FAYETTEVILLE In an attempt to squeeze an additional four to five years of life out of the existing quarry on Route 5 east of the village of Fayetteville, Kinsella Quarries is seeking a zone change on a portion of its property that would allow it to expand by approximately 12 acres.
Last week, Tom Kinsella came before the Manlius Town Board to request the zone change for the 12 acres located at the southwest corner of the Kinsella property. The current quarry is 188 acres.
The expansion area falls within the safety berms that surround the existing quarry.
“From the outside looking in, no one will see any changes whatsoever,” Kinsella told the board. “Our processing plant, everything else, we don’t plan to move anything.”
At issue is an agreement between the quarry and the homeowners in the Changing Seasons subdivision that took place when the quarry was expanded by 28 acres in 2003. The quarry has been in operation for more than 50 years.
Craig Dudczak, representing Changing Seasons, spoke to the board at the open podium section of the meeting, and said he believes this expansion would violate that agreement.
“We think, in our reading of the agreement, that it constrains the Kinsella company from expanding the footprint that he is currently operating under,” Dudczak told the board.
In his presentation, Kinsella said he disagreed with that understanding. The expansion would not violate the 600-foot buffer between the quarry and Changing Seasons and most of newly mined area would be further away from the development than the existing quarry.
Kinsella Quarries has also proposed a new quarry about a mile further east on a 250-acre site, south of Route 5 at the intersection of Route 5 and Route 290. In March 2021, Kinsella came before the town board with a proposal for a zone change on that site, which he said would support Kinsella’s operations for several decades. The town board has taken no action on that zone change request and is considering it as part of its comprehensive planning process.
Town Supervisor John Deer asked to table the discussion to allow councilors and the town engineer to review the expansion proposal, as well as the agreement between Kinsella and the Changing Seasons Homeowners Association.
“We’re going to do our due diligence,” Deer said.
Zone change decisions are made by the town board, but it typically refers zone change proposals to the planning board for a recommendation before making a decision.
