by Kieron Kramer
The Grafton Planning Board met on Monday, October 20, at 6:30 pm instead of the usual meeting time of 7 pm because the Town Board meeting was to meet at 7. The Town Board meeting had been moved from October 13 because of the Columbus Day holiday. According to Planning Board Chairman Tom Withcuskey, all Planning Board members were present, the minutes of the September meeting were approved and there was no old business and no new business.
[private]There was however a complaint raised during the informal discussion by a neighbor of the Valente Mine on Route 2 near the Brunswick Town line having to do with the dust created by the mining process there. Withcuskey said that Nancy La Rocque complained about a film of “red dust” inside her house. Withcuskey said he was aware that there can be a dust problem on windy days and that there have been several high wind days lately. He said he goes up to the mine to make sure that they are wetting down the dust. He told La Rocque to give him a call when there is a problem and to call the DEC as well. He said that he gave La Rocque the NYSDEC phone number.
In a telephone interview Withcuskey said that he has heard “nothing on it so far” about the Valente application for the change of use for the site. Valente applied for a permit to expand operations at the mine. It was expected that once the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was filed with the DEC, which was done in mid-September, a public hearing would be held on the scope of the EIS to be followed by consideration of the application by the Grafton Planning Board with a public hearing in Grafton. At the September Planning Board meeting Valente’s consultants said that there are many variables to be considered before the company’s final decision to expand operations. Withcuskey said at that time that it takes four months “or better” for the DEC to respond to the comments about the EIS. Withcuskey said he will call Nancy M. Baker, DEC Deputy Permit Administrator, to see where the application stands.[/private]