Will Co. quarry agrees to groundwater monitoring
By Cindy Wojdyla Cain ccain@stmedianetwork.com October 18, 2012 5:00PM
Maps
Updated: November 20, 2012 11:01AM
JOLIET — Land and Lakes quarry owners have agreed to create a groundwater monitoring plan that Will County officials would like to see used at all quarries that accept clean construction and demolition debris.
The groundwater monitoring requirement, spearheaded by board member Ann Dralle, R-Lemont, was just one of 29 conditions the company accepted to come into compliance with county zoning laws at its 110-acre site on Joliet Road in DuPage Township.
In exchange, the county board approved special use permits and zoning changes that will allow the company to continue accepting construction debris and operating a composting business and an asphalt/concrete plant.
While approving the Land and Lakes deal, board member Lee Ann Goodson, R-Plainfield, urged board members and others to contact the Illinois Pollution Control Board to voice support for a change in state law that would require groundwater monitoring at all quarries that accept construction debris.
Comments can be sent to the pollution control board through Dec. 1 via its website, www.ipcb.state.il.us. Go to the website and click on “Rulemakings Pending Before the Board” and then on “Proposed Amendments to Clean Construction or Demolition Debris Fill Operations.” Goodson said she is hoping to get a public hearing on the measure.
Also Thursday the county board:
◆ Authorized the Will County Public Building Commission to pay Chicago-based DLR Group $427,800 to conduct a site analysis for the county’s Laraway Road complex, which houses the highway department and some of the sheriff’s department offices.
Will County Board Chairman Jim Moustis, R-Frankfort, said the current complex is “costly and inefficient.” The city of Joliet has agreed to extend sewer and water service to the site, which will be needed if the county wants to expand the complex and construct new buildings.
◆ Approved a property tax levy of $111,744,299 million, which is slightly less than the previous year’s levy. The county is counting on increased revenue from other sources, not property taxes, to pay for rising health insurance costs.
◆ Established a policy that would allow the county to buy GPS devices for its highway department vehicles. The move will improve efficiency and safety for both drivers and the public, county officials said.
◆ Allowed Theresa Konrath of Homer Township to apply for a special use permit to run a wildlife rehabilitation operation out of her home on Smith Road.
County zoning rules do not allow such operations in residential areas, so her application was rejected by the county’s zoning administrator. But the county board voted to allow Konrath to go forward with the application, which may or may not be approved after review.
