Town officials from Westerly and Charlestown, Connecticut, have set up a committee to prepare an ordinance regulating the local quarry industry.
The Town Council appointed the committee in response to the complaints lodged against Copar Quarries of Westerly and Armetta Sand & Stone, when the two companies leased the Comolli family’s 108-acre quarry property in Bradford from October of 2010 to August of 2015, when Armetta filed for bankruptcy, the Westerly Sun reports.
The committee met for the second time Monday and gave the consultant, Patricia D. Steere of Steere Engineering of Warwick, an overview of what the ordinance should include.
The ordinance could also be applied to Cherenzia Excavation, the only current quarry operator in the town. Cherenzia operates quarries in White Rock and off Old Hopkinton Road. The company is also working under a contract with the Comolli’s Westerly Granite Co to clean unwashed sand piles left by Armetta and Copar.
Migrating silica dust, noise, and the effects of blasting were among the concerns raised by committee members. Gagnier also noted that a resident, Jack Daniels, fell to his death off of a quarry cliff in May of 2015 after riding a dirt bike onto the property from an adjacent management area owned by the state.
The committee also discussed requiring quarry operators to post a bond to help ensure quarry sites are remediated or returned to a usable form once quarrying is completed.
