Marble will be excavated from a quarry west of Emporia, if Lyon County commissioners agree to change zoning for the property.
The Lyon County Planning and Appeals Board on Wednesday evening approved a request on a 3-0 vote to change zoning from agriculture to agriculture special use, rock quarry, on property near Road D and Road 80, west of Olpe. The request came from county commissioner Bob Davis of Olpe, representing Pyramid Stone LLC, a corporation formed on Dec. 12, 2006, according to records of the Kansas Secretary of State.
Planning board members Phil Mott, Trenton Fagg and Gary Watts were present for the vote. Board member Mike Langley abstained because he owns property adjacent to Davis’ property.
Davis said he located high-quality marble on his property and would need the rezoning to be able to remove the marble.
Steve Samuelson, Lyon County zoning administrator and flood plain manager, said that no others had contacted his office regarding the proposed zoning change.
One neighbor, Orio Rodriguez, who lives north and east of the proposed quarry, came to the meeting with concerns about well water, noise and dust. He also was concerned about how his property value would be affected by the quarry.
Davis addressed Rodriguez’s concerns. He said the haul roads have been designated as Road D and Road 70, which are away from Rodriguez’s house.
“In regard to his well, his well is probably going to be about 1,200 feet north of the last place that we quarry,” Davis said. “As to the value of his property, once the excavation is complete, it (the land) will be returned to hay.”
Davis said the quarry will not be high-volume and there will be no blasting at the site. The rock will be hauled out in slabs.
“It’s going to be very low volume,” he said. “Three to four loads a day at peak season.”
Samuelson said this morning that he had toured the Davis property when a state official came to inspect it for licensing, and that the marble will be removed without the drilling and explosives usually associated with rock quarries, which are more common in this area. As the marble is removed, Davis will re-cover the area with dirt.
Davis said the excavation will take place for three to five years at the most.
The Kansas Conservation Commission verified that it had issued a permit to Pyramid on Feb. 23 of this year. Two additional state permits are needed, Samuelson said.
The zoning-change request now will go to Lyon County Commissioners for final approval.
Pyramid Stone LLC’s web site, which is under development, is pyramidstonellc.com. The web site describes the operation as being “In the Beautiful Flint Hills of Central Kansas.”