MILLSTONE — The Township Committee has voted unanimously to grant a temporary extension to the operators of Buck Mining and Materials, Pine Hill Road.
The committee took the action at its meeting on April 15. Voting “yes” on a motion to grant a temporary extension for three weeks were Mayor Bob Kinsey and committee members Michael Kuczinski, Fiore Masci and Nancy Grbelja.
Committeeman Gary Dorfman was absent.
The committee will hold a hearing on the application for Buck Mining and Materials on May 6.
Buck Mining and Materials shut down mining operations on April 1 after a previous temporary extension expired, Kinsey said. He announced that the mine was permitted to resume operations on April 16.
Prior to voting, Kinsey expressed reservations about whether more extensions will be requested regarding Buck Mining and Materials. Kinsey said he feared that professionals will come back and report that more work has to be done at the site.
Further, Kinsey had not received a professional report regarding the site and indicated that he was reluctant to keep voting to approve more extensions.
“How far are we going to extend this?” he said.
Attorney Walter Toto, who represents Buck Mining and Materials, offered some history about the situation. He said the committee graciously gave an extension of a temporary mining permit on Jan. 21.
“On that night, I told the committee I would not be back here asking for a temporary extension and I would not be back until we submitted a complete mining renewal application,” Toto said.
He said the application was submitted that day, but there was a reason for the delay due to inclement weather.
“An essential part of a mining plan renewal in Millstone is to get the aerial [photo],” Toto said. “An aerial could not be done until March 13. I think the committee would agree that, by any standard, it was a severe winter with significant snow cover. In fact, it snowed on the night of the meeting on Jan. 21.”
Toto said an effort was made to act quickly to put together a plan and submit it to the township clerk and township engineer. Next, the committee will hear the full mining renewal, and it will be deemed complete, according to Toto.
Grbelja expressed support for giving an extension until the next township meeting.
“I know there is an agreement in place between the county and [the operator],” she said. “They will be in the process of working out what kind of reclamation has to take place. It seems logical that the weather had an impact. Personally, I don’t have a problem granting an extension.”
Grbelja said she would not support any additional extensions.
“If it’s not complete, I would say don’t grant an extension [again], but I’ll be honest with you. I know they [have been] very good at working with us in trying to prevail at the property and make it work with the county park system. It is going to take time, and they will have to take materials out of there. I am a little more lenient because they have been working diligently with the township. … If it isn’t complete, then I have no problem in May to shut it down. I assume they did a pretty good job.”
Kinsey said Toto had previously indicated that he would not request an extension “and yet here you are.”
Toto said he is confident engineers have completed the five or six items that were deemed incomplete.
“Based on the committee members’ comments, I can’t come back here and ask for another extension,” Toto said. “If I’m not here for a renewal then, that’s that.”
Kinsey quipped that he was going to write down the attorney’s comment.