A possible fifth gravel pit for Cassian

During a 15-minute June 23 special meeting of the Cassian town board, all three members — town chairman Ed Phebus and town supervisors Keith Gee and Rod Randolph — voted to recommend to the Oneida County board’s planning and development committee the approval of a conditional use permit (CUP) application for a new gravel pit.

Approval of the CUP application would allow High Point Sand and Gravel of Woodruff to construct what would be a fifth gravel pit operation in the town of Cassian.

Discussion about the CUP application was on the agenda for the town board’s July 14 meeting and former Cassian town supervisor Dave Priegnitz, who at one time was also a member of the town board’s planning commission, made a brief presentation to the town board regarding the High Point CUP application.

He said the town board’s move to recommend approval of the CUP “kind of blind-sided me.” 

“I didn’t really pay attention,” Priegnitz said and he referred to the other item on the agenda of the June 23 special meeting of the town board. “I knew the special meeting was going to be about the liquor license for an application that wasn’t in (on time).”

He said he got on the Oneida County website and got information regarding the CUP application.

“I just wanted to bring up the fact that currently, we’ve got four active gravel pits in Cassian,” Priegnitz said.

The pits are owned by Pitlik and Wick, Northeast Asphalt, American Asphalt and James Peterson and Sons. 

Priegnitz said the High Point CUP application is contingent on the sale of land to the company by Roland Fir Timberlands. 

In total, he said there’s approximately 2.5 square miles of land in Cassian used for gravel pit operations. 

“That’s a lot of land,” Priegnitz said. “I guess my point is we’ve got four gravel pits now in Cassian. Do we need a fifth one?”

All four of the current gravel pit operations have direct access to U.S. Highway 51. 

“A fifth one would add another driveway onto (Hwy.) 51,” Priegnitz said. “You know how fast traffic is on 51. You’re going to have slow moving trucks and you’re going to have another driveway onto 51 with a potential issue with that.”

He said the CUP application includes a concrete mix operation. 

“They’re going to have a cement operation in there,” Priegnitz said. “You’ll have cement trucks going in and out of there on 51 ... to me, it’s a safety issue.”

He then asked a question from the town’s perspective.

“Do we really need another gravel pit in the town?” Priegnitz asked. “That whole corridor ... Cassian’s going to be known as kind of a ‘gravel pit row,’ you know, all the way through town. We have visitors coming up, going through Cassian, is going to be gravel pits going from one end to the other? That’s my concern.”

He said during his time on the town’s planning commission, the town’s latest comprehensive plan was put together. 

“One of our main goals was to preserve as much as possible the ruralness, the beauty, the integrity of the land and forests,” Priegnitz said. “By adding another gravel pit we’re taking more land out of that. It’s just something to consider.”

He said without adding another gravel pit there was “probably enough gravel to last another 50 years or more” among the current gravel pits. 

“So, do we really need to add another one?” Priegnitz asked again. 

Randolph said he had spoken with Rick Trapp of High Point Sand and Gravel earlier that day to get clarification of where the new gravel pit would be. 

“He said it was between the two pits,” Randolph said, the two pits being the Northeast Asphalt pit and the Peterson Brothers pit on the west side of Hwy. 51. “He (Trapp) said they planned to work the far side of it, the west side.”

Randolph said Trapp indicated that side of the property was clear cut, there would be a new driveway entrance on Hwy. 51 and there would be the possibility of a cement operation at some point.

“He wouldn’t commit to it but he did say that is a possibility,” Randolph said. “He talked about clearing out the hills more than anything. He said it was going to be set back so it wasn’t as visible. Obviously, he was trying to make everything sound good. He certainly encouraged us to come check it out. He was pretty open to everything.”

Later, Priegnitz said he thought bringing some of the concerns about the High Point CUP to the town board might cause Gee, Randolph and Phebus to “re-evaluate, get more information and discussion” and then he mentioned the planning commission which hasn’t met since November, 2024. 

“This would be a perfect topic for the planning commission to discuss,” he said. “Anytime you have a CUP ...they can look at it in greater detail and come up with better information on it and make a recommendation on it.”

“I think, from our standpoint, having something like that in a special meeting is a mistake, too,” Phebus said, a reference to the June 23 special town board meeting. 

The Oneida County planning and development committee will hear input regarding the application at a public hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. on July 23 in the county board meeting room on second floor of the Oneida County courthouse. 

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].