Rutland Herald
Danby declines Tinmouth offer to share road review
May 23, 2000
By SANDI SWITZER Herald Correspondent
DANBY - Town officials said thanks, but no thanks, to a proposal from neighboring Tinmouth to share the cost of hiring an engineer to review area roads.
The Danby Select Board declined Tinmouth's offer to pay a portion of an estimated $3,000 for an engineer to investigate weight limits, safety and sufficiency of town roads.
Danby's share would have been approximately $1,000.
"At this point, we're not interested in it," Selectman Kenneth Bushee said at a recent meeting.
Tinmouth's request was prompted by an OMYA Inc. plan to begin quarrying operations in the Danby Four Corners region, and transport marble ore to its processing plant in Florence.
The proposed haul route has trucks leaving the site, traveling through Tinmouth, Wallingford, Clarendon, Rutland City, Rutland Town and Pittsford to the Florence facility.
"In pursuit of this investigation, we are hiring Roger Dickerson, a road engineering specialist, to review our road system and its limitations. We will also be conducting core sampling of the road base to determine its carrying capacity," Select Board Chairwoman Cathy Reynolds wrote in a letter to Danby officials.
Reynolds further noted that Danby roads would also be affected by OMYA's project and asked whether the town wanted to "join forces in this investigation to reduce costs."
In declining Tinmouth's offer, Danby Selectman Donald Keeler said a town committee has already been formed to generate a list of specialists and associated costs of reviewing the project's potential impacts on Danby.
In a related matter, Danby resident Michele White asked Select Board members if OMYA had been in contact with the town since it had sent out a nine-page outline of its quarry proposal.
"We haven't heard anything more about a plan to move forward," Keeler responded.
White expressed frustration that OMYA officials had met with concerned citizens in surrounding towns but not in Danby.
"It's got you dumbfounded that OMYA's going to all these other towns on transportation issues but they haven't been here," she said.
Bushee told White he expects more than one public hearing to be scheduled on this issue.