A request to add acreage to an existing gravel operation was tabled this week by the Kasson Township Planning Commission.

Property owners along Co. Rd. 669 and M-72 adjacent to the 88-acre site owned by Elmer’s Crane and Dozer turned out at a public hearing, which is required to amend the original site plan for the operation. The request was to add another three acres to the original property available for gravel extraction and to open another vein of gravel that covers about 16 acres within the plot.

Kathy and Harry Turnbull were among the group that spoke against the site plan amendment Monday night. They believe no changes should be made to the site plan, alleging the business has already strayed from the original site plan that was approved in 1990 for the previous owner, Traverse Aggregate.

Specifically, they were concerned about the removal of evergreens along Coleman Road and M-72 that were part of a 90-foot buffer included in the site plan that the company signed on when the property changed hands in 1997.

“Acres of trees are gone,” said Kathy Turnbull, speaking yesterday. She added that removal began in December 2006.

She and her husband hired an attorney and tried to mediate the situation without success.

“We tried to talk, to find out what was going on,” she said. “We had hoped to settle this without legal action. But we haven’t been able to.”

Attorneys for both the Turnbulls and Elmer’s were in attendance Monday night. The couple was represented by Mike Grant of Olson, Bzdok & Howard of Traverse City.

The Turnbulls said they knew about the operation when they purchased their property in 1999 and looked into it further before building their home in 2000.

“We knew the gravel operation was there. But there was also an ordinance stating what could be done there,” she said.

The site plan calls for maintenance of a green buffer of a minimum of six trees deep.

“It’s supposed to serve as a visual screen … Now we can look right out our kitchen window and see into the gravel pit,” Turnbull said.

Elmer’s has not been cited by the township with a site plan violation, Planning Commission chairman Jess J. Reed said.

Efforts to reach Elmer’s for comment were not successful Wednesday morning.
Nearby property owners made requests to the township Board of Review earlier this month to reduce the taxable value of their property based on the allegations.

Earlier this year, the township Zoning Board of Appeals considered a request for an ordinance interpretation which also involved the gravel extraction district.

According to township Supervisor Fred Lanham, the planners discovered the zoning ordinance requires that a 500-foot buffer be observed between gravel extraction activities and park land. However, the ordinance does not define “park.”

The Elmer’s property is adjacent to the southeastern border of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

An amendment to the ordinance, defining “park” land, has been forward to the county Planning Commission for review.

The request for the site plan amendment may be revisited at the next Planning Commission meeting scheduled for April 21.