Rutland Herald

Danby searches for experts to assess OMYA plan

April 14, 2000
By SANDI SWITZER Herald Correspondent

DANBY - Five residents will be responsible for generating a list of independent experts available to assess the potential impacts of a proposed quarry operation.

The Danby Select Board last week appointed Ray Lamberton, Donna Herrick, Ken Abbott Sr., Jeannie Phillips and Robert Easton to a research committee. The committee will come up with names of businesses or individuals qualified to assess OMYA Inc.'s proposal to mine the Jobe Phillips Quarry property.

Selectman Kenneth Bushee, who was out of town but participated in the meeting via speaker phone, said the group is responsible for providing the town with a list, as well as related costs.

"They're not going to hire somebody to do this, they're just going to get the information," he said.

Bushee noted that townspeople will decide whether to pursue the project once the information is available.

"We'll have to have a vote to appropriate the money after we get a price on it," he said.

In a related matter, Planning Commission member Shelley Taylor asked for a clarification regarding the commission's role in updating the town plan.

"There seems to be some confusion amongst members and the audience that we're not going about it the right way," she said.

The Planning Commission recently started holding regular meetings to revise the expired town plan, which will come under considerable scrutiny once OMYA files for an Act 250 permit.

"We want some clarification. Should we work on the existing plan or scrap it and start from scratch?" Taylor asked the Select Board.

Officials indicated the Planning Commission should revise the current document. It was adopted in 1994 and expired last year.

In other business, Taylor, who is also a member of the Union District 23 School Board for the shared Currier Memorial School, asked officials to increase police presence around the school yard.

She said after dropping off her daughter at the school, she notice a beer container on the playground.

"I'd like to request you get the sheriff out there," she said. "There shouldn't be drinking on the jungle gym."

The board agreed to increase patrols in that area.