Tilcon Connecticut, the company that was at the center of a major controversy eight years ago over gravel quarrying in central Connecticut, has come under fire from Plainville residents for its newest quarry expansion proposal.
The company wants to rezone more than 80 acres of woodlands near Metacomet Road and Pinnacle Rock in Plainville to allow gravel mining.
Neighbors were angry when they learned of the plan last month and have organized a campaign to block what they claim would be a dangerous mining operation near residential neighborhoods.
Tilcon did not address most of the arguments residents raised at an April 8 hearing but has said it will respond when the session resumes in May. The company maintained that it would follow all safety and health requirements for its operation and said it wouldn’t be endangering nearby neighbors.
Georgia Bedell is among the scores of homeowners who disagree. Her Pequot Road home is 150 feet from the zone change line, she said, and her family can already hear and feel blasting that the company does about three-quarters of a mile away.
“What’s it going to be like for my neighbors when this company comes way up here? You can always stay in your house with the windows closed. Your children are going to be outdoors, your pets are going to be outdoors,” she said Tuesday. “There are going to be health issues, there’s going to be silica dust in the air.”
Bedell created a Facebook group, Plainville Speaks: Protect Our Land, Health & Habitat, to post information about Tilcon’s plan because there has been almost nothing on Plainville’s municipal website. She said 400 people joined in the first 48 hours and claimed that the page has been viewed 1,200 times.
“More people are finding out about this. The town didn’t want people to know. This is all about money. But at some point the price is too much,” she said.
Resident Donna Lentini wrote a Facebook post warning of “destruction of habitat, home damage and value, increased sediment in groundwater for both wells, air and noise pollution … the list goes on.” She said some residents already have problems with water contamination because of industrial development.
When one man cautioned that Tilcon could just take its equipment and leave town, Lentini replied, “I probably pay more in replacing faucets and and appliances and buying water than I’d pay in taxes if Tilcon moved out.”
More than a dozen homeowners complained that vibrations from existing mining in town are disruptive.
Tilcon for years has operated an enormous mining operation off Interstate 84 in Plainville’s southeastern corner that stretches halfway to Crescent Lake in Southington. Tilcon said previously that it needs more acreage to maintain employment and its production of building and paving materials.
The company owns hundreds of acres in Plainville and is among the town’s biggest taxpayers. Eight years ago, it proposed expanding its sprawling New Britain gravel mine into 131 acres of protected woodlands owned by the city. It offered New Britain, Plainville and Southington more than 300 acres of its property as open space and pledged to plant trees on part of the land after it finished mining the water reservoir and to donate the mine pit as a municipal reservoir.
Public opposition was overwhelming. New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart initially leaned toward the project and said taxpayers’ opinions were divided, but she backed away from it after dozens of residents from all three towns balked — with some Plainville homeowners complaining of cracked walled and damaged glassware because of the mining.
The company ultimately dropped its proposal to lease the land but had left open the possibility that it would return to the idea in the future.
On Tuesday, Tilcon Connecticut said it would be at the Planning and Zoning Commission’s May 13 meeting about the new plan. The hearing is scheduled to resume then.
“Tilcon Connecticut has been a responsible member of the Plainville community for over 100 years, providing local jobs and meeting Connecticut’s infrastructure needs. We value inputs from our community members and will attempt to address any concerns at the next public hearing,” the company said in a written statement.
Bedell, however, said she believes the company won’t be able to adequately explain how a zone change would help protect natural resources, enhance the community’s character or preserve open space.