Valente Quarry Under Fire From Grafton Town Officials
by Alex Brooks
At the Grafton Town Board Meeting on August 10, the R.J. Valente Quarry came in for some criticism. At last month’s meeting, Doug LaRocque told the tale of an extremely loud and violent blast at the mine that he said started an electrical fire on a pole next to Route 2. At the public comment period at the beginning of this month’s meting, LaRocque thanked Supervisor Frank Higgins for relaying the townspeople’s concerns to DEC, which regulates the mine.
[private]Higgins had received a reply just hours before the meeting from a DEC official who investigated the complaint, from the DEC Division of Mines. She said there is an ongoing investigation of “fly rock” between the mine and Route 2. She said that no fly rock was found near where the utility fire was, and she has found no proof that the fire at the utility pole was caused by the July 13 blast which happened just before it started. She said noise levels and blast vibration at the mine are within regulatory limits. so it appears that nothing so far has been documented well enough to cause DEC to take any action on the mine’s practices. But Higgins said he will reply to the DEC letter and bring to their attention a 1997 court order settling disputations between Valente and the Grafton Planning Board about their permit to begin mining there, which listed a number of conditions for how and when the mining would be done. Higgins said he doesn’t believe the company has lived up to any of those stipulations that they agreed to in 1997.
Higgins said there have been other big blasts since the July 13 one, and LaRocque confirmed that he has felt them also. They were not as big as the July 13 blast, but they still rattle the windows at all the houses in the vicinity. Code Enforcement Officer Tom Withcuskey said he has been up to the mine several times since last month to talk to them about some of these issues. One truck this month did not have its gate fully secured,and spread quite a bit of rock on Route 2. Another did not have its tarp secured on a dry day, and spewed rock dust all over the road. Withcuskey said the dust is a regular occurrence, and when it is followed by rain, it creates extremely slippery conditions. He said sooner or later, these problems are bound to cause an accident on Route 2 near the mine entrance.
Time Warner Installing Cable At A Furious Pace
Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck said Time Warner has called in two more companies to help them get all the cable installed in Town. They now have eight crews working in Town, and they still hope to be finished by sometime around the end of the month. Those who have been in touch with the people from Time Warner have heard that the job is a bit more difficult than the company had anticipated. They are stringing wire through the woods in many parts of Town, and they have had to bring in special climbing crews.
Post Office
Structural Problems
Herb Hasbrouck also brought to the Town Board’s attention some serious problems with the Post Office building (owned by the Town). He said the handicap ramp is “totally rotted out,” and he said the posts holding up the roof of the entry way are moving and may be weakened too much to sustain the snow load next winter. He said an engineer should look at the situation as soon as possible so the Town can make arrangements to fix the problem.
State Wants A Map
Hasbrouck also said he met with people from the State DOT. They are requiring that the Town get a GPS map made up which has all the Town roads on it, and show precise mileage. He will be working on gathering the information for this map. He said the State has reduced the mileage of Town roads in Grafton by 5.6 miles, which reduces the Town’s aid from the State. Hasbrouck said he hopes to gain those miles back after he documents the mileage on all the Town roads.
He also said speed limits are supposed to be entered into the information on these GPS maps, so the Town Board may need to take action to establish speed limits. Hasbrouck recommended that the Town Board set a speed limit for all Town roads of 25 miles per hour. Supervisor HIggins replied that he had spoken to a DOT bureaucrat who told him the Town couldn’t do that, but he thought that more research is necessary to determine how speed limits can be set.
New Kennel Contract
The Board voted unanimously in favor of a kennel contract with the Mohawk-Hudson Humane Society to handle dogs picked up by the Dog Officer. The Town agrees to pay $65 per day for dogs held at the facility. The contract was approved subject to approval from Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo.[/private]