By Laura Scott
We read with interest and chagrin your legal opinion column of yesterday regarding the proposed Iola mine site, as it relates – you opine – to a prior mine approved for Shady Dr. in the Town of Scandinavia.
“In lieu of the fact [sic] that a CUP has been issued for a similar operation on Shady Drive, the township is not likely to be in a position to deny a CUP for this project.”
On what do you base this opinion that any meaningful or applicable precedent was set by the Michels’ Construction permit approval? What was the date of this approval and did it predate the Town of Scandinavia Comprehensive Plan? Are you aware that Michels caused the Township such a headache that they were removed as the operator of this site? Are you aware that citizens who currently live near this site regret not having fought more strenuously against it at the time?
Our understanding is that each and every non-metallic mining proposal must undergo strict conditional use permit application procedures that involve County ordinances and Wis. State statutes pertaining to mining and reclamation, and that additional approvals must be obtained for such operation from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. This is because each proposed mine site exists within its own specific parameters pertaining to topography, water table, wetlands, and neighborhood conditions. Each must be considered on its own.
If prior approval of a CUP had anything to do with it, then there would be no need for a mining company to go through the application process. Perhaps Faulks was counting on the wheels being previously greased, but such is in no way the case.
In the current instance, there is vigorous community opposition, based on the wetland (DNR ID#69731692401) contained within the South portion of the proposed site (conveniently not pictured by Faulks in the map you printed, and actually disavowed by them at a Nov. 2022 Iola Village meeting as a wetland, trying to avoid the DNR restrictions thereon. They referred to it as “a man-made pond”). We also oppose the devaluation of our properties and Faulks’ failure to comprehensively identify our wells.
In addition, adjacent neighbors to the proposed mine have serious, significant, life-threatening medical conditions that will be exacerbated by this industrial activity. We have not even begun to stress this issue yet.
Therefore, we are certainly glad that approval of this CUP application is not a foregone conclusion, given the unique conditions that give us such profound concern.
Editor’s Note: According to Town of Scandinavia Chairman Gary Marx, “Michels was not removed. When the first CUP ended, the owner went in a different direction sold the property to MCC before the current CUP was issued and granted.”