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Judge to rule on grav= el business' status
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Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, MA)-September 9, 2003
Author: KEVIN DENNEHY


       BOURNEDALE - A state Land Court judge could decide this = week whether a Bourne sand and gravel operation can remain open while appealing a town order to shut it down.

       Town officials this summer ordered Cape Cod Aggregates to close after learning the operation had outgrown zoning for the area. The zoning review came after several complaints about noise and dust.=

       The business is appealing the decision, but the process could take two to three years. In the meantime, officials from Cape= Cod Aggregates are hoping to keep digging at their Scenic Highway location.

       Cape Cod Aggregates, which bought the 126-acre s= ite near the Cape Cod Canal in 1995, mines sand and gravel to within 30 feet of= the water table. The company often delivers more than 100 truckloads of sand and gravel each day to area businesses.

       Neighbors say dust clouds and the rumble of crus= hed stones are making life intolerable.

       Cape Cod Aggregates officials said they are only doing what their predecessors had done on the Bourneda= le property for decades and should be "grandfathered" under 1950s zoning.

       The town's zoning board last month disagreed, ru= ling the business had grown too large since strict zoning was passed in 1959, lo= sing any claim to protected rights.

       Judge Leon Lombardi of the Massachusetts Land Court heard test= imony last week from the company, the town and the neighbors. He may issue a deci= sion in the next two weeks.

       "It would be a tremendous injustice to the people who live in that neighborhood to say, in effect, that Cape Cod Aggregates' economic health outweighs the health risks they are exposed to every day that this operation continues," said Gerald Blair, attorney = for Alice and Robert Bedugnis, the Bournedale couple that first pushed for the company to be shut down.

       Diane Tillotson, an attorney for Cape Cod Aggregates, hopes the courts can reach a decision that will satisfy neighbors without putting the company out of business.

       If the business is closed, she said, it could co= st several jobs and cripple the Cape's construction industry. Nine of the Hyannis-based company's 50 employees wor= k at the Bournedale site.

       Last week, the town's selectmen supported the ac= tion and suggested it be imposed immediately.

       "You can see the dust on (the Bournedale neighbors') homes. It's just very unhealthy," said James Grady, a Bourne selectman.

       "No one should have to live there under tho= se circumstances."


Record Number: 0FD776E9E3ED4FCD

C= opyright, 2003, Cape Cod Times. All Rights Reserved.