Quarry neighbors present their griefs
By: John J. Hopkins Times
More than 20 vocal Bellevue residents expresseed during two public hearings Monday their opposition to expansion of the neighboring Buffalo Crushed Stone quarry, using quality of life issues– including health and property damage– as their primary concern.

The company hopes to mine 40 acres of land on a commonly called “isthmus” that juts between its east and west pits at the Como Park Boulevard quarry.

Buffalo Crushed Stone’s mining request to modify its permit with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation must pass the state’s environmental quality review act, or SEQRA, which required the public hearings.

If the request is approved, the quarry’s life would likely be extended by 20 years. Because of litigation between the quarry and the town regarding zoning regulations, the ultimate decision likely will occur in New York State Supreme Court.

Monday’s hearings attracted more than 100 neighborhood residents and town officials to the Bellevue Fire Hall.

“We have a very serious problem in this neighborhood caused by this quarry,” Bennett Road’s Frank Sikorski said, summing up similar complaints. “We will experience more than 20 years of blasting, noise, dust, dirt and oversized truck traffic; we will suffer possible damage to our lives, our sanity and our property. The owners will profit handsomely.”

Sikorski also criticized Buffalo Crushed Stone’s application filed with the DEC, particularly a Draft Environmental Impact Study, stating it was written in a fashion that the average person cannot comprehend.

“I was led to understand that this report was to be written in plain language,” Sikorski added. “Instead, we are presented with a report that is meant, arguably, to overwhelm and discourage the (average) reader.”

Craig A. Slater, attorney for Buffalo Crushed Stone, said that the study includes roughly 15 other studies.

“This is probably one of the most tested, monitored and studied industrial sites in the State of New York,” Slater told the Times. “People complain about air pollution, but we have three or four separate studies that indicate we’re within guidance levels.”

Many residents spoke of cracked walls and windows, and quarry dust settling on homes and cars. They wondered how the quarry affects their property values.

According to Slater, the quarry “spent a lot of money” testing and monitoring dust and vibrations.

“The reports conclude that particulates are not leaving the pit,” Slater said.

Slater also pointed out that the quarry has existed for more than 80 years, long before most of the neighboring homes were built.

A review of the Town of Cheektowaga online assessment system indicates fewer than 25 percent of roughly 670 homes in the Rowley Road-Bennett Road-Como Park Boulevard area near the quarry were built before 1950, with most of those constructed well before 1930.

More than half of the homes, 56.5 percent, were built after 1970, with the majority of them built in three developments located in an area generally bordered by Como Park Boulevard, Indian Road, Borden Road, and Cayuga Creek.

However, many Bellevue residents said that blasting at the quarry wasn’t as frequent when it was owned by Buffalo Slag Company, which was purchased by Buffalo Crushed Stone in 1982.

“I’ve been here all my life,” Ted Kozlowski of Bennett Road said of the quarry’s “intense” blasting. Fifty years ago, “there wasn’t much concern about blasting.”

The town council office has fielded complaints of “window shaking” quarry blasts from as far away as Hillpine Drive, more than 1.5 miles south of the facility.

Reverend Walter Matuszak, pastor of Resurrection Roman Catholic Church, said most of the windows in the now-closed school building have been replaced during the last 15 years. He believes vibrations from quarry blasting damaged the windows.

Barry Haynie remembers thinking something fell on his Como Park Boulevard house the first time he heard and felt a quarry blast.

Cayuga Creek Road resident Hank Sitarek recalled “highly toxic” odors of sulfer from the creek, more than one mile downstream from the quarry, which discharges water into Cayuga Creek.

“My eyes were tearing,” Sitarek said. “A day later, the creek was total gray. It was clear a couple of days before.”

Slater said that the quarry continuously monitors hydrogen sulfide discharges and blasting.

“One of the studies had over 118 seismographs,” Slater added. “I hear the folks talk, and they sound credible, but then you read the reports. All I can do is base my decision on science, which says to me that we’re within state and federal limits on contaminants, dust control and vibrations.”

Town officials also spoke against expansion.

Councilmember Tom Johnson listed 12 items supporting his belief that the permit should not be issued.

Zoning Inspector Dan Ulatowski said the quarry’s plan to relocate “process equipment” to the bottom of one pit, 150 feet below the surface, lacks information related to air quality.

“The stand pipe will be 70 feet below the existing grade,” Ulatowski said, basing his position on information provided by the quarry.

Ulatowski provided pictures of a black plume of smoke coming from the quarry’s equipment rising straight into the air. He noted there was little wind when the pictures were taken.

But, what if it were a windy day and the pipe was much closer to the ground? What effect would this have on neighboring homes, Ulatowski asked, before requesting re-evaluation of a draft environmental impact study.

“Will there be a nuisance factor with these plumes?” Ulatowski asked. “Will they create a nuisance in the neighborhood; will they create a nuisance for motorists using Indian Road or Broadway?”

Johnson noted that quarry-generated dust and diesel fumes from trucks could affect pedestrians and bicyclists using a trail that will be built along Como Park Boulevard.

“I can’t imagine anyone wanting to walk or ride a bicycle down Como Park in these conditions,” observed Sikorski.

Johnson told the Times that the town is compiling statistics pertaining to quarry-generated truck traffic during the past 10 years.

“They’re relying on a 1997 traffic report,” Johnson said. “There is no consideration for Erie County’s rebuilding that road, and the bikeway presents a pedestrian and bicyclist hazard for the trucks.”

Johnson said calculations indicate a truck travels on the Como Park roadway every two minutes.

Residents also took umbrage with plans to fill the pit with water after it is closed. Some noted that underwater plants will not grow on the 150-foot walls, and others said that the lake will be unable to sustain life and therefore will be a “dead” lake.

“They owe it to the surrounding neighborhood to leave something of value other than a 150-foot deep lake,” Johnson told the Times.

Slater said he was not sure how the quarry plans to fill the pit with water, but said that the reclamation plan passed the “muster” of the DEC.

“Whether the residents like the fact that it’s a lake, or if they want it to be condos or a golf course really isn’t up to them,” Slater said. “It’s our property. Of course, we’d like to reuse it in a way that’s compatible with the neighborhood.”

John Stonefield of Garfield Court said that the quarry does not have adequate funding set aside for land reclamation.

“My understanding is they only have $250,000 set aside,” Stonefield said.

Kevin Nowak of Indian Road said that if the permit is approved, it will pave the way for expansion across Indian Road to the east.

“If they get this, they’re going to want that, too,” said Nowak. “There’s no getting around it.”

Slater said that most of the land east of Indian Road was acquired by the quarry prior to 1969.

The latest ruling by State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Glownia limited the quarry’s mining area. He based his opinion on a 1959 zoning agreement between the quarry and town. Both sides are appealing parts of Glownia’s decision.

“We have asserted the right to mine east of Indian Road,” Slater said.

Cheektowaga wants current zoning codes to be enforced, but Buffalo Crushed Stone officials believe the quarry should be grandfathered.

A follow-up “issues conference” to address potential legal problems was held at the fire hall on Tuesday.

Johnson said Tuesday’s meeting lasted seven hours.

“We argued the best we could,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, several comments made by Michael Hanchak, a Bennett Road resident who alleged that Buffalo Crushed Stone would violate New York State environmental law by filling the quarry with water from a nearby aquifer, were stricken from the record, because Hanchak did not have documentation to support his statements.

Slater said that the quarry is “always willing to try and do our job better.”