Quarry plan OK'd; critics don't get all they wanted

By Pat Jenkins

The Dispatch

Randles Sand and Gravel has been given permission by Pierce County officials to go forward with its proposed 762-acre gravel and rock quarry near Eatonville.

A county hearing examiner’s approval of plans for the site apparently ends a two-year process of reviews of the project known as Rim Rock, although a period for appealing the examiner’s decision runs into next month.

The Randles proposal has been contentious since 2016 among some citizens, the Eatonville School District and the Town of Eatonville, all of whom expressed concern about traffic, safety or related issues they claimed could have a negative impact on the public. Certain road improvements and other conditions that opponents requested weren’t accepted by Randles and weren’t included in the decision issued on Jan. 15 by hearing examiner Stephen Causseaux.

Appeals of his ruling must be filed by Feb. 8 in Pierce County Superior Court. Neither the school district or the town plan to appeal, according to the district superintendent and the mayor.

Last year, public hearings on the quarry plans led to requests by school and town officials for pedestrian and traffic safety measures around the intersection of State Route 161/Washington Avenue and Lynch Creek Road. That area was a focus of concern in relation to schools that are near the route for heavy trucks to and from the quarry, which is located about two miles outside of Eatonville in an unincorporated area of the county.

Randles plans to remove and market hundreds of thousands of tons per year of rock and other material. Trucks would use Lynch Creek Road, 129th Avenue East and SR-161 for dozens of trips per day. People who live beside or near those roads were joined by town and school officials in criticizing what they described as negative traffic and noise impacts of the project. Company representatives disputed those concerns, saying their project won’t spoil the surrounding rural area and that road improvements required by the county, including a left-turn lane for SR-161 at the intersection with Lynch Creek Road, will help keep trucks and other traffic moving safely.

Randles, which has a headquarters in Frederickson, has been in business since 1969 as a supplier of sand, gravel and topsoil. It already owns and operates Lynch Creek Quarry near Eatonville on 419th Street Court East. That quarry is a source of basalt rock that the company sells to customers as far away as Oregon and Idaho.

The school district, which largely was concerned about heavily loaded trucks from the new Rim Rock quarry on Lynch Creek Road passing Eatonville Elementary School and nearby sports fields, doesn’t have the money for legal fees “to appeal at this time and will work with the town around the specific concerns that we have stated,” said superintendent Krestin Bahr. “Our concern is always for the safety of our students going to and from school, as well as maintaining the excellent learning environments” of the elementary school, Eatonville Middle School and Eatonville High School, which also are near some of the truck routes.

Mayor Mike Schaub said the town also “has no plans at this time to appeal” the county’s approval of Rick Rock. But he said town officials will continue working with Randles on “our concerns with the impact” of truck traffic on Lynch Creek Road to Washington Avenue and on pedestrian safety.

Randles, which expects the Rim Rock quarry could be in use for 40 years, has raised the possibility of a rail line near the quarry as a way of hauling gravel and rocks at some point in the first five years of the quarry’s operation. But trucking is the company’s preferred mode to start.