Kobyluck Resubmits Application For Quarry

This week, Kobyluck Brothers, LLC resubmitted its application for a quarry at 28 Industrial Drive,

The submission comes days before the Waterford Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on a change to town zoning regulations to limit which is part of Kobyluck's proposal. Kobyluck’s owner, Matt Kobyluck, said the timing is a coincidence.

 “We need a full year's worth of data, and coincidentally, the year came up around the same time as these proposals,” he said. “It really had nothing to do with it.”

to quarry and process stone on the 37  acre property, along with constructing a vehicle maintenance facility that could store up to 75 vehicles. He withdrew the application last November after the Conservation Commission wanted more data about the application.

Kobyluck said he spent the last year collecting that data, and has filed an application that is “essentially the same,” although without the vehicle maintenance facility. Kobyluck's team has done an “outstanding job” with this application to ensure there will be no environmental impact from the proposed quarry, he said.

Public Outcry

During the Conservation Commission’s public hearing on the application last fall, dozens of residents spoke against installing a quarry at 28 Industrial Drive, both because of the potential environmental impact and Kobyluck’s history. A group of people who live near 28 Industrial Drive and hired an environmental planner to fight the application.

Waterford Against Mining will oppose this application, said Linda Verity, one of the organizers of the group. This is not a good place to put a quarry, she said.

“It's not the right area,” Verity said in a Tuesday phone interview. “We are concerned.”

Jordan Brook runs through 28 Industrial Drive, and there is a chance it could become polluted from the stone processing, Verity said. Additionally, the noise from the quarrying, the potential of wells being contaminated or having to be redrilled, and the dust in the air, are all concerns, Verity said.

Kobyluck said in this plan, there would be no effect on Jordan Brook, and no disturbance to the surrounding properties. This property has always been zoned industrial, and it is a needed business in town, he said.

“The entire industrial park is earmarked as industrial,” Kobyluck said. “It’s a good tax base for the town, and the town needs to

Previous Issues

Aside from Verity’s concern with a quarry, she also cited Kobyluck’s issues in other towns. In Montville, the company was fined $100,000 by the Department of Environmental Protection for dumping 45,000 gallons per week of wastewater into Oxoboxo River in Montville, and the company has been locked in a according to state and court records.

Kobyluck said the problem in Salem was over language, and in Montville, he largely had a good relationship with the town. Kobyluck Sand and Gravel has had its main headquarters at in Waterford for more than a decade, and there have been no issues, he said.

“They can base their opinion on the merits of this application,” he said. “One has nothing to do with another.”

The Process

The Conservation Commission will receive Kobyluck’s application tonight at its meeting, and then likely set a date for a public hearing. Because Kobyluck submitted the application before the new zoning regulations can be acted upon, the proposal will be evaluated on the current regulations, Town Planner Mark Wujtewicz said.

Monday, the Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on regulations regarding the “processing of earth materials.” Waterford Against Mining will be at the public hearing, Verity said.