Lee County Commissioners to mull proposed mine on State Road 82

The fate of a proposed lime rock mining facility on State Road 82 will soon be decided.

Aaron Troyer and his team are fighting to put a lime rock facility along State Road 82.

“It is a valuable limited needed resource. We can grow potatoes elsewhere on other ground,” Troyer said. “Our property is unique that has quality aggregates available for use that has limited residential properties next to it.”

Randy Johnson, of Sakata Seed America, fears the noise will hinder profits.

“It’s kind of like having a bowling alley next to a recording studio,” Johnson said.

Johnson runs a seed business next to the property and said the mine would hurt his company’s bottom dollar.

“If the water table is going down and up with the dewatering activities, we can’t do our job,” Johnson said.

The Troyer Brothers said they want to transform a potato farm into a nearly 800-acre lime rock mining facility by 2025. The facility would be operational for 35 years.

“I am concerned about the mining this quarry is going to do, for the traffic, the quality of life for residents like me who live only a few miles away,” said concerned resident Kathy Dobash.

The Troyer Brothers said they’d blast once or twice a week, and the closest house to the mine is more than a quarter mile away from the mine.

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