Quarry expansions shift away from river

<p>Tiny Forestville will be the first community hit by Sonoma County's shift toward quarries and away from rock mined along the Russian River for construction projects.</p><p>The west county town has two rock quarries across Highway 116 from each other and both are poised to supply rock for a number of major road and public works projects</p><p>One of them, Canyon Rock Quarry, secured tentative approval Tuesday from Sonoma County supervisors to expand mining operations in an area with the potential for 60 years worth of high quality aggregate demanded for road and building projects.</p><p>The other, Blue Rock Quarry, plans a similar proposal.</p><p>During a five-hour session attended by more than 200 people, debate centered on how supervisors were going to mitigate environmental effects of quarry mining and trucks rumbling through town while shifting mining operations off the banks of the Russian River, a move intended to improve fish habitat and protect water quality.</p><p>Many Forestville residents turned out, some to oppose quarry mining but an equal number to support the request by Canyon Rock owner Wendel Trappe to mine 35 acres north of his current quarry site.</p><p>"There is no consensus in town in part because of (personal support for) the Trappe family," said Richard Naegle, president of the Forestville Planning Association. "People have been willing to put up with this. This is a tough one because there are others coming down."</p><p>Canyon Rock's rezoning request didn't seek additional mining extraction beyond the 750,000 tons currently permitted. Blue Rock, however, has filed documents indicating it wants to triple aggregate production.</p><p>"I agree we need rock, but the question is where we get it from," said Sig Anderman of Forestville Citizens for Sensible Growth, who said he preferred rock brought from Canada by barge or from the Sacramento Valley by truck.</p><p>Forestville residents, however, were outnumbered by people in the construction and trades industries who sported "We Need Rock" stickers and called for local rock for local projects.</p><p>"We had $28 million in projects canceled, a quarter of it in Sonoma County, because of budgets related to increasing costs of materials," said Steve Geney, president of North Bay Construction in Petaluma. "If we don't have the local aggregate, we won't get as much done on Measure M (transportation sales tax) projects."</p><p>County planning officials say 87 percent of rock mined here stays in Sonoma County with almost all the exports winding up in Marin and Napa counties.</p><p>The Canyon Rock and Blue Rock operations are two of four county quarries considered capable of producing high quality aggregate used in concrete, asphalt and road base.</p><p>Officials estimated the county will need about 5.3 million tons of aggregate by 2010 to handle widening of Highway 101 as well as several large construction and water supply projects.</p><p>County officials soon will begin grappling with a request by Syar Industries for a five-year extension of terrace mining along the Russian River.</p><p>Although its gravel mining operations are scheduled to end in April, the company blames permit delays for its inability to extract its allotted amount from the river by the county-imposed deadline.</p><p>County Permit and Resource Management Department officials meet at 6:30 p.m. tonight to collect public testimony on what factors should be considered in an environmental impact report on Syar's request.</p>