Clarendon mulling zoning changes for Hanson

In what Town of Clarendon Supervisor Richard Moy hopes will put an end to "locking horns" with a multi-national company, officials are attempting to come up with zoning ordinances that it hopes will prevent the town from going to court against Hanson Aggregates New York, Inc.

Zoning laws in the town had been changed and because of those changes, Moy said, Hanson filed a lawsuit against the town. "We are just trying to come up with a compromise so we don't have to go to court," he said. "Up until last year there were on set hours for Hanson's business and they were operating the concrete plant with no restrictions."

Residents Al and Mary Isselhard said that adopting the amended zoning regulations will mean residents will have to hear the trucks entering and leaving the quarry all night long. "The town board began the procedure to change the zoning to satisfy Hanson and they gave away the residents' right to tranquility and quiet," Isselhard said.

Isselhard takes issue with "the town board bowing to Hanson Aggregates while betraying the residents." He urges residents to carefully read the legal notice, to ask questions and, more importantly, to attend the public hearing. (Town of Clarendon Legal Notice printed in the June 13 West Edition of Suburban News).

The proposed zoning ordinance, which will be looked at during a June 23 public hearing involves regulating the hours of operations in the Industrial Mining District in the town. Hanson had commenced legal action against the town challenging "its adoption, interpretation and enforcement of certain operations in the Industrial Mining District and the town board determined it would be advisable to resolve the claims in those proceedings by amending and clarifying the challenged provisions." As part of the zoning process, Hanson has agreed to "permanently remove and never replace the asphalt plant currently located on the Hanson Aggregate property as part of the resolution of all pending proceedings," according to the June 13 legal notice.

Hours and governance of the mining aspect of Hanson is governed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Moy said. The proposed hours of operation would be 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday with no operations on Sunday. All other processing and/or plant operations will be permitted within the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday with no operations on Sundays. There is a clause in the proposal that may allow for extension of hours if there are extenuating circumstances and those events must be documented and made available for the code enforcement officer upon request.

Moy said the compromise is in the best interest of the town, "We've been trying to rein them in a little bit and overall, this is better than what we had."

The public hearing will be held in the Clarendon Town Hall at 7 p.m. on June 23.