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The Hardscrabble area is one of those Sussex crossroads that people only refer to when they bring up odd area names. Ten miles from anywhere, between Georgetown, Laurel, Seaford and Millsboro, it’s a place where generations of rural families have lived on family-owned land.
For the most part, people stay to themselves, but the small community has come together for a common cause – to fight a proposed borrow pit.
During a Tuesday, June 3 county council public hearing, about a dozen residents spoke out against the new pit and a proposed sand plant in an area they say is oversaturated with borrow pits.
They claim there are five active and inactive pits within a three-mile radius of their homes.
On the same night it was presented, a plan requiring a conditional use of 199 acres to be used for a borrow pit on Hardscrabble Road was given a favorable recommendation from Sussex County Planning and Zoning.
But the plan, presented by David G. Horsey & Sons Inc. of Laurel, hit a stumbling block when it was presented to county council.
County council delayed action on the request pending reports from two state agencies on issues raised by residents – water quality and waterfowl intrusion.
Councilman George Cole requested information on borrow pits from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Department of Agriculture. “There have been questions raised that we can’t answer,” he said.
County officials voted to give the state 60 days to respond to a request for information and then allow the public another 30 days to respond to the information.
Even with a long list of conditions, including substantial buffers, inspections, monitoring wells, strict hours of operation and a watering truck to keep down dust, residents said they have had enough.
They said they have put up with 20 years of noise, dust and traffic created by another pit owned by Horsey on the same road as the proposed pit – all near the Delaware Solid Waste Authority Jones Crossroad landfill. They also expressed concerns with water quality and quantity.
The Horseys are in the process of shutting down and reclaiming that pit, which began operating in the mid-1980s.
They also operate another borrow pit on Route 20, called the James pit, near the entrance to the landfill.
“This new pit is important to the local economy; it’s centrally located, provides quality fill material and it’s across from an existing borrow pit so it’s an ideal location,” said Tim Willard, the attorney representing the Horseys. Williard said the sand-plant operation would be the same that existed across the street.
Horsey added that some fill material from the pit would be used in the landfill operation so its close proximity to the landfill is important. The “ideal location” comment set off a chain reaction of comments from residents who live in the rural area.
“Who is this ideal for?” asked Mike Smith, who lives near both borrow pits. “We will be sandwiched in with a pit in our bac yard and now one in our front yard. This is not good for anyone.”
Smith said a conservative estimate is that at least 43,750 trucks per year will go by his family’s home.
Williard said the proposed pit would operate six days a week with about 170 trucks entering and leaving the property each day. “They will be spread out throughout the work day,” he said.
Delaware Department of Transportation did not require a traffic impact study, Willard said.
“We were so relieved when we learned the pit was closing because we had put up with the dust, traffic and back-up beepers for so many years,” said Stephanie Smith, wife of Mike, who lives about 250 feet from the entrance of the proposed borrow pit and in front of the current pit.
“Now the impact is going to affect us again.”
She said past history on regulating conditions placed on the pits has not been impressive. “How can I trust that the provisions are going to be done?” she asked. “We see other sand plants not regulated and not forced to follow regulations.”
Lois Davis, who lives on Hardscrabble Road, said she was worried about the value of her property.
“Who would buy our house surrounded by dirt pit?” Davis asked. “Enough is enough.”
Willis Kirk, who lives on Beaver Dam Branch Road, said he is concerned about all of the borrow pits, but has more concerns about the one inactive pit.
“That’s the one that can cause the most problems,” he said.
He said the pit is within the Columbia aquifer, which is the Town of Laurel’s water source, as well as the source of water for people in the area.
He said there is the potential for contamination at the pit because of a lack of security.
“There is acres and acres of open aquifer and it’s not nature that opened it,” he added.
In addition, he said, the ponds move up and down with the water table and when they become stagnant, the aquifer below can become contaminated.
He said an environmental assessment is needed to determine the impact of the borrow pits.
No one turned out in favor of or opposed to the conditional-use request during the planning and zoning commission meeting.
Horsey, who is known for philanthropic endeavors through the Horsey Family Youth Foundation, has been in the excavation business for 22 years and employs 142 people.
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WHAT’S A BORROW PIT?
A borrow pit is an area where material – soil, sand, gravel – is dug out of the ground for use in another location. Normally, a sand plant is constructed near the pit to sort the material for loading onto dump trucks for transport. In this area, borrow pits fill with groundwater and can be as deep as 80 to 90 feet.
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