CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — Another No vote came to Magruder Quarry and Equipment on Wednesday, this time from the Camden County Planning and Zoning Commission.
The commission turned down a rezoning request made by Mark Magruder, Magruder Quarry and Equipment, and Charles and Phyllis Turner, to rezone an approximately 30-acre tract of land from A-R to B-2 after a public hearing on Wednesday, Aug 21. The vote was eight to one with P&Z Commissioner Rich Piper casting the only Yes vote.
The rezoning request will be sent to the Camden County Commission for a decision at the commission’s 10 a.m., Sept. 19 meeting. Since the City of Sunrise Beach opposed the rezoning, state statute requires a two-thirds super majority vote in the county commission to overturn it.
However, since the Camden County Commission consists only of three commissioners, that state statute does not change the number of votes needed in order for the issue to pass. At least two commissioners would have to approve the rezoning—something that Planning and Zoning Administrator Don Hathaway says is not likely, considering the county P&Z recommended the county commission vote No.
Mark Magruder, Magruder Quarry and Equipment, stated in his application that the purpose of rezoning the property was to expand the current 30 acre quarry operation to 60 acres, stretching to the south and mining wide instead of deep, for the purpose of leaving the site as flat as possible to increase the property’s future marketability.
Two options: deep or wide
It came down to Magruder proposing two options. One: the company could stay within the current site, mine for 30 years, and go down to the 665 elevation, which is three feet above the Lake of the Ozarks level. According to Magruder, the Department of Natural Resources would allow him to do this and “Leave a hole filled with water… It’s hard to sell a hole of water,” Magruder said.
The second option Magruder posited was that he could mine the entire 60 acres, promise to stop after 15 years, at an elevation of 730 feet or higher, and leave a flat, developable piece of property, which could be used to develop a shopping center.
The property is bounded on the south by Westerner Road and Tree Lane with R-1 Low Density Residential, occupied single-family homes to the south and southwest sides of the existing roads, and one existing B-2 zoned business located at the southwest corner of Tree Lane and Highway 5.
Many residents in this neighborhood voiced their opposition to the expansion at the July P&Z Commission meeting.
During the public hearing on Wednesday, Magruder denied some of the allegations made by residents at the July P&Z meeting, saying those problems were caused by the negligent operations of the former owners of the quarry.
“The Sunrise Beach Quarry Accountability Committee is against everything we present,” he said. “We thought we were doing the right thing when we proposed to leave a [property] that could be developed when were gone.”
Sunrise Beach Board Attorney Greg Williams addressed the commission on Wednesday, saying, “The village trustees looked at this very carefully to determine the impact on those in the village and in the surrounding areas. While there have been a lot of problems with the quarry in the past, the village has no problem with the current operation of the quarry.”
Williams added that the village board of trustees, after review and investigation by the village planning and zoning commission, recommends Camden County deny this application.
“The reason is, it does not fit with the comprehensive plan of the village, nor does it address serious deficiencies that the comprehensive plan is intended to prevent in development,” Williams said.
Williams said the proposed zoning would not be compatible with the surrounding B-2 zoning given the infrastructure requirements. “One of the points of planning and zoning is to enable a community to plan for future infrastructure,” he said. “There are inadequate roads, water and sewer. By village ordinance you must annex into the village to use our utilities, in which case the county will not have to be concerned with how it is zoned because it will then be the village’s problem, and that is by intent. If we are extending the people’s tax dollars to pay for infrastructure, we want it to be in compliance with the city planning.”
“Woods Supermarket has three lanes in front of it by plan. We have a very serious safety issue when expanding this operation, at this location,” Williams continued. He added that Magruder’s proposed 15 percent grades are too steep.
Magruder said 15 percent grades were acceptable to Camden County P&Z.
Williams added, referencing the possible box store development at Magruder’s quarry site, “The question is: Is there a need for more speculative commercially zoned property in this area?”
Williams ended his public hearing address by saying, “The village is opposed officially to the application, as presented. It does not address important issues that are part of the planning process. The current site is zoned C-2 for medium density commercial because of its grandfathered use as a quarry, and [Magruder] may continue that until they stop. That is the law. You should not expand a non-conforming use on an adjoining piece of property. There are better places to quarry.”
No one else spoke in opposition.
Magruder spoke to clarify allegations made by residents at the July P&Z commission meeting. He said:
- He spoke with DNR and three wells had not been damaged by the quarry.
- The $60,000 concrete wall repair was a cinder block wall that was damaged before the quarry was in operation.
- No one had their insurance cancelled.
- His blasting records show he has blasted less than half the legal limits, blasting only 16 times in 2012 and 10 in 2013, not twice a week, as alleged.
Magruder is not the first company to operate this quarry, and the company is also not the first to be told “No” when asking permission to make zoning changes.
The Camden County Planning and Zoning in April 2007 denied a request by the property’s former owners for a rezoning from A-R to A-1. In 2009, the Village of Sunrise Beach denied a request to move Eddie Avenue with the applicant’s stated intent to subsequently develop the existing location as a commercial site. A temporary asphalt plant proposal at the existing quarry site was also denied Magruder by Sunrise Beach earlier this year, and village trustees voted at their Monday, July 8 meeting to oppose this most recent request.
“Camden County and Sunrise Beach both have been getting materials from our quarry to repair their roads after the heavy rainfall and it is much cheaper to transport from within the village,” said Magruder Limestone and Paving Aggregate Sales Manager, Scott Lacy, in a separate interview. Lacy also said it was nice to hear, for a change, a spokesperson (Williams) stand up and give the company the just due it deserves, (referencing Williams’ comments that the village had no problem with the current quarry and all the problems were with the former quarry).
In a separate interview, Mark Magruder said he operates nine quarries and none have given him issues like the one in Sunrise Beach.
The Camden County Board of Adjustments will meet at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 28 to consider approving another request by Magruder for a Special Use Permit (SUP) to quarry, mine and sell rock to grade for potential business development.
According to Hathaway, the Board of Adjustments could approve the SUP without knowing if the zoning will be approved in September, because the board is an independent body. But with no rezoning there will ultimately be no SUP. In an alternate scenario, the Board of Adjustments could also vote No on the SUP and the commission could vote yes on the rezoning, and that too would stop Magruder from expanding its quarry.
