| Canadian Sand and Proppant plans to build its $45 million facility on this 93-acre site in the northeast corner of Chippewa Falls. About 250 trucks would daily enter the site from Highway S. The City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to approve a developer's agreement with the company, which includes extending utilities to the site. | Staff photo by Chris Vetter |
| CHIPPEWA FALLS -- On a 4-3 vote, with Mayor Greg Hoffman breaking a tie, the Chippewa Falls City Council voted Tuesday to approve a developer's agreement with Canadian Sand and Proppant for its proposed sand facility in the northeast corner of the city, providing a final green light to the project. Under the developer's agreement the city will provide a $1.75 million bond for a tax increment financing district set up on the site of the facility. The company will be responsible for repaying the bond in installments between 2011 and 2020. The city will extend utilities to the site. Hoffman cast the tie-breaking vote when City Council member Jason Anderson decided to vote "present," saying he had concerns about how the sand facility would affect other area businesses. Council members Greg Dachel, Dennis Doughty and Bob Hoekstra sided with Hoffman in supporting the developer's agreement. Council members Susan Zukowski, Brian Flynn and Jack Covill voted against the agreement. More than 60 people packed the council chamber, with many lining the back wall and dozens more people pouring out into the halls. Many held up signs asking the council to stop the sand mine project. Canadian Sand and Proppant plans to spend $45 million to build the plant. Sand would be processed at the plant and washed, and the silt clay removed from the sand. The plant would create 55 jobs, with an economic impact of $14 million annually, according to the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation. City resident Dave Martineau said he was initially excited about the economic venture when it was announced in the spring, but he feels there are too many unanswered questions. Martineau said he would like to see all the information about the plant pulled together in one document, and he said that is lacking. "The sand company has not convinced many people they are being forthright," Martineau said. The council heard from a dozen speakers in an hour-long open forum. Many, like Martineau, pleaded with the council, asking them to delay a vote until after a larger, citywide meeting on the topic. "I wasn't looking for a decision," Martineau said after the meeting. "Clearly, some of the (council) members would have liked more time." City resident Dan Walton said he would live in the shadows of the 90-foot towers planned at the site. He said he's attended three council meetings in recent months to protest the plan. "Every meeting I come to, the numbers (of protesters) grow exponentially as the word goes around, and that should give you pause," Walton said. Plant manager Gary Stone gave a presentation to the council explaining the location of the project and how it would operate. Many of the questions from the public have been about silica dust, but Stone said that won't be an issue because of how the sand would be collected and washed. City Planner Jayson Smith said the state Department of Natural Resources has an air quality standard system in which a level of 150 is safe for children and the elderly. The site's current air quality level is at 28. The DNR projects the air quality level would climb to 58 when the plant is open -- more than double its current level, but only about a third of the way to the state cutoff level, Smith said. One member of the public said it felt like the project's plans had developed too quickly, and he said it "seemed to be a lot of shady, backroom politics that is going on." Council member Dachel became visibly upset, and he defended the council, saying it numerous open meetings on the issue all year. "You are accusing people of taking money, and that is bull," Dachel said. Vetter can be reached at 723-0303 or chris.vetter@ecpc.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
By Chris Vetter, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.Nov. 26--CHIPPEWA FALLS -- The state Department of Natural Resources has no air quality concerns about a proposed sand plant in Chippewa Falls.
The DNR, however, is seeking public comment about the plant before a permit is issued.
Canadian Sand and Proppant submitted plans to the state for construction and operation of its proposed facility.
"The Bureau of Air Management of the DNR has analyzed these materials and has preliminarily determined that the project should meet the applicable criteria for permit approval," DNR Regional Air Manager Jeffery Johnson said in a news release.
The DNR found no reason to not issue a permit, Johnson wrote.
"This type of proposal normally does not have the potential to cause significant adverse environmental effects, and the DNR has not prepared an environmental assessment of the proposal," he wrote.
However, critics of the plant have wondered if sand piles at the facility could lead to air quality problems. Sand would be trucked to the plant after being mined in the region.
Canadian Sand and Proppant purchased 93 acres in a northeast side industrial park; the land has been re-zoned for heavy industrial use.
The company plans to spend $45 million to $50 million to build the facility, but it is unclear when construction could begin.
