Community Corner

Channahon Officials Sign Off on Ketone Partners Mining Project

Developer will be required to proceed under certain restrictions as Village board attempts to address resident concerns over increased truck traffic and noise.

Action taken by the Channahon Village Board will allow mining operations to resume—perhaps as early as the spring of 2014—and protect citizens who live in the area of the project, according to Village Administrator Joe Pena.

The board approved an ordinance at its regular meeting on Monday, July 15, that will allow Ketone Partners, a Chicago-based real estate consulting, investment and development company, to resume mining on a 236-acre parcel located on the southwest corner of U.S. 6 and Bluff Road in Channahon.

At the the same time, the operation will proceed under certain restrictions, Pena said.

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“We tried to answer the concerns of residents in terms of noise, hours of operation and the testing of wells in case they once were affected or might be affected in the future,” he said. “But I don’t believe they will.”

Pena said Ketone Partners will be regulated to mining from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. No mining will be allowed on Sunday.

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The company’s plan calls for the removal of minerals over about a 10-year period. Once that is complete, Ketone Partners will build between 80-100 luxury homes, each one to sit on a one-acre lot, around a lake in a gated community. The land backs up to Heritage Bluffs Public Golf Club and originally was owned and mined by Material Services in the 1980s.

A Village ordinance already in place allowed for mining to resume at some point in the future—even with the transfer of the property to a new owner, in this case Ketone Partners.

“This was not a vote to allow mining or not to allow it,” Pena said. “It was a vote taken that puts safeguards in place to help residents with the concerns they raised the first time mining was done on the property. So, hopefully, when the residential part of the project goes up, everybody will benefit.”

Pena said Ketone Partners is obligated to pay the Village of Channahon $550,000 in a recapture fee. Once that amount is paid off, then the Village will collect 5 cents per ton from minerals removed from the site, Pena said.

“And, then, whatever tax dollars are due once the new homes go in,” he said.

One of the chief concerns of residents is increased truck traffic caused by mining that could snarl U.S. 6, particularly at peak travel times.

“Depending on when they actually begin work, we’ll have to pay attention to the impact on the roadways,” Pena said. “There could be gravel and mud on the roadways as well as what sort of traffic might come out of the trucks coming and going all day long, well, we just don’t know at this point.

“Bluff Road is a county road. If we have concerns, we’ll have to go to the county and work with them to come up with solutions.”



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