicago-based engineering company has been retained to review hydrological data related to the proposal and provided by Pease, who will pay for the review.

No vote on the proposal will happen until that review is in hand, according to the city.

Pease and Super Aggregates also is providing the documentation for Stanley Consultants, Mayor Wayne Jett said, adding that if the third party did not like or agree with the data provided, the engineers can and will ask for more.

“We want to hear your voices, what you want to say and your concerns,” Jett said. The city is working to get answers to questions residents posted through an online forum, and will get those answers before a vote. “We will get those answers to you guys as fast as possible.”