Makakilo rock quarry expansion is sought
Aug. 28—A rock quarry in Makakilo that has long aggravated some and appeased other residents in communities built around the 50-year-old mining enterprise is aiming to expand and extend operations.
Grace Pacific LLC, operator of the roughly 200-acre hillside quarry, is seeking city and state permission to amend several aspects of its permit.
One requested change would extend a required closure date by 15 years to 2047. Another is to run a planned asphalt plant and a recently established concrete production facility 24 hours a day on-site. A third request is to shift the quarry's 285-acre buffer zone by swapping equivalent land area between where excavation is allowed and not allowed.
Grace, a subsidiary of local real estate investment firm Alexander & Baldwin Inc., describes its proposed changes as relatively minor ones that should create no significant negative community impacts but are critical for the local construction industry and could reduce costs for customers including the city.
"We are currently conducting several technical studies to assess potential impacts, but our initial take is that there will be minimal discernible effects on the environment," the company said on its website. "We're committed to being good neighbors and do our best to monitor, anticipate and mitigate potential nuisances, such as dust and noise."
Jerrod Schreck, company president, added in a statement, "We're proposing minor changes to Makakilo Quarry operations that will yield significant benefits for Hawaii and our local economy."
Some area residents are raising concerns reminiscent of a contentious effort about 15 years ago when Grace sought and received permission to expand and extend quarry operations. Yet other neighbors support the company's new proposal.
Makakilo resident Amanda Pearson, whose backyard fronts part of the quarry buffer zone, said in a recent comment letter to the city Department of Planning and Permitting that existing Grace operations such as blasting and dust have damaged home foundations and paint.
"This permit is asking to move even closer to our houses, and to do 24/7 operations?!" Pearson wrote. "This is a housing community. We need SLEEP at night. We need peace on the weekends. We need stable ground beneath our homes. I would like to know what action is available to the local residents that we can STOP this permit. Do I need to organize a protest and march to city hall? Is there a hearing I can attend? Should I contact my local representative?"
Kioni Dudley, vice chair of the Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board, opposed Grace's expansion plan in 2008. But the longtime Makakilo resident said the new proposal sounds acceptable to him as long as no noticeable noise emanates from the proposed operations at night.
"My feeling overall is they've been quite concerned about the community," Dudley said in an interview.
DPP will make a recommendation on the application that then will be considered by the Honolulu Planning Commission in a process that will include a public hearing. If the commission approves the plan, a final decision will be up to the state Land Use Commission, which like the Planning Commission will accept public testimony.
Rock and hard place
The quarry was established in 1973 by Pacific Concrete and Rock Co. Ltd. on the face of a hill, Puu Makakilo, zoned for agriculture and previously used for livestock grazing when sugar cane filled the landscape in adjacent areas that later became suburban parts of Oahu's "second city" of Kapolