Who Gets Lyons Township Quarry Complaints?

LA GRANGE, IL — The Lyons Township Quarry Council, which includes area municipal officials and quarry representatives, meets in private. It's unclear what happens to the complaints that go through the council's hotline.

The hotline gives residents options to speak with representatives of the three quarries in the area — Hanson Aggregates and Vulcan Materials in McCook and Reliable Materials in Lyons.

At Monday's La Grange Village Board meeting, resident Cindy Brom asked whether the quarry council meetings were public and whether the public could have access to the complaints that go to the companies.

Village Manager Andrianna Peterson responded that the meetings are not public, but she did not speak about public access to the complaints.

She said the council is a decades-long partnership between quarries and area towns. At the meetings, participants discuss concerns about quarry blasting, truck traffic, dust, noise and vibrations.

"A lot of it centers around communications about what exactly they are doing and what impacts there are for residents," Peterson said.

Brom said it was interesting that the quarries themselves are the ones taking the complaints.

"There are a lot of complaints about the quarries," she said.

Brom was at the meeting mainly because of the flooding problems in south La Grange, which residents and officials blame on the Hanson quarry.

She said a Hanson brochure notes that its business comes from within 10 or 15 miles. She wondered whether the village could use its leverage to stop buying materials from Hanson for its road projects.

Village President Mark Kuchler said the village had not asked its contractors to avoid certain quarries.

Brom asked, "Can we?"

"Perhaps," Kuchler said, "but I'm not sure where to begin."

The quarry hotline is 1-866-934-3278 (1-866-WE-HEAR-U).