Gravel mine has little impact on Sisters

For more than a year, the Hap Taylor & Sons construction company has been hauling gravel out of a surface mine five miles west of Sisters.

When that mine was first proposed, it drew angry opposition from Sisters-area residents, who forecast choking dust, noise and highway carnage from gravel trucks. The mine was the focus of intense controversy as two groups of Sisters-area residents fought to stop the operation before it started.

The fight ended in January, 1997, after two days of mediation talks allayed the most pressing concerns of mine opponents. Hap Taylor & Sons agreed to cut their maximum yearly extraction from the site in half - to 240,000 cubic yards - until transportation improvements such as a couplet through or a bypass around Sisters are completed.

The mine operator also agreed to cut truck trips from the mine from 13 per hour to seven trips per hour.

So, how has it all turned out?

"A month or so ago we had a complaint about trucks driving too fast (by the high school)," said high school principal Dennis Dempsey. "I called Hap (Taylor). Since then, they are going slower in the school zone than some of the cars. I wish all the trucks that drove by in front of the school drove as slow as his do right now."

Dempsey also said that the Taylor trucks "try not to drive in front of the school in the 15 minutes before and after school starts and lets out. So far, so good. He seems to want to work with us."

Hap Taylor was out of town. Todd Taylor, a principal with the firm, could not be reached for comment for this story.

John Hornbeck was one of the key opponents of the mine, and also one who worked with Hap Taylor & Sons in the mediation process.

"As far as I have heard, no one seems to have problems yet. In the mediation process, Todd (Taylor) talked to us and they have done everything they said they were going to do. They have been very responsible, as far as I can tell," said Hornbeck.

The closest neighbors to the mine live one mile east of the operation in the Crossroads subdivision. Bud Cunningham, Chairman of the Crossroads Property Owners Association, said, "If there is a problem (with the mine) people are keeping it to themselves."

Cunningham added that he felt it was unlikely that homeowners would not voice complaints to the board.

"One woman said she had a rock chip her windshield. I don't know what happened about that. There have been one or two comments about excessive speed (of gravel trucks)," said Cunningham.

But as to noise and dust, the Crossroads official said they have received "not a word about noise. We (the board of directors) meet every month and no one has come in to say they were deluged with complaints. On the contrary, I have had a couple people say 'gee, maybe it was much ado about nothing.' "

Gene Todd, former member of the board of the Crossroads Property Owners Association who was involved when the mine was first proposed, said "personally, I think they (the mine) have been a pretty good neighbor.

"I have not heard from anyone here that is having a problem with the noise. Some who live on the very west end of the development can hear it slightly, but they have not reported that it is a problem," said Todd.

Todd was concerned that the mine operator had agreed in the mediation process to install a new off-road bike path between the high school and Sisters, estimated to cost $100,000.

"Hap told me he had made some contacts about that but was not able to get any action. They would need easements across private land. I think it would be a shame if that bike path fell through the cracks," said Todd.

John Hornbeck explained that "As we met to decide how to get the easements (for the bike path), the project began at Pine Meadow Ranch and the Forest Service was going to do something with the triangle of land (between the McKenzie and Santiam highways). We felt we had to wait until that situation was clear before deciding where the bike path will go."

Todd also noted that "there was supposed to be an advisory committee made up of a member from the school district, a member from the city and a member from Crossroads. I was the designated member from Crossroads. The committee has never been put together, as far as I know."

Hornbeck said that "at this point I wouldn't know that it (the advisory group) is required. If the operation changes, then that will happen. But at this point, I don't think there is that level of concern from the people most affected."