Despite concerns from property owners, the Koochiching County Board Tuesday approved two rock quarry operation requests — one in the Moonlight Rock area and the other in Margie.

On a 4-1 vote, the board approved a conditional use permit request by Wagner Construction for a rock quarry near the end of County Road 144, also known as Moonlight Rock Road. Commissioner Kevin Adee voted against the motion.

The permit was approved with the contingency that County Road 144 cannot be used to haul materials, unless a specific agreement is in place with the county.

The board on Jan. 14 took no action on the quarry request to allow two commissioners and county Engineer Joe Sutherland to meet with staff of Packaging Corporation of America, which now owns the Boise paper mill, to discuss allowing the operator to use a company road to access and haul materials from the proposed rock quarry.

The PCA road is being considered because of safety concerns and deterioration of County Road 144, should the operation use it to haul material.

“I have not heard of anything regarding alternative routes,” Dale Olson, county Environmental Services director, told the board Tuesday.

Board Chairman Rob Ecklund said Commissioner Wade Pavleck and himself would on Thursday discuss potential alternative routes.

“I’ll leave it at that because we don’t know where discussion (with a landowner) will go,” he said.

Opposition to the quarry was expressed by property owners living in the Moonlight Rock area.

Resident Terry Randolph, who lives on County Road 144, said he lives less than one mile from the proposed quarry.

“If an alternate route or road is put in place, that is the only equation removed from all the environmental concerns,” he said listing concerns about runoff, dust, noise, vibration and a impact to a capped industrial landfill nearby.

Cindy Black, another County Road 144 resident, said she was also concerned about the landfill.

“With all the vibration of the trucks running by, if they find an alternative route, who is going to be responsible for that landfill?” she asked. “It’s not going to bust up this week or next week, but years down the line with all of that happening, where’s it going to run off to?”

Debbie Bowman reminded commissioners that Bowman Construction was in the middle of a project on County Road 144 in July, when the road was switched to a 4-ton road.

“That certainly hindered our job,” she said. “That road hasn’t changed, it isn’t any better. It stopped us from doing anything.”

Still, others voiced support for the project.

Craig Halla, Molpus Timberlands Management property manager, said while Molpus isn’t associated with the project, it is, the current landowner of the project.

“We feel the proximity of this property to International Falls has better use than open space,” he said.

Halla added while he understands concerns expressed by neighbors to the property, he felt the quarry would be a good opportunity for economic development.

Margie quarry

The second conditional use permit request came to the board from Gerald Albrecht for a quarry on County Road 61 southwest of Margie.

On a 3-2 vote, the board approved Albrecht’s request to expand the footprint of his current quarry that was rezoned in 2007. Adee and Pavleck voted against the motion.

Olson said there was “quite a bit of opposition” to the project.

Margie resident Dawn Eve said damage from blasting has occurred to her properties. Eve said she has shown the board photos of damage in the past and has spent thousands of dollars in legal fees concerning the damage.

“How do I get protected?” she asked. “I know that it’s not going to work to sue Gerald Albrecht because it drags out for years and years. Do I sue the county? I would never want to do that, I want to do good things for this county. I want help. I need protection.”

Pavleck said he believes Margie has been a victim of inconsistent practices by the county board over all the years he has served as a commissioner.

“Margie is an island in a sea of wetlands...It should be protected out there,” he said. “Yet the people don’t have enough of a voice to get the county board to relocate blasting operations further away...It seems to me if we continue this operation – when does it end?”

The commissioner continued that two years before Albrecht applied for the quarry, the county board denied a large contractor the ability to blast in Margie.

“Then two years later, we turn around and grant it,” he said. “These people have been a victim here in that sense...It’s nothing personal, it’s an issue of fairness.”