Despite strong opposition, Will County OKs Plainfield-Bolingbrook quarry expansion

The Will County Board on Thursday approved expansion of a quarry that faced opposition from the villages of Plainfield and Bolingbrook along with dozens of residents who showed up at the meeting to try to stop it.

The board voted 12-10 for the quarry proposal, which had been changed before the meeting to eliminate many features of a previous plan for the project.

The approval allows AZ Hard Rock to expand its quarry located at Essington Road and 127th Street in Wheatland Township.

The location is bordered by Plainfield and Bolingbrook as well several subdivisions.

The expansion also brings the quarry closer to Liberty Elementary School in Plainfield Community School District 202.

District 202 Superintendent Glenn Wood joined residents in speaking against the plan.

“Are you voting for the economic benefit of a few or the health and safety of hundreds of children and thousands of residents?” Wood asked the board.

County Board Member Frankie Pretzel, R-New Lenox, told residents at the meeting that he believed changes in the quarry plan, which included the elimination of underground mining and an asphalt plant, met many of the concerns previously raised by neighbors.

“This by definition is a compromise whether you like it or not,” Pretzel said.

Pretzel said changes in the plan will make the property “more aesthetically pleasing than it is today.”

His comments were met by rumbles from quarry opponents who eventually shouted Pretzel down before he completed his comments.

The expanded quarry operations still include blasting, which neighbors said posed the prospect of fly rock and other issues that created hazards for the surrounding community.

Some residents hired Tim Martin, a consultant from West Virginia, who talked about the potential hazards from fly rock, which is rock propelled off a quarry site during blasting.

“The fact is there’s no 100% method to guarantee you 100% that you won’t have fly rock,” Martin said.

Opponents brought school children and even preschool children to the County Board meeting as they tried to make a case that the quarry expansion posed a safety hazard.

Changes to the quarry plan include a 30-foot berm, nearly twice the size of the previously proposed berm, to create a buffer between the quarry and neighboring homes along with Liberty Elementary School.

“We created a berm that is nearly five times the county standard,” said Gary Davidson, an attorney representing AZ Rock.

Davidson said AZ Rock removed 80% of the plans previously proposed for the site to address concerns voiced by neighbors.

Those changes, however, did not satisfy neighbors, who said the plan still brings quarry operations closer to Liberty Elementary School and houses in the area.

AZ Rock is one of five quarries that developed in the mid-20th century when the area was still rural and undeveloped.

In more recent decades, residential subdivisions and schools have been built around the quarries, creating the potential clash that developed in the past year as AZ Rock sought to expand.

Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis and others argued that the area has become predominantly residential,

“The ultimate question is whether this is the best place to construct a new quarry,” Agroudelis said.

The county planning staff also recommended against the quarry expansion.

The only organized support for the expansion outside of AZ Rock came from Operating Engineers Local 150, a Joliet-based building trades union that carries significant weight in local politics.

The local represents workers at the quarry, and union representatives urged County Board members to back the expansion.

“Currently, there are 10 to 15 (union) members in this quarry,” Jeff Horne, vice president for Local 150 told the County Board. “These aren’t jobs, they are careers.”