PORT LUDLOW — A citizens group will appeal a visiting judge’s decision preventing them from weighing-in on an ongoing legal dispute between Jefferson County and the developer of a proposed new quarry near Port Ludlow.
Iron Mountain Quarry Co. wants to build a new basalt rock mining operation on 142 acres leased from Pope Resources next to the existing Shine Quarry.
The Port Ludlow Village Council filed notice last week that it will ask the state Court of Appeals to reverse Judge Anna Laurie’s decision last month rejecting their attempt to join the dispute between the company and the county as an intervener.
Laurie denied the request because it was not timely, she said.
She also declined to accept the group’s 1,000 pages of documentation on the case.
Meanwhile, Jefferson County is likely to make a decision by the middle of next week as to whether to appeal a part of Laurie’s decision affecting its environmental review of the project, said Yakima attorney Ken Harper, who represents the county in the matter.
Laurie ordered the county to give more lengthy consideration to Iron Mountain Quarry Co.’s environmental and other documents.
She found the county spent 2 ¼ hours on the process, and that was not enough time to issue an adverse impact finding.
That finding triggered a requirement for an independent environmental impact statement, or EIS.
The company contends the 568 pages of information it submitted is sufficient for the county to approve the project without consuming more time and money on an EIS.
Laurie, a Kitsap County Superior Court judge, is hearing matters related to the company’s lawsuit against the county challenging its determination of significance.
Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser was removed at the county’s request following a series of decisions in the company’s favor.
An Iron Mountain official said it has spent $500,000 on its own study with the finding that there would be no adverse impact from the new quarry.
The quarry was first proposed in 2007, and the company once planned to open next spring.
Now, there is no anticipated opening date, a company official has said.
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Julie McCormick is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. Contact her at juliemccormick10@gmail.com.
