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Two more companies propose quarries in same area

Brian Wilkinson

(Updated: Thursday, March 04, 2010, 12:00 AM)

As the Madera County Planning Commission prepares to consider the Madera Ranch Inc. proposal for a rock quarry operation in the foothills of Madera County, two additional companies have notified county officials of their intent to develop quarries in the same general area of the county.

Vulcan Materials Company, the nation's leading producer of construction aggregates, is planning to operate the Austin Quarry on 356 acres of a 671-acre parcel on the southwest corner of highways 41 and 145.

The northern boundary of the property is Highway 145 and the southern boundary is the Madera Canal.

The company wants to process a maximum of 2.5 million tons of material per year for 100 years.

Vulcan, based in Birmingham, Ala., with western division headquarters in Los Angeles, operates more than 300 aggregate plants with 40 asphalt, ready-mix and aggregate facilities in California including Friant, Fowler, Sanger, Los Banos and Gustine.

Granite Construction Company is planning a rock quarry operation on 323 acres at the intersection of roads 208 and 209. Its plan is to mine a maximum of 3 million tons of material per year for 50 years.

The project, if approved, would include a hot mix asphalt facility, a construction material recycling plant and a concrete production facility.

The mining operation, processing plants, shop, quality control lab and offices are collectively named the Hildreth Creek Quarry Project.

Granite Construction, founded in 1922, provides construction services throughout the Western states through 15 branch offices.

The company has 53 active and 37 inactive quarry properties in the Western United States, including an aggregate facility in Coalinga.

Both companies are leasing property. The land for the Vulcan project is owned by Mike Urrita and the Granite Construction project is planned for property owned by Bigelow-Silkwood and a separate piece owned by Carol Anne Johnson Lacqer.

The county planning department is currently interviewing consulting firms and getting detailed cost estimates for preparing Environmental Impact Reports for the projects.

It is estimated that the EIRs for both projects will come before the planning commission early to mid 2011.