County to consider lifting load limit for gravel pit near Glencoe

The McLeod County Planning Commission is recommending that the McLeod County Board of Commissioners lift a truck limit imposed on a gravel mining conditional use permit held by Northern Lines Contracting, which is operating a gravel pit on property owned by Huepenbecker Land Holding Co., LLC, just east of Midwest Machinery along Highway 212.
The Planning Commission had recommended approval of the permit in May, with 15 conditions. At its June 6 meeting, the County Board added a 16th condition — that there be a maximum of 30 round trips in and out of the pit per day.”
Realizing it could not meet that restriction, Northern Lines appealed and asked that it be removed. The Planning Commission considered the request at its regular meeting Wednesday, July 26.
Initially, there had been some confusion as to whether the stipulation was 30 trucks total per day, or 30 round trips per day.
Paul Merkins, a member of the planning commission, asked how the 30 trucks or round trips per day had been arrived at. Merkins said the commission had been unaware that there was a suggested limit when it considered the original application.
Larry Gasow, the county zoning administrator, said that increased traffic in and out of the site off Highway 212 had been a concern, and the commission had tabled its approval until it had input from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).
Gasow said a representative of MnDOT did not feel comfortable offering an opinion on whether acceleration or turning lanes should be a condition of the permit.
“Normally, they would need statistics on that,” said Gasow, “such as the number of accidents in the area. Right now, they don’t have any data that would indicate a need for an acceleration lane. That’s why she recommended ‘trucks hauling’ signs on the shoulder of the highway.”
For more from the meeting, see the Aug. 2 print edition of The Chronicle.