Neighbors and Business Owner Continue Lake Street Quarry Debate

The battle between the owner of Lake Street Granite Quarry and nearby residents continues to rage on as the quarry's owner seeks approval from the Town of Harrison to recycle concrete, brick and rock despite nearby resident opposition.

Residents of Old Lake Street, which neighbors the quarry, have made public complaints numerous times about the quarry, claiming that it operates at odd hours and bombards their properties with dust and noise, creating almost non-livable conditions.

Quarry owner Lawrence Barrego, on the other hand, claims that his business has been in operation since 1922, a year before Harrison's zoning laws were enacted, exempting it from zoning regulations. 

Last week neighbors and an attorney representing the quarry stood before the town planning board to view a new site expansion plan proposed by Barrego. The quarry is seeking approval from the planning board and ultimately the town board.

Issues discussed last week included the quarry not providing the required 50 feet of buffer space between its operation and nearby homes as well as the destruction of hills that once separated the quarry from homes on Old Lake Street. Ideas like a new fence and movement of tents and other equipment were quickly dismissed by residents who took the podium.

"Nobody wants the fence, I don't want the fence," nearby property owner Sam Fanelli told the board. "He took down over 30 feet of cliffs behind my house, I want it re-built."

Regulation of the quarry from the town's perspective has not been easy. Harrison only recently won the right to approve or deny excavation based on zoning laws when a Westchester County Judge ruled in its favor. Michael Sirignano, an attorney representing quarry ownership continued to argue to the planning board last week that his client has a legal right to continue operations that existed before zoning laws came into effect.

The board asked Barrego to consider things like operating guidelines, hours of operation and to provide proof that the quarry was actually functioning in a similar capacity in 1922. Those requests were answered with lukewarm responses from Sirignano, who said although he has no problem bringing proof a planning board meeting is not the time or place to ask for it.

Another issue with the new site plan, according to the board, was machinery that currently exists within the property that was not not included in the proposal.

One key question is just how much excavating took place on the property between when Barrego claims his quarry began operation in 1922 and when the town zoning laws were enacted in the spring of 1923, according to town building inspector Robert FitzSimmons. Exactly what the quarry developed and sold before zoning laws were enacted could affect what the town will be able to allow or disallow in the future.

"I would find it hard to believe that they actually got a lot of rock out of the ground to sell in less than a year's time," FitzSimmons said during the planning board meeting. "I don't think they were selling recycled concrete in 1922."

No final decisions have been made at this point, but the board did ask quarry representatives for a better developed plan at the next meeting. A public hearing will be planned at a later date, according to the planning board.

"There are a number of issues that need to be addressed with this," Planning Board Chairman Thomas Heaslip said to representatives from the quarry. "You have some work to do, we have some work to do. Lets move on from there."