The Zoning Board of Appeals has granted Cape Cod Aggregates a six-month extension to complete excavation work at a site on the Scenic Highway in Bourne, Massachusetts.
A report by Cape Cod Times says the decision comes as residents surrounded the sand and gravel pit asking it to end.
Once the extension is over, Cape Cod Aggregates is scheduled to return to the board with a status on the work and to have a plan for remediation of the site to be finished within two years.
According to the report, the bond required of the company will be increased from $100,000 to $250,000 to serve as insurance in case the company goes out of businesses and leaves the site in its current state.
Harold Kalick, board member, says: "I empathise with the neighbors. They have a problem and that stinks."
The Zoning Board of Appeals attempted to close the business in 2003. This decision was reversed by state Land Court Judge Leon Lombardi, resulting in the town and the company entering into a settlement agreement over operations at the site.
Roger Laporte, building inspector, says: "In 2004, the company lobbied the Zoning Board of Appeals to allow digging at the site until 2016. Two years ago, the company asked for an extension to continue to the end of 2018."
Samuel Lorusso, owner of Cape Cod Aggregates, says: "Without the extension, the business would have to be shut down. The gravel left in the pit needs to be extracted in order to finish the restoration process."
David Peterson of Cape Cod Aggregates, states that restoration work has carried on for two years and is being implemented in phases.
"Although the company believed they could get it done in the past two years, there is still about 18 months more work to do," Peterson adds.
The 126-acre site, which is bounded by the Scenic Highway, includes residential roads, and neighborhoods.
In 1995, Cape Cod Aggregates bought the property and mines sand and gravel to be used in construction projects.
Last Wednesday, a 'Cape Cod Aggregates conditions report' was submitted to the town clerk’s office. It noted the business uses a wet dust suppression system, and vehicles leaving the site use a wheel wash to clean tires of debris
According to this report: "Observations made on 30 Nov — a sunny, low-wind day — in the surrounding neighborhoods showed that paved driveways and vehicles appeared free of dust."
Engineering Technologies has recommended that the company post more visible signed to enforce the speed limit and use a street sweeper at the entrance of the property at least once per week.
As part of the settlement between Cape Cod Aggregates and the town, an acoustical consulting firm evaluates the environmental sound levels in the neighborhoods near the sand and gravel excavation and processing site.
The report from Cape Cod Aggregates explains: "For the past 15 years, Cavanaugh Tocci Associates has measured sound at the site. Although sound recorded near the residences on Heather Hill Road indicates the facility’s crusher plant is clearly audible and distinguishable from background sound, it remains in compliance with Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection regulations."
Also, the noise level from the site in the Glacier Way neighborhood has been generally indistinguishable from Route 3 and Route 6 traffic except for occasional back-up alarms.
Cavanaugh Tocci believes the sound from Cape Cod Aggregates has been less distinguishable over the years due to the increase of traffic on Route 6.
