SHEPARD SETTLEMENT - With the Skaneateles Town Board's public hearing on possible changes to the town's mining zone on the horizon, Shepard Settlement residents are making their opinions known.
In front of houses on Foster, Stump, Hoyt and other roads in the rural hamlet are red-and-white signs that state, in large capital letters: “NO NEW MINES.”
The signs went up about two weeks ago, said Susan VanCamp, who has one in front of her Foster Road residence.
“(They're) just to show the cohesion of the neighborhood,” said VanCamp, who grew up in Shepard Settlement. “We're all united in just our passion to keep the mines out.”
There are currently about 40 signs on display, said Bunny McLaud, the Hoyt Road resident who came up with the signage idea.
Though at least three have been vandalized - with the “NO” portion being ripped off the top - McLaud said that there was no trouble distributing the signs and that many neighbors called to get one.
On Thursday, June 7, the town board will host a public hearing regarding possible changes to the town's mining district, which currently is located north of Old Seneca Turnpike in the rural and farming district and is home to primarily sand and gravel mines. The meeting the Skaneateles Fire Department on Fennell Street starts at 7:30 p.m.
In August 2006, the board enacted a moratorium on new mining operations after several Shepard Settlement residents expressed concerns about what they say are the environmental, quality of life and safety problems that mining causes.
The impetus for the discussion was Cemento LLC's 2006 application to expand its mining operations across the street from its current Stump Road location.
That moratorium has since been extended twice, each time for 60 days.
On April 5, in a 3-2 decision, board members voted for the Orange Alternate, an option that would reduce the overall size of the mining district and would not permit a new mine to operate within 200 feet of property lines or within 100 feet of watercourse.
But many residents of Shepard Settlement had hoped that board members would approve the Blue Alternate, as district boundaries would then have been drawn around existing mines, ruling out any further expansion.
“I'm of the no compromise camp,” said VanCamp, whose sister and parents still live in Shepard Settlement.
“It's a residential area. (Mining) does not belong. It's out of place.”
Lorance Yates, who has lived on Hoyt Road for 46 years in an 1805 house that he says is one of the oldest in the hamlet, said that Shepard Settlement residents have learned to live with the current mines but that he would really like to see no mines at all.
Truck traffic caused by the mines has gotten progressively worse in the last five or six years, he said, noting that the trucks are loud and leave behind dirt.
If the town board passes the proposal, Yates said, it needs to lay down some rules about how many trucks a day can travel those roads and should set a route on which they can travel.
Like many others in the hamlet, VanCamp can point out the area's various family farms and explain the stories behind them.
Shepard Settlement is a tight-knit community that goes back for generations, VanCamp explained, and she would like her 6-year-old daughter to have that same experience.
“We knew what kind of life we wanted, and it was one of just living in the country,” VanCamp said, noting that she and her husband have seriously talked about moving if new mines are allowed to be developed in the area.
“(My daughter's) education has been the classroom without walls.”
Bob and Marge Sykes, who run a bed and breakfast on Foster Road, are frustrated with what they see as an unresponsive town board.
“Here we have some on the town board who have chosen to favor a few individuals instead of the many residents that they represent,” Marge Sykes wrote in a prepared statement. “Not only are they paving the way for the biggest sand and gravel mine to be opened in the heart of our neighborhood; they are saying that no place else in the whole town should be there be any future mines except right here in the same neighborhood.”
“I feel,” Sykes continued, “we are unfairly targeted to provide a resource to a wide area when there are too many other places to mine the same material in more rural areas.”
Andrew Leja, Cemento's attorney, has said in the past that the company invested more than $800,000 into research and technical aspects for Cemento's expansion, long before a moratorium was even discussed. The town, Leja has contested, did not show a dire need for a moratorium because Cemento had been the only company exploring mining operations. Earlier this month, the town's planning board failed to pass the town's proposal but did pass a recommendation that moves the mining district from north of Old Seneca Turnpike to north of Stump Road.
The signs went up about two weeks ago, said Susan VanCamp, who has one in front of her Foster Road residence.
“(They're) just to show the cohesion of the neighborhood,” said VanCamp, who grew up in Shepard Settlement. “We're all united in just our passion to keep the mines out.”
There are currently about 40 signs on display, said Bunny McLaud, the Hoyt Road resident who came up with the signage idea.
Though at least three have been vandalized - with the “NO” portion being ripped off the top - McLaud said that there was no trouble distributing the signs and that many neighbors called to get one.
On Thursday, June 7, the town board will host a public hearing regarding possible changes to the town's mining district, which currently is located north of Old Seneca Turnpike in the rural and farming district and is home to primarily sand and gravel mines. The meeting the Skaneateles Fire Department on Fennell Street starts at 7:30 p.m.
In August 2006, the board enacted a moratorium on new mining operations after several Shepard Settlement residents expressed concerns about what they say are the environmental, quality of life and safety problems that mining causes.
The impetus for the discussion was Cemento LLC's 2006 application to expand its mining operations across the street from its current Stump Road location.
That moratorium has since been extended twice, each time for 60 days.
On April 5, in a 3-2 decision, board members voted for the Orange Alternate, an option that would reduce the overall size of the mining district and would not permit a new mine to operate within 200 feet of property lines or within 100 feet of watercourse.
But many residents of Shepard Settlement had hoped that board members would approve the Blue Alternate, as district boundaries would then have been drawn around existing mines, ruling out any further expansion.
“I'm of the no compromise camp,” said VanCamp, whose sister and parents still live in Shepard Settlement.
“It's a residential area. (Mining) does not belong. It's out of place.”
Lorance Yates, who has lived on Hoyt Road for 46 years in an 1805 house that he says is one of the oldest in the hamlet, said that Shepard Settlement residents have learned to live with the current mines but that he would really like to see no mines at all.
Truck traffic caused by the mines has gotten progressively worse in the last five or six years, he said, noting that the trucks are loud and leave behind dirt.
If the town board passes the proposal, Yates said, it needs to lay down some rules about how many trucks a day can travel those roads and should set a route on which they can travel.
Like many others in the hamlet, VanCamp can point out the area's various family farms and explain the stories behind them.
Shepard Settlement is a tight-knit community that goes back for generations, VanCamp explained, and she would like her 6-year-old daughter to have that same experience.
“We knew what kind of life we wanted, and it was one of just living in the country,” VanCamp said, noting that she and her husband have seriously talked about moving if new mines are allowed to be developed in the area.
“(My daughter's) education has been the classroom without walls.”
Bob and Marge Sykes, who run a bed and breakfast on Foster Road, are frustrated with what they see as an unresponsive town board.
“Here we have some on the town board who have chosen to favor a few individuals instead of the many residents that they represent,” Marge Sykes wrote in a prepared statement. “Not only are they paving the way for the biggest sand and gravel mine to be opened in the heart of our neighborhood; they are saying that no place else in the whole town should be there be any future mines except right here in the same neighborhood.”
“I feel,” Sykes continued, “we are unfairly targeted to provide a resource to a wide area when there are too many other places to mine the same material in more rural areas.”
Andrew Leja, Cemento's attorney, has said in the past that the company invested more than $800,000 into research and technical aspects for Cemento's expansion, long before a moratorium was even discussed. The town, Leja has contested, did not show a dire need for a moratorium because Cemento had been the only company exploring mining operations. Earlier this month, the town's planning board failed to pass the town's proposal but did pass a recommendation that moves the mining district from north of Old Seneca Turnpike to north of Stump Road.
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WAKE UP WROTE wrote on May 30, 2007 7:10 PM:
bob the builded wrote on May 30, 2007 12:40 PM: