The Final Countdown has begun on the Strata Corporation conditional use permit application in Big Stone County. Commissioners meet tomorrow morning and a Strata Update is on the agenda for 8:45AM at the Big Stone County Courthouse. Only 15 minutes have been allocated and yet we may not assume that a vote will not be … Continue reading »
On April 25, Big Stone County citizens challenging a conditional use permit request by Strata Corporation to create a new granite blasting and crushing quarry next to homes, a bike trail and the Minnesota River delivered materials that outline the many issues intended to prove the point that Strata’s proposal is the wrong project at … Continue reading »
This ad copy ran in today’s Ortonville Independent: LAST TUESDAY, April 17, Big Stone County Commissioners convened a special public hearing on the application by Strata Corporation for a Conditional Use Permit to operate a mining and granite crushing facility for processed aggregate. Strata Corporation plans to mine, crush, and ship processed aggregate at a … Continue reading »
In the edited excerpt below, Big Stone County resident and Land Stewardship Project organizer Rebecca Terk testifies about the situation facing the Big Stone County Commissioners as they near a vote on a Conditional Use Permit that would allow Strata Corporation, located in Grand Forks, ND, to operate a granite quarry amid a rare landscape, … Continue reading »
A reminder about the deadline for written testimony on the Strata Conditional Use Permit: Written testimony and documentary evidence may still be submitted as part of the public hearing through the County Auditor’s Office in the Big Stone County courthouse by 4PM on April 25. Strata Corporation C.U.P. % County Auditor 20 2nd St SE … Continue reading »
We’re working on editing a short “highlights reel” of video clips from Tuesday night’s public hearing about the Strata before the Big Stone County Board–there’s so much wonderful new testimony from the three hours! As it is, perhaps one of the shortest statements of the evening catches the overall question confronting the commissioners. After listening … Continue reading »
The Big Stone County Board of Commissioners held its own public hearing on Tuesday, April 17 at 7 PM at the Ortonville Armory. The special hearing followed deliberations already concluded by Big Stone County’s Planning and Zoning Commission in February “on the merits of Strata Corporation’s conditional use permit application”. An estimated 120 people attended … Continue reading »
A recent blog post by Tim Krohn, a staff writer for the Mankato Free Press, underscores why the proposed Strata blast and crush quarry is the wrong project at the wrong place at the wrong time. Read it, and come to the hearing on the permit tomorrow night, April 17, 7:00 p.m., at the Armory … Continue reading »
Nancy Aune was a little nervous about her video debut, but after she wrote out her ideas and her sister Kathy offered to hold her notebook up for her, she forged ahead. Aune asks the Big Stone County Commissioners to vote “No” on Strata Corporation’s permit for to blast and crush a rare natural landscape. … Continue reading »
It’s another windy day in Big Stone County. Anyone driving in from the east on Highway 7 could see the particulates being kicked up into the air at the existing quarries. A couple of weeks ago on another, less windy day, we shot some video at one of the quarries. Check out the contrast of that location with … Continue reading »
