Residents Continue to Weigh in on Hanson Proposal

For more than a month, residents have been showing up to meetings with an agenda: to speak out during public comment against ’s now-defunct proposal to expand mining onto an 80-acre parcel along Taylor Road.

On Wednesday, several people showed up to voice support for the quarry's plan, saying it would bring jobs to Romeoville.

Tony Deliberto II, a Romeoville resident and member of Operating Engineers Local 150, said he plans to attend the Feb. 14 Planning & Zoning Commission hearing on Hanson’s proposal.

“Anything that will benefit jobs and put local families back to work, I’m in favor,” Deliberto said.

Kara Principe, an attorney for the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting, said representatives from her group also plan to attend the Feb. 14 hearing.

She said Hanson’s plan would bring “much-needed, longer-term jobs” for laborers and bring money into Romeoville.

Dan Davis, a resident of the Nottingham Ridge subdivision, took issue with Principe’s comments.

“It’s much more important for the residents of Romeoville to not have to worry about breathing in dust,” he said.

Hanson amends proposal

In January, the village issued a statement announcing that officials would not be approving Hanson’s request to begin mining on the Taylor Road site, known as the Spangler property.

“Mayor [John] Noak also indicated that the Village remains open to further discussions with Hanson/Material Service Corporation concerning its properties that are presently annexed and zoned for quarrying,” .

Last week, Hanson amended its proposal, which no longer includes a request to mine the Spangler property.

“There’s lots of things that are there,” Village Manager Steve Gulden said of the amended request, adding the updated proposal revisits the original agreement the company, then known as Material Service Corp., inked with Romeoville in 1995.

“Our goal is to start looking at the original ’95 agreement and make it better,” Gulden said. “The Spangler parcel has been taken off the table and will not be considered.”

In recent weeks, residents have expressed concerns that, despite the rejection of the Spangler parcel request, the village may increase the maximum allowed blasting levels. 

“We’re not looking at changing the blasting standards,” Noak told Patch last month.

Gulden responded to a resident who spoke up during public comment, clarifying a for a decade.

“We have collected the taxes,” Gulden said.

During negotiations over the current proposal, the village discovered that it had not received tax differential payments from Hanson since 1999, for a total of $505,758 in missed payments. Under the original 1995 agreement, the quarry had agreed to pay the difference between the amount of its property taxes and $100,000. The differential was to be paid in addition to the company’s property taxes.

“We are currently negotiating collection of that differential,” Gulden said.

The Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, at , 100 N. Independence Blvd.