Regulators have rejected as “shocking and offensive” a proposed Morristown quarry that residents feared would spew toxic dust into their neighborhood. The District 5 Act 250 Commission has been grappling for two years with businessman Garret Hirchak’s request to build a business park on 89 acres of cornfields and forest across Route 100 from the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport. Project backers say the sprawling campus of 26 industrial buildings envisioned for the site would provide sorely needed space for businesses to expand, generating jobs and tax revenue. But neighbors objected to the developers’ plans to operate a quartz quarry on the site that would have removed about 35,000 tons over material per year for a decade. They noted that quartz, when pulverized, creates crystalline silica dust that can lead to dangerous lung diseases, including silicosis. The commission issued its long-awaited findings Friday, approving the business park but rejecting the quarry component. “Finally we’ve got a situation where David beats Goliath!” said Nancy Dunavan, who lives about two miles from the site. The commission found that a quarry isn’t allowed in that part of the town under the town’s own rules. The developer had argued that the project wasn’t really a quarry because it was temporary and “incidental” because it was removing the rock to level the ground for the park. “The Commission concludes that the removal of an 8.5-acre rock hill over a decade cannot be determined to be ‘incidental’ in the plain meaning of the word,” the findings read. The commission also rejected the quarry as likely to be a dangerous source of air pollution, calling the efforts proposed to reduce dust, such as watering the areas during blasting and crushing, inadequate. The commission also rejected the quarry on the grounds that replacing a forested hill and agricultural fields with a loud, dusty industrial quarry making 30 truck trips a day would have an “undue aesthetic effect on the surrounding area.” “When contrasting the existing surroundings with the impacts associated with the proposed disturbance, the Commission finds the project is offensive and shocking,” it wrote. It’s not clear if the developer will move forward with the project without the quarry.Hirchak and his attorney did not immediately return requests for comment. But Dunavan bets he doesn’t. She noted that Hirchak planned to use some of the rock on site and to use proceeds from the sale of the surplus rock to fund the park’s $8 million in construction costs. Dunavan said she believes the state needs to be a welcome place to new businesses, but not to ones that risk human health “I think it’s a fabulous day for Morristown,” Dunavan said. “It just shows that you need to keep fighting the good fight. You can’t give up.” The post Proposed Morristown Quarry Rejected As ‘Shocking and Offensive’ appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less