TRR photo by David Hulse Christine Obser of the Pike County Recycling Program is pictured July 18 presenting Lackawaxen Supervisor John McKay a Certificate of Cooperation for participating in the county program. Obser said some 500 tons of recyclables have already been collected at the Lackawaxen highway barn site. Obser also pressed for township sign-off on a so-far deferred statement of cooperation associated with the county visioning plan. (Click for larger image)

New quarry operator questioned

By DAVID HULSE

LACKAWAXEN — Township residents last week were asking questions about a Honesdale construction company’s recent takeover of a family-operated quarry in Bohemia, a hamlet in Lackawaxen Township.

Leeward Construction has taken over the operation of the former “Skip” McKean quarry off Urban Road and plans to close the final purchase of the 80-acre property in the near future, project coordinator Ted Korb told an audience at the July 18 township meeting.

Residents were concerned about traffic on Urban and Blue Eddy roads, which intersect Route 590 from the quarry. “I didn’t mind a local guy doing his thing there, but a big company is something else,” one resident complained.

Supervisor John McKay reported that new state law has now made mining and timbering accepted zoning uses in all zones.

Korb said about 12 acres is actively being mined and most of the material would go to Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. “The property is worth millions,” he said.

Responding to concerns that new blasting might disturb the neighboring, toxic Crown Industries site, Korb said quarry operations are aimed away from Crown.

Korb said the site was attractive, in part, because its remote location provided few traffic or neighbor problems. “This town is in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

“Many of us came here because it’s in the middle of nowhere,” one resident replied.

In other business, the township approved a $3,000 bid from George McKean to provide excavating equipment to fix flood-prone areas on Westcolang Road; approved placement of three pedestrian crosswalks on Scenic Drive and heard Ron Perry, an opponent of the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline pumping station in Bohemia, report that federal regulators had made procedural errors in their approval of the project, which Perry’s resident group at Fawn Lake is challenging in court.