Proposed legislation now pending in the state House would remove all local control of requested permits for mining operations.
A 19-17 vote in the state Senate in June approved Senate Bill 429, which would move the permitting process for sand mining operations to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
State Sen. John Bizon, R-Battle Creek, sought to introduce an amendment that would have exempted Barry County from the legislation. But, after his amendment failed, Bizon voted for the proposed legislation anyway.
If he had voted against it, the measure would have deadlocked, 18-18.
But, as the vote went, Bizon was one of 13 Republicans and six Democrats in the senate who supported the bill, which was sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint.
Barry County Planning Commission Chairman Clyde Morgan strongly opposes this proposed legislation, citing the current controversy over a proposed gravel mine on Wilkinson Lake in Hope Township.
This decision-making “should stay local, period,” Morgan said. “You can understand the concerns of the people, definitely.”
Barry County Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Jim McManus said that the ability for local municipalities to limit mining operations has been restricted in recent years – largely because of the passage of House Bill 4746, which was signed into law by former Gov. Rick Snyder in 2011.
Current zoning law states that an ordinance shall not prevent the extraction, by mining, of valuable natural resources from any property unless “very serious consequences” would result from the extraction of those natural resources.
“It puts the onus on the local government to prove there are serious implications” to successfully reject a mining operation, McManus said.
Coalitions have developed across the state on both sides of the debate.
Various statewide governmental lobbying groups have spoken out against the legislation, including the Michigan Townships Association, the Michigan Association of Counties and the Michigan Municipal League. Other opponents include the Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, the Michigan Environmental Council and the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association.
“We recognize the need for material to fix the roads,” said Judy Allen, director of governmental relations for the Michigan Townships Association. “The current process is working. It allows local governments to balance the need for gravel with the needs of the community.”
On the opposite side, the legislation has strong support from both business and labor unions. Supporters include the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, Michigan Aggregates Association, Michigan Teamsters, the Homebuilders Association of Michigan and Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association.
“Instead of having 1,400 local jurisdictions having their own standards for gravel or sand [mines], we would have one standard for the whole state, and it will be in the hands of the environmental experts,” said John Sellek, spokesman for the Michigan Aggregates Association.
Sellek added that local opposition to mining projects has forced aggregate companies to find locations further away from major population centers, adding to the cost of construction projects.
“We've paying as much, or more, to truck the stone and sand to the job site as we pay for the actual stone,” he said.
The Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce also is backing the legislation.
“This fits in with our priorities, supporting cost-effective fixes for roads,” said Josh Lunger, the Grand Rapids Chamber's senior director of government affairs.
These resources in Barry County, which are both plentiful and convenient, are particularly attractive to the Grand Rapids area.
Jake Welch, director of operations for the Barry County Road Commission, says his agency has not had any issues with having adequate material for road projects in the county.
“Barry County is very rich in gravel,” Welch said. “We have a number of longstanding pits. We don't have much trouble getting gravel.”
But Welch added that other county road commissions in the region, including Ionia County, are having challenges.
“They're having to truck in gravel from way out of town,” he said.
Jake Jelsema, Bizon's chief of staff, says the proposed legislation addresses a major concern facing the aggregate industry, which supplies material used for road and other building projects.
“During the [last] campaign season, the senator pledged to do what he could to fix the roads, without raising taxes or bonding,” Jelsema said. “One of the major challenges with road commissions has been inflation in material prices.”
With increased road construction activity across the state, county road commissions and the Michigan Department of Transportation are finding it increasingly difficult to find adequate material for their projects, according to Jelsema.
“The goal of the legislation, fundamentally, is to increase the supply of aggregate, to bring down the price of aggregate,” he said.
Jelsema went on to say that some communities have delayed any action on approval of sand mining permits by not taking a vote in favor or opposition to these requests.
Delaying a decision is “a way to avoid the companies suing them for rejecting the permit,” he said.
Gordon Smith moved to Wilkinson Lake in Hope Township about three years ago after spending most of his adult life in Hudsonville.
Smith said he envisioned spending his retirement years enjoying the quiet and the natural features of the area.
However, not long after he moved to the township, he heard loud noises coming from near the lake. He says it turned out to be a sand mining operation.
Since then, Smith and other township residents have campaigned to block a request by R. Smith & Sons Gravel and Trucking for a special land use exemption that would allow the company to locate a gravel mine on the lake.
Roger Smith, president of R. Smith & Sons, submitted the proposal to Hope Township that would allow the company to construct a gravel pit on a 153-acre parcel that has 800 feet of frontage on Wilkinson Lake.
“The sand and gravel deposits located on the site are precisely the type of construction aggregate that is in high demand throughout Michigan, as identified in the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Michigan Aggregates Market Study,” Roger Smith wrote in the proposal that came before the township planning commission in June.
But, for people like Gordon Smith, sand mining is a local environmental issue. He said he is working with other communities facing similar issues with sand mining for a potential statewide protest.
Among communities that have taken a position against the proposed legislation are Richland, a village in neighboring Kalamazoo County; Grass Lake, in Jackson County, and Metamora Township, in Lapeer County on the east side of the state, Smith said.
“We certainly have interest from lots of groups,” he said.
Sen. Bizon and another senator were to meet with Gordon Smith and other Wilkinson Lake residents so they could share their concerns regarding sand mining. But Bizon didn't show up for the meeting; instead, he sent Jelsema to represent him, Smith said.
Jelsema told them that Bizon recognized the issues around Wilkinson Lake and even offered an amendment to the proposed bill that would exempt Barry County from the legislation.
“[Wilkinson Lake] is an unusual site selection, from what we've been told by those in the industry,” Jelsema said.
But Bizon's amendment didn't get enough votes to be added to the bill.
Gordon Smith said he wasn't impressed that Bizon pitched an amendment to the proposed legislation.
“This was his easy way out,” Gordon Smith said. “It's not just for us – every residential lake needs to have protection.”
The proposed legislation has been referred to the state House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee, which is chaired by state Rep. Julie Calley, R-Portland.
“If this gets through [and becomes law], my wife and I are leaving the state,” Smith said in a phone interview with the Hastings Banner Tuesday. “We're going to go from Pure Michigan to Polluted Michigan.”
Sellek said he did not know when the House committee would take up discussion of the proposed legislation.
Efforts to reach Calley for comment via phone and e-mail were unsuccessful.