Mobile asphalt plant proposed in Mukwa

NEW LONDON – Even though the city of New London would have no jurisdiction over a proposed mobile asphalt plant that would be located in the Town of Mukwa, Waupaca County officials met with the New London Plan Commission Jan. 22 to obtain feedback from the city.
New London City Administrator Chad Hoerth told the commission that there is a proposal to put a mobile asphalt plant in the quarry south of Beckert Road. This location is outside the city limits of New London and located in the Town of Mukwa, so Mukwa would deal with the regulatory aspect of the asphalt plant. The plant would also need to follow county zoning requirements.
“We’ve had some conversations internally,” Hoerth said. “There’s been some concerns about the conditional grant permit to put a mobile asphalt plant there.”
While the city of New London would not have any jurisdiction over the proposed asphalt plant, Hoerth said Waupaca County officials and the owner of the plant were invited to the commission meeting to allow commission members the opportunity to have a dialogue with them and to provide feedback on the proposed asphalt plant.

Approval process

Jason Synder, zoning administrator for Waupaca County, told the committee that the application for the asphalt plant was applied for and was presented to Mukwa’s Planning Commission at two separate meetings. It was then presented to the Mukwa Town Board for a final recommendation.
The next step of the process will be a public hearing in front of the Waupaca County Planning & Zoning Committee at the county level, Snyder said.
“Those committee members will make a decision based on the testimony, the town’s recommendation, and any other factors that might go into it,” Snyder said.
Ryan Brown, Planning & Zoning Director for Waupaca County, told the members of the commission that any feedback they received from the New London Plan Commission would be conveyed to the Waupaca County Planning & Zoning Committee as testimony.
Snyder said Mukwa was considering applying several conditions to the proposed asphalt plant. He said the hours of operation would be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru Friday and 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays. These are the same hours of the original approval of the non-metallic mine that is already on the property.
An annual review of the conditional use permit was also suggested, Snyder said, adding that assurances were made that there would be road maintenance done to keep the road clean.
“So, anything tracked onto the road would be taken care of in a timely manner,” Snyder said.

Commission discussion
Commission member Susie Steingraber said she lives on Beckert Road and that road has a high traffic volume.
“It is crazy, the speed of the trucks that are going through there,” Steingraber said. “I know the trucks are heavy and they’re not going to brake to stay within that speed limit.”

She also said that the City of New London will be affected more by the smell of the proposed asphalt plant than the Town of Mukwa would be.
The owner of the company that has proposed the asphalt plant was in attendance and he said aggregate would be sold from the plant.
“I do not intend to use this as a fill site, and that is mainly where your dirt is coming from out of the surrounding pits,” the owner said.
He also said it was extreme to claim that the whole city would be affected by the smell from the proposed asphalt plant. He added that there is a similar plant located in the city of Appleton.
“I understand your concern that this is probably not the ideal spot,” the owner said. “It’s not the ideal spot for us, but, you know, every pit or quarry we acquire or we lease, we always permit it.”
Regarding trucks speeding on the road around the quarry, the owner said he would encourage the police department to patrol the road for speeding vehicles.
Ald. David Dorsey asked how many trucks would be using Beckert Road if the asphalt plant becomes operational.
The owner said it could range from two trucks an hour to 20 trucks an hour.
Dorsey said Beckert Road is already in “rough shape” and he did not think the road would be able to withstand that amount of truck traffic.
Hoerth acknowledged the city would need to address the condition of Beckert Road “sooner than later.” He added that currently the road is designated as a heavy truck road.
“There’s nothing illegal about heavy trucks driving on that road,” Hoerth said.
Hoerth did agree that the road would deteriorate quicker with increased truck traffic.
Dorsey asked if there are roads through the city that heavy trucks need to stay on.
“In our municipal code we have designated what the heavy truck routes are,” Hoerth said.
New London Common Council President John Hass asked if Waupaca County has a law about a road being deteriorated because of a pit, that the party responsible for the deterioration would need to repair the road.
Brown said that was largely incorrect because it is difficult to prove that the damage to the road was caused by the pit.
“Road are built for commerce, so a lot of people use those roads,” Brown said.