Quarry expansion

A physician who can see her home from the quarry plans said fine particulate matter threatens lungs and hearts, noted four schools and four daycares within 2.5 miles, and asked the mayor to keep residents safe.

A pediatrician of 24 years cited a 421-plus-signature petition, called silica a Group 1 carcinogen, and said quarterly testing is insufficient for residents breathing it 24/7.

Asked the council to reject the expansion or delay it, noting the applicant couldn't quantify dust reductions and that 1988 stipulations weren't consistently inspected.

Avoided a pure NIMBY stance but urged the city to measure baseline air quality before digging, noting no legal silica limit exists for the public — only for workers.

Described rattling windows, overrun furnace filters and asthmatic lungs, and said industry standards don't protect a four-generation neighborhood.

Said CRH is a $75 billion international company hiding behind local representatives, that no need for the expansion was shown, and that neighborhood meeting notices were spotty.

In the general comment period, said tying mitigation to expansion felt like a bribe or blackmail and asked the council to impose protections without expansions.

One of the closest homes to the quarry; said the vote was wrong, called for an oversight committee of fire, planning, legal and neighborhood representatives, and urged suspension of the permit until compliance.

Said offers to deed land for 151st Street and fund an intersection sound like a bribe to the Planning Commission and nobody in the neighborhoods wants them.

Said industry standards protect industry, not families; her housebound husband heard daytime blasting; questioned money offered for an intersection fix.

Newly home-based, he was startled by daytime blasting; invited commissioners to lunch on 159th to taste the grit; urged no deviation from the 1988 plan.

Her home is 611 feet from the proposed blast area; raised silicosis and lung-disease risks from silica dust; raising granddaughters there and asked officials to put health above economic growth.

Showed photos of dust covering windows and fields near Old 56; doubted stipulations will actually be enforced since past ones weren't.

Her father built in Lakestone in 1980; china rattles with each blast; she's had worsening allergies and constant dust since moving back three years ago.

Said blasting feels like an earthquake, cracking foundations and limestone rocks; warned underground blasting can intensify ground vibration; called the dust 'poisoning us.'

A CFO experienced with EPA dust rules said the quarry dust is worse than anything at grain elevators; asked commissioners if they'd move their families there.

New sheetrock cracks and ceiling knockdown after every blast; warned the quarry's promises could be empty like the Dakota Access Pipeline's; said one of quarry or homes must eventually go.

Living in Lakestone since 1979; cracks in sheetrock and foundation; nothing has been mitigated in 40 years, so it's hard to believe promises now.

Invited commissioners on a field trip to see the dust themselves; plans to live out her life there and worries about shortened health.

Grit reappears on her counters two hours after cleaning with windows shut; great-grandchildren live with her, and the 22-month-old has developed a cough she fears is dust-related.