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Commissioners reject Oakridge rock quarry in 3-2 vote; winery owner Ed King is expected to appeal

by Doug Bates | Aug 3, 2021 | Communities, Front Page, Oakridge/Westfir

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Linda McMahon,oakridge,rock quarry,old hazeldellDoug Bates/The Herald

Linda McMahon, who lives near the site of the rock quarry proposed for TV Butte, was all smiles at the Oakridge Museum as Tuesday’s crucial Lane County Commissioners’ meeting was about to begin. She has led the fight against the gravel-mining proposal since it was first presented in 2015.

By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — Oakridge-Westfir residents won a major victory Tuesday, Aug. 3, in their five-year battle to keep a Lane County billionaire from developing a large-scale gravel crushing operation on one of the town’s scenic buttes.

County Commissioners voted 3-2 to deny the application by Ed King III for a zoning change that would allow him and his partners to mine gravel for the next 50 years on TV Butte at the east edge of Oakridge.

King, co-owner of King Estate winery and heir to the fortune his father made in the electronics industry, is considered certain to appeal. Nevertheless, a rousing cheer went up at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Oakridge Museum, where quarry opponents had gathered to watch a streamed TV production of the commissioners’ meeting being held in Eugene.

old hazeldell quarry,tv butte,rock quarry proposal,ed king,dunning road

King Estates winery co-founder Ed King III proposes turning 46 acres of this butte overlooking Oakridge into a gravel mine that would operate for the next 50 years.

Lane County Commissioner Heather Buch, whose East Lane District includes Oakridge, presented the motion to deny King’s request to rezone the butte from forest land to rock mining. Commissioner Laurie Trieger, representing the county’s South Eugene District, seconded the motion and the two women were joined by Board Chairman Joe Berney of Springfield in rejecting King’s application, originally submitted in 2015.

Voting against denial were West Lane commissioner Jay Bozievich and North Eugene commissioner Pat Farr. Both wanted to reopen the long-running hearing on the quarry and give King a chance to show that his plan’s main sticking point — disruption of the Oakridge elk herd that frequents TV Butte — can be mitigated.

Bozievich and Farr had twice voted previously to approve the quarry proposal. Oakridge opponents appealed both times to LUBA, Oregon’s Lane Use Board of Appeals, and won a pair of victories, first in 2018 and again in 2019. LUBA ruled that the county had made procedural errors and that commissioners had to hold a new public hearing on the quarry proposal.

Ed King,king estates winery,old hazeldell quarry,oakridgeKing Estate

Ed King III at King Estates winery near Eugene.

That public event, called a remand hearing, began April 20 and became a string of hearings in which dozens of Upper Willamette residents testified against the quarry idea. They said silica dust from gravel crushing would exacerbate the town’s air pollution problem while desecrating a former Native American burial site and destroying an important calving area for the local elk herd, among other issues such as excessive noise, truck traffic and groundwater contamination.

Not a single Oakridge-Westfir resident spoke in favor of the gravel mining.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the fourth continuance of the one that began April 20, Bozievich was particularly verbal in defending King’s proposal, called “Old Hazeldell Quarry.” He said more time is needed to show that it “is not as bad as people believe.”

Springfield “has survived with a quarry” for years near Dorris Ranch, Bozievich said. He said Oakridge would survive, too.

Oakridge residents, including business owners, have fiercely contested that notion. They have testified repeatedly that the quarry would seriously damage Oakridge’s status as a burgeoning destination for outdoor enthusiasts.

Linda McMahon of Oakridge, who lives near the site of the proposed quarry and who has led the drive to block it since 2015, was ecstatic after Tuesday’s vote.

“I would like to thank everyone that supported the effort, and the commissioners who did the right thing,” she said. “There was a group cheer, from about 15 people that attended (Tuesday at the Oakridge Museum), and of course some hugs . . . “I think everyone is very happy.”

Technically, the vote to deny King’s quarry application Tuesday was “tentative.” County legal advisers still need to draft the wording for a final motion that will almost certainly pass in yet another meeting on the issue on Oct. 26.

 

 

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Written by Doug Bates

August 3, 2021

Alpine Stream Construction Highway 58 Oakridge Oregon

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