The Homewood village board has approved a special use permit for Hanson Material Service to expand its mining facility at the Thornton Quarry. Hanson listed the property at 17401 Halsted Street as vacant since a gas station on the site closed about 25 years. Homewood officials said Hanson intends to begin blasting in the new area in 2018.
The Homewood village board has approved a special use permit for Hanson Material Service to expand its mining facility at the Thornton Quarry.
Hanson listed the property at 17401 Halsted Street as vacant since a gas station on the site closed about 25 years. The site is already owned by Hanson and is within the village’s M-2 heavy manufacturing zoning district. The aerial view of the west end of Thornton Quarry shows where Hanson Material Services plans to initiate mining operations next year. The road on the left is Halsted Street, and the road on the bottom of the image is 175th Street. (Provided photo)
The quarry provides a high-quality crushed stone for roads, concrete and bituminous asphalt. The site has been mined since 1924. According to Hanson’s petition, adding this site will allow it to add 10 to 20 percent more aggregate to its current annual production.
The village requires the quarry’s edge to remain at least 70 feet from the property line.
It also requires that the new area be accessed only by entry into the quarry from outside the village.
Homewood Director of Economic and Community Development Angela Mesaros told the H-F Chronicle that Hanson intends to begin blasting in the new area in 2018, but the company could technically start work immediately. An ordinance allowing for the expansion was approved by trustees at the Aug. 22 village board meeting.
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The village’s Planning and Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on the proposal on July 13. The commission voted 6 to 0 to recommend the mining expansion.
“When asked at the hearing about past noise complaints Hanson representatives stated that they have gotten noise complaints from time to time in areas where residential properties are adjacent to the blasting, which is not the case for this expansion,” Mesaros said. “The proposed expansion is further from the nearest commercial property than the current mining activity so they do not anticipate any issues with noise.”
The new portion of the quarry will be mined in three 100-foot layers, reaching a final depth of 400 feet. Blasting will conform to Illinois and federal regulations for technique, sound, safety and pollution.
Explosives can only be used between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., with exceptions only for emergency situations. Blasting holidays include New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Seismographs will be located offsite and monitored by a professional blasting consultant, according to a memo Mesaros prepared for Village Manager Jim Marino.
Hanson will be responsible for a six-foot fence around the area, maintaining the landscaping, removing trash, cutting grass, trimming bushes and keeping up the foliage that already exists.
Hanson made landscaping improvements at the village’s request after Homewood developed the Halsted Street corridor landscape plan in 2015. The company submitted a landscape plan to the village’s Appearance Commission at that time and has followed through, Mesaros said.
