Rutland Herald

Wallingford residents fight OMYA truck plan

July 28, 2000
By SANDI SWITZER Herald Correspondent

WALLINGFORD - A large group of Wallingford citizens are opposing OMYA Inc.'s plan to truck marble ore through the town's historic village.

More than 150 townspeople have signed a petition calling on local leaders to oppose OMYA's use of Route 140 to haul material from the Jobe Phillips Quarry in Danby to a processing plant in Florence.

"In order to preserve the character and integrity of the village, we further petition the board to promote the use of rail transport as a viable alternative to truck transport along the Route 7 corridor," the petition reads.

Linda MacFarlane and Gary Lindorff presented the document to the Select Board at its meeting July 24.

"The impact would absolutely devastate the historic character of the community," Lindorff said.

Selectman Ed Crelin said the town was gathering information regarding transportation impacts and reviewing the overweight vehicle permit process.

"It almost seems you can't deny (a permit), but it clearly states you can charge a fee for whatever impact there is on road maintenance," he said.

Selectwoman Diane Colvin questioned whether similar fees would be levied on all overweight vehicles, including milk trucks.

Crelin responded that the impact on roads and bridges stemmed largely from the frequency of truck trips.

"There's a huge difference between one a day and 40 a day," he said.

OMYA's proposed haul route would have loaded 76,000-pound, five-axle 18-wheelers traveling from the Danby Four Corners' site through Tinmouth, Wallingford, Clarendon, Rutland City, Rutland Town and Pittsford to a processing plant in Florence.

It calls for a maximum 40 round trips a day, six days a week.

"There's a plethora of issues and we're going to make sure and look at them all," Crelin said.

He added that citizens throughout the region would soon meet with Conservation Law Foundation representatives to further study OMYA's proposal.

Colvin warned that the Select Board had not taken an official position, and that a number of citizens supported the project at a recent informational hearing.

Select Board Chairman Christopher Dinnan said officials would act on the petition at their meeting Aug. 7.