TOWN OF COOKS VALLEY
Special Town Board Meeting
June 20, 2018
The Joint Meeting of the Town of Cooks Valley board/Plan Commission informational meeting was called to order on June 20, 2018 at the Cooks Valley Town Hal (15751 40th Street) at 7:30 pm by Chairman Darrel Fehr. Supervisor present was Matt Borofka and plan commission members Doug Zwiefelhofer, Tom Short, Calvin Swartz, Damian Prince, and Stanley Sarauer. Other town official present was Victoria Trinko-clerk. See attachment for attendees.
Discussion between Town of Cooks Valley board, Town of Cooks Valley Plan Commission, and Chippewa Sand concerning Chippewa Sands proposed expansion: Matthew Heath, Health-Safety-Environmental Manager, introduced Mark Krumenacher, GZA representative, a certified professional geologist in Wisconsin, who worked to develop the reclamation plan and Non-Metallic Mining application. Mark Krumenacher gave the background on the first Chippewa Sand mining site permitted saying Chippewa Sand can’t efficiently mine the original mine site due to restrictions of the original boundaries. Chippewa Sand spends more time managing water and overburden than mining. Managing water with zero discharge is difficult and was a mistake to have this provision in the original mining reclamation and permit. Chippewa Sand considers this as not an expansion but permitting of the original contracted mine property. They had to redesign for a 100 year/24 hour event to handle the water as to prevent the discharge of water off the mine site. With the new expansion, 75% of the land will be mined and 25% will not be mined. A small wetland will have to be permitted as they can’t avoid it in the mining process. They will leave 280 feet of land unmined from the property boundary. Trees will grow on the overburden slope and on the sandstone slope.
On the process of storm water vs. contaminated water: Mark Krumenacher stated water from a rain event will contain organic material, leaf material, top soil, and sediment and can leave the mine, but if the water touches the soil; it can not leave the mine site unless it is clean. The storm water will be changed and the process water will be contained.
Public Comment with possible limit to three (3) minutes per person:
Gene Pagel: Will there be more trucks on the road with the expansion? Matt Heath said the number of trucks will remain the same as presently operating.
Doug Zwiefelhofer: Will the processing plant be moved as the mine expands or will the sand be transported a mile to the wash plant? Matt Heath: the wash plant will remain in the present location throughout the expansion.
Stanley Sarauer: Will the storage ponds be relocated? Matt Heath: when they move into the reserve; they will construct a new storm water system.
Mark Berge: Are you going to mine it all at once? Matt Heath: There will be no more active area that is open now. Chippewa Sand will claim more of the land as they open more mining area.
Victoria Trinko: The South Pond is a 25 acre feet pond and an estimated run-off in Phase IV is at 25 acre feet; Isn’t that cutting it too close? Matt Heath: When Chippewa Sand moves into the next area, they will build the storage water pond to catch the run-off that meets the request of the County and will be able to contain the run-off.
Darrel Fehr: About reclaiming the back slope as a sheer cliff? Mark Krumenacher: It is impractical to reclaim the slope, as there is not enough overburden.
Darrel Fehr: We have the opportunity to correct this now, so in the future we won’t have a problem of safety.
Doug Zwiefelhofer: Your job is to mine and our job is to ask about taking less sand, so the mine site can be safer and better looking.
Mark Krumenacher: According to the County, 500,000 cubic yards of material will be needed to reclaim the slope for a 3:1.
There was discussion of sloping, stabilization, and aesthetics.
Doug Zwiefelhofer: Concerning the wetlands, will you pressure the County on wetlands delineations? Mark Krumenacher: The DNR will come out to concur with the lines or tell them they have to improve. Two expert ecologists came out and delineated the wetlands. There will be a 100 ft. buffer around the wetlands. The delineations will be for five years, as wetlands change according to amount of rainfall.
Darrel Fehr: Are you going to pave back to the stock pile as they are tracking sand out onto the road? Could you load the trucks on black top? Matt Heath: They are talking about expanding the paving past the scale.
Darrel Fehr: Chippewa Sand has to improve the dust control problem. Matt Heath: Chippewa Sand has to develop a fugitive dust control plan. The water truck broke down. They monitor the wind and dryness of the pile and if the dust is blowing too much; they shut down the trucks and the mining operation.
Darrel Fehr: What happened to the plan of installing sprinklers on the top of the piles? Matt Heath: They need to take a good look at that sprinkler system. Darrel Fehr said you have to fix it.
There was discussion of concerns that have been expressed over the years-dust control, dirt on the road, testing pressed materials, the spreading of pressed material in the overburden; and the testing of wells.
Gene Pagel: Will there be air monitoring? Matt Heath: The previous three year monitoring showed there was no problem with dust particles; it was within the normal limits.
There will be no other changes to the permit as far as the number of trucks, hours of operation, etc.
Adjourn: Darrel Fehr made a motion to adjourn at 9:40 pm. Calvin Swartz seconded the motion. The motion carried 7-0.
Typed: June 26, 2018 Respectfully submitted
Approved: July 9, 2018 Victoria Trinko -Town Clerk