April 2020 | Vol. 14 Iss. 04
FREE COUNCIL’S DECISION ON GENEVA ROCK POSTPONED INDEFINITELY, PHYSICIANS WARN OF DUST By Mimi Darley Dutton | m.dutton@mycityjournals.com
T
he Draper City Council finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Residents voiced a cumulative, resounding “no” to Geneva Rock’s newest application for an expansion to their gravel and mining operations at the Point of the Mountain. The Feb. 27 planning commission/public hearing on Geneva ended with a unanimous negative recommendation by the city’s planning commission to the City Council. But the council risks losing any say in the matter because of House Bill 288, passed by the Utah Legislature in 2019 and signed by the governor, which allows the state to supersede local authority if Draper City and Geneva Rock cannot come to a mutually agreeable solution. HB 288 also restricts cities from initiating new regulations that limit mining operations. Draper City incorporated in 1978. Geneva Rock acquired 142 acres of property, located within the Draper City agricultural (A5) zone, in 1999. Geneva made and withdrew applications to Draper City in 2015 and again in 2018 to rezone acres of their property from A5 to mining (M2). In 2016, Geneva secured legal rights to continue extracting sand, gravel
to protect as open space. Area 3 is about 50 acres that could be potentially developed in the future, and Area 4 is 27 acres the company seeks to mine. City publications indicate, “the entire area of the Geneva Rock property identified in this application is located within the Hillside Sensitive Overlay Zone” and “is protected in city code to ensure urban development is guided in a manner that will protect scenic beauty and minimize the potential for flooding, erosion and other natural hazards.” Dust and silica were frequently used words at the hearing. The wind at Point of the Mountain is the reason for the flight park’s location there, but it’s that same wind that many said blows the dust created by Geneva’s operation throughout the valley, especially concentrated in South Mountain and Draper. Nile Brewer is a hang glider pilot. “I Dr. Brian Moench (L) and Jonny Vasic of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment both spoke about the can’t justify giving them extra space, digging dangers of silica dust. (Mimi Darley Dutton/City Journals) for another 20 years. We’re not asking them to go away, but to justify allowing them to exand rock, including 40 acres in the A5 zone. mately 43 acres the company would give to pand…it’s more important to me to have the This application from Geneva Rock is the city to protect as open space. Area 2 is apContinued page 5 divided into four areas. Area 1 is approxi- proximately 21 acres the company proposes
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