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The Cleveland Plain Dealer
www.cleveland.com
Geauga Park District board objects to planned
asphalt plant
Thursday, October 19, 2000
By JOHN HORTON
The proximity of environmentally sensitive park properties
to land targeted for two asphalt plants is reason for alarm,
according to Geauga Park District commissioners.
The board recently sent a letter to the Ohio Environmental
Protection Agency and Burton Township expressing concern
for the plants proposed on Old Rider and White roads by
Shalersville Asphalt Co. of Portage County. Local residents
already have spoken out vehemently against each proposal.
The future of the asphalt plant plans rests with
the township Board of Zoning Appeals.
"We’re not in favor of this," Robert McCullough,
park board chairman, said. "We have some of the rarest
plants and animals in Ohio on land near these sites. These
are some of the most precious natural areas in Northeast
Ohio. Naturally, we are very concerned."
The plant proposed on Old Rider Rd. within the Haueter
Sand and Gravel quarry is about a mile from the Burton Wetlands
Nature Preserve, a 287-acre property dedicated as a state
nature preserve, officials said. It also is near the Nature
Conservancy’s neighboring White Pine Bog Forest, home to
more than 40 federal and state threatened and endangered
species.
In addition, Eldon Russell Park in Troy Township
is two miles from the Haueter site and three miles from
the White Rd. location. The 132-acre park is along the Upper
Cuyahoga River, which carries a state scenic river designation.
The nature preserve and the bog forest are within the Upper
Cuyahoga’s watershed.
All of the sites are extremely sensitive to any adverse
change in air quality, runoff or ground water, officials
said.
Attorney David Ondrey, representing Shalersville
Asphalt, said that the plants would have minimal, if any,
environmental impact and that all concerns would be addressed
during public hearings. Township officials said they expected
to schedule hearings for December or January.
Burton Township Zoning Inspector Alan Skeen rejected
both proposals this summer. He turned down the Haueter site
because it was in an area zoned for homes and cited township
regulations prohibiting noxious, dangerous or offensive
operations in denying the other site. The company appealed
Skeen’s decision to the board.
Shalersville Asphalt also needs permits from the
Ohio EPA to open the plants.
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