A group of area residents recently filed a lawsuit in Chippewa County Court to overturn the city's Plan Commission approval of a conditional use permit. The city has 45 days to respond to the lawsuit.
Vetter can be reached at 723-0303 or chris.vetter@ecpc.com.
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Sand plant foes blitz city council
Patricia Popple of Concerned Chippewa Citizens speaks Tuesday night while attorney Glenn Stoddard of Eau Claire listens. Photo by Rod Stetzer
By ROD STETZER The Chippewa Herald Wednesday, November 19, 2008 10:07 AM CST
The conversation was one-sided. The Chippewa Falls City Council chambers were packed Tuesday by opponents of a proposed Canadian Sand and Proppant sand mine plant in the city. More than 50 people came to the meeting following a news conference held by the group Concerned Chippewa Citizens. The group is suing the city’s Plan Commission to stop the project.
Six people then appeared before the council, each speaking out against the project. No one from the council spoke on the subject, partly because the city is being sued and partly because the subject wasn’t on the council’s agenda. Mayor Greg Hoffman welcomed the plant opponents. “I appreciate the fact the citizens are concerned,” Hoffman said, noting he wants to make sure city residents are being heard. “This is good that the citizens are stepping forward,” Hoffman said. The lawsuit asks the court to void the conditional use permit and prohibit the city from issuing any further approvals of permits and variances, said Patricia Popple, co-president of Concerned Chippewa Citizens. During the news conference, Popple said the group believes the city and Chippewa County failed to look at the negative health, safety and environmental impact of the sand mine plant. Popple said the group is also concerned about property values and noise caused by the truck and rail traffic from the project. “What you see tonight is only the beginning,” said the group’s attorney, Glenn Stoddard of Eau Claire. He said the Plan Commission failed to address whether the project was in harmony with the city code and whether it was in the public interest. “It basically ignored the law,” Stoddard said. He claimed the Plan Commission’s approval of the permit was arbitrary and unreasonable. The lawsuit asks that the city be required to appoint a new and “unbiased” Plan Commission, and that any related variance requests be sent to the city Board of Appeals. Stoddard said that it’s not uncommon for individual members of a commission to be replaced. But he said he was unaware of a situation where an entire Plan Commission has been replaced in the state. “I can’t say that I’ve seen a published case in Wisconsin of that,” Stoddard said. Hoffman said Chippewa Falls City Attorney Robert Ferg is looking at the lawsuit. The city will have to wait and see if the lawsuit places any limits on city actions, Hoffman said. No action on budget On another matter, the council did not take up the proposed 2009 city budget, which is scheduled for a public hearing on Dec. 2. But the council did approve getting bids to restructure $1.2 million of city debt. Administrator Ron Singel said the city Parks and Recreation Department’s move into offices at City Hall is ahead of schedule and may be completed next month. He said the field of candidates for the Main Street director’s position has been reduced from about 60 to three. “Hopefully we can narrow it down and have the person on board by Jan. 1,” Singel said. Chippewa Falls Main Street has been without a director since Jim Schuh resigned arch 31.
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------------------------------------------------------------------- By MARK GUNDERMAN mark.gunderman@lee.net Tuesday, November 18, 2008 10:05 AM CST
A group calling itself “Concerned Chippewa Citizens” has filed a lawsuit in Chippewa County Court seeking to stop development of the Canadian Sand and Proppant sand processing plant in Chippewa Falls. The suit, filed Friday, names the City of Chippewa Falls Plan Commission as the defendant and asks that the commission’s Oct. 27 decision granting a conditional use permit to exceed building height requirements be voided.
The suit further asks that a restraining order be issued prohibiting the Plan Commission and the city from issuing any further or related approvals, variances or permits “of any kind whatsoever” to Canadian Sand and Proppant while the lawsuit is pending. The suit also asks that the matter not be sent back to the Plan Commission unless the city is required to “appoint a new and unbiased Plan Commission.” Named as plaintiffs in the case along with Concerned Chippewa Citizens are Patricia J. Popple, 561 Summit Ave., and Allen Curtis, 1187 Evergreen Lane #4, both of Chippewa Falls. The plaintiffs are represented by Eau Claire attorney Glenn Stoddard, who represents another group in the town of Howard opposed to the sand company’s plans. The Canadian Sand and Proppant project has been embroiled in controversy since the newly-formed company with ties to the oil and natural gas industry announced its plans earlier this year. The company planned to mine sand in Chippewa and Barron counties and truck or rail sand to a plant in Chippewa Falls, where it would be washed and processed according to grain characteristics, then shipped out by rail. The sand would ultimately be used as “frac” sand to fracture oil wells, increasing their production. A proposed mine in the town of Howard led to an organization being formed there to stop the mine, and that part of the project appears headed for court action in a dispute over whether a town of Howard ordinance regulating such mines is valid. The company needed little action from the city of Chippewa Falls. The land in question, on the city’s northeast side south of County S, was rezoned heavy industrial some time ago. Opponents charge it was done with city officials’ knowledge of the sand company’s plans without informing the public of those plans. The rezoning went through without public opposition. The city set up a tax incremental finance (TIF) district to accommodate the company, and the Plan Commission voted 11-1 to grant a conditional use permit for processing plant facilities to exceed height standards. The plaintiffs in the suit are using the decision on the conditional use permit to try to halt action on the project. The suit states that the plaintiffs are aggrieved because “their real property and personal interests, including their quality of life, health and safety, will be adversely affected by the development and operation of the proposed sand processing plant approved by the Plan Commission.” The suit alleged that the Plan Commission members were “biased and improperly prejudged the matter in favor of CSP prior to the public hearing and before the (conditional use permit) decision was made.” The commission’s decision was illegal because the decision was “obviously” biased, the suit alleges. The decision is also challenged on procedural grounds, with the suit claiming that the decision amounts to granting a variance to the company, and authority to grant variances belongs to the Board of Adjustment. The suit also alleges the commission made its decision without due deliberation and without making findings of fact. The city has 45 days to respond to the suit. No court hearing dates have yet been set. The group filing the lawsuit has called a news conference for 6:15 tonight, 15 minutes before the start of the City Council meeting, at City Hall at 30 W. Central St. It also plans to make comments at the council meeting. Contact Mark Gunderman at mark.gunderman@lee.net.
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By ROD STETZER
The Chippewa Herald
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 10:07 AM CST
The conversation was one-sided. The Chippewa Falls City Council chambers were packed Tuesday by opponents of a proposed Canadian Sand and Proppant sand mine plant in the city.
More than 50 people came to the meeting following a news conference held by the group Concerned Chippewa Citizens. The group is suing the city’s Plan Commission to stop the project.
Six people then appeared before the council, each speaking out against the project.
No one from the council spoke on the subject, partly because the city is being sued and partly because the subject wasn’t on the council’s agenda.
Mayor Greg Hoffman welcomed the plant opponents.
“I appreciate the fact the citizens are concerned,” Hoffman said, noting he wants to make sure city residents are being heard.
“This is good that the citizens are stepping forward,” Hoffman said.
The lawsuit asks the court to void the conditional use permit and prohibit the city from issuing any further approvals of permits and variances, said Patricia Popple, co-president of Concerned Chippewa Citizens.
During the news conference, Popple said the group believes the city and Chippewa County failed to look at the negative health, safety and environmental impact of the sand mine plant.
Popple said the group is also concerned about property values and noise caused by the truck and rail traffic from the project.
“What you see tonight is only the beginning,” said the group’s attorney, Glenn Stoddard of Eau Claire.
He said the Plan Commission failed to address whether the project was in harmony with the city code and whether it was in the public interest.
“It basically ignored the law,” Stoddard said.
He claimed the Plan Commission’s approval of the permit was arbitrary and unreasonable.
The lawsuit asks that the city be required to appoint a new and “unbiased” Plan Commission, and that any related variance requests be sent to the city Board of Appeals.
Stoddard said that it’s not uncommon for individual members of a commission to be replaced. But he said he was unaware of a situation where an entire Plan Commission has been replaced in the state.
“I can’t say that I’ve seen a published case in Wisconsin of that,” Stoddard said.
Hoffman said Chippewa Falls City Attorney Robert Ferg is looking at the lawsuit. The city will have to wait and see if the lawsuit places any limits on city actions, Hoffman said.
No action on budget
On another matter, the council did not take up the proposed 2009 city budget, which is scheduled for a public hearing on Dec. 2. But the council did approve getting bids to restructure $1.2 million of city debt.