A sand and gravel quarry project proposed for the Paicines Ranch ran up against so much opposition, the applicant pulled the project before it even reached official consideration.
Sallie Calhoun had proposed the Paicines Quarry project for the Paicines Ranch, which often hosts local events such as the annual Kinship fundraiser and promotes itself as historic, majestic and environmentally friendly, as the ranch features its use of 7,000 acres for what it calls holistic cattle grazing. The quarry project, meanwhile, has been on the table for a “couple months” as the planning department assembled a team to work on the environmental work, said Byron Turner, interim planning director.
On Monday, the day before the county board had been set to consider approving a $367,000 contract with an outside environmental consultant – as the county had set up a reimbursement agreement for the work with the ranch – Calhoun withdrew her permit application for the proposal.
“We had already gotten significant opposition to it,” Turner said.
The permit withdrawal all but kills the project for now, he said.
“This is no longer an issue,” he said about the quarry debate.
Opponents of the project slated for an area of the ranch off Highway 25 north of Murphy Road claimed it would entail strip mining and expressed concerns about traffic, water use, impacts on wildlife and the potential aesthetic effects from the mining site, among other complaints.
Turner referred to it as a proposal for a sand and gravel quarry. He said there are “a few” other sand and gravel quarries in the county.
Calhoun could not be reached immediately for comment.
Look back for more on this story.
For more on the Paicines Ranch, go to paicinesranch.com.
For more from the opposition to the project, go to facebook.com/PaicinesRanchStripMine.
