Cary puts off gravel pit vote

More than 150 residents came to the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn Tuesday night expecting the Cary village board to vote on Meyer Material Co.'s proposal for a gravel mine on land west of the Fox Trails subdivision.

After an hour of discussion on the controversial mine, the residents learned they will have to wait at least until Oct. 16 for a decision on the proposal.

The village board aired its concerns about Meyer's proposal Tuesday and decided that discussion would continue at its Oct. 16 meeting. A vote on the matter may also come at that time.

"I'm not interested in hurrying this process along," Cary Mayor Steve Lamal said before requesting that discussion continue at the meeting next month. Lamal said the move would give Meyer time to respond to the board's concerns and revise its proposal.

Fox Trails homeowners and other residents of the village oppose the mine, citing concerns over noise, property values and the effect the pit would have on water and air quality.

Board members raised up many of the same issues when questioning Meyer Tuesday night.

Many of the concerns were documented in an Aug. 17 memorandum from Lamal. The memo called on Meyer to shorten the period during which it would mine the land from 10 to eight years, to post a $2 million letter of credit to ensure the firm restores the land in a set time frame, and to improve measures concealing the property from nearby homes.

Meyer agreed to many of these conditions at Tuesday's meeting, most notably the shorter period for extraction and the tighter time frame and larger letter of credit for restoration work.

"We could be able to accomplish the extraction in an eight-year period," Meyer risk manager Randi Wille said. Wille said Meyer would post a $3.2 million letter of credit for the restoration work -- an even greater sum than proposed by the mayor.

But village trustees said they had many concerns that haven't been addressed.

Chief among those concerns were desired guarantees from Meyer that they would compensate residents for lost home value, Meyer's ability to demonstrate it had an adequate disaster recovery plan in place, and the elimination of Saturdays from Meyer's hours of operation.

These and other issues will be addressed at the Oct. 16 meeting.