OGDEN — Weber county commissioners have denied a controversial petition to rezone 14.15 acres in Eden for a gravel pit near Snowcrest Junior High and less than 160 feet from a water well.
After a lengthy public comment period, commissioner Jim Harvey motioned to deny the petition "because of where it's located — near the school — and the quality of the (dirt) road, the noise (and) because of the water quality," an issue he said he is not sure "we have all of the answers on."
Commissioner Gage Froerer seconded the motion, saying his decision was not based on fear of change.
"The valley is not the same valley that I grew up in most of my life since the early 1950 it is constantly changing," he said, adding that "this is not about no growth, this is about the time and the place."
Commissioner Scott Jenkins was present for the first part of the meeting but left to attend another meeting in Salt Lake City before a final vote was taken.
The commission's decision was in line with a recommendation made by the Ogden Valley Planning Commission after a previous meeting on June 25 that included a visit to the site and public comment.
Residents opposed to the project packed the Weber County Commission Chambers on Tuesday, setting up folding chairs in the hall outside when the room reached capacity.
Many of the concerns expressed focused on noise impacts, air quality and water contamination of an Eden Water Works well head.
Ron Lackey, president of the Eden Water Works association, estimated the site of the proposal to be about 160 feet from the well head and noted that it would be heavily impacted by "any kinds of oil spill, chemical spill, fuel spill."
In presenting the petition, Charlie Ewert, Weber County's principal planner, estimated the expected noise impact for gravel crushing operations to be about 75-80 decibels, or "about the sound of a vacuum cleaner, a continuously operating vacuum cleaner."
However, a number of residents contested this, claiming the noise would in fact be louder.
One resident said he experienced the noise level first hand after his neighbor was granted a temporary permit to have a gravel crusher on his property. "The noise of a vacuum cleaner may not seem like much but try vacuuming a dozen marbles," he said.
Wendy Mckay stepped up to the podium and played a recording on her phone of what she said was noise from a rock crusher 200 feet away. She said she teaches physical education at Snowcrest Junior High and "anything that distracts junior high kids, you know, it's a bad deal."
Land owners and developers said the project had caused a large amount of misinformation.
"I don't do much with the social media but my wife has kept me up to speed. I think (residents) actually convinced her that what I was doing was going to harm the community," said Kody Holker, owner and developer of the property.
Holker said "it wasn't until I actually had the opportunity to explain it to her in a way that presented facts, which is you've been the victim of some misinformation, that regained her support."
Holker said the primary piece of misinformation was to call the operation a "gravel pit," saying instead that the project would be a batch plant.
The difference, he said, would be that his operation would not create a dig but rather excavate into the already existing river bed, which he noted the property already had a permit for.
In response to concerns about water contamination, he said "as a human I have no desire to impact anybody's water negatively. As a businessman, you have no incentive to contaminate water (because of) liability, so our interests are mutually aligned."
In closing the meeting, commissioners praised citizens for participating in the democratic process and lauded the importance of private property rights both for those wishing to submit rezoning petitions and those wishing to oppose.