In a 3-to-1 vote, the Planning Board for the town of Washington, Maine, has turned down a rock crusher requested by Lane Construction at the company's proposed 57-acre granite quarry. The board's decision on June 7 comes after Knox Superior Court Justice Donald H. Marden sent an earlier decision on the crusher back to the Planning Board for clarification.
In 2002, the Board ruled that the crusher went "hand in hand" with the quarry--terminology that the judge felt inadequately addressed the issue of whether the crusher was strictly necessary and subordinate to the quarry.
Lane attorney Ed Bearor argued that its crusher, which processes large pieces of granite into stone aggregate for roadbuilding materials, was an accessory to the quarry and thus an allowed use in the town's Farm and Forest District.
But the Board sided with LAW president and attorney Robert Marks, who argued that while crushers are "customarily" found at granite quarries, they are not strictly necessary and thus do not meet the town's definition of an accessory use. Since the town's land use ordinance does not provide for rock crushers as a primary use in the Farm and Forest district, Lane's crusher is disallowed. The decision means that should Lane's proposed quarry survive further legal challenges by LAW, the company would have to transport raw granite ledge to another location for crushing.
"This decision is a long-awaited victory for citizens opposed to the industrialization of our quiet rural community," said Marks. "Rock crushers are noisy, dusty industrial processing facilities that have no business in our Farm and Forest District," he said, adding that townspeople have affirmed in votes and in Comprehensive Plan surveys their desire to retain the natural rural character of the town.