Landfill for construction debris proposed near Sugar Grove

Some Sugar Grove-area residents are protesting a proposal to turn a former sand and gravel mine into a landfill for concrete and asphalt.

Heartland Recycling wants Sugar Grove to annex 48 acres at the northwest corner of Harter Road and Sugar Grove Parkway (Route 47). With annexation, the village could extend sanitary sewers to the site. The annexation agreement would also include rezoning the land from a business designation to one that allows manufacturing.

Feltes Holdings Inc. owns the land now.

Heartland estimates there's room for about 1 million cubic yards of clean construction debris.

The company also wants to mine some remaining sand.

When the site is filled, the company could build on it. Currently, the soils are not suitable for building.

Residents of the area told the village board at a public hearing this week they worry about noise from the operation, which will include crushing concrete. They are also concerned chemicals from the concrete and asphalt could leach into the ground and contaminate their well water. The Kane-DuPage Water and Soil Conservation District has rated the site as having a "moderately high" potential for aquifer contamination.

They also worry about the effect of truck traffic on Harter, especially when school buses are coming and going from Kaneland Harter Middle School. The school is about one-half mile southwest of the site.

The site was mined from at least 1939 through the late 1980s, according to a village report.

The plan commission will continue a public hearing on the request, and discuss it, at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the village hall, 10 S. Municipal Drive.

The application and related documents are available on the village's website, under the "Public Hearings" tab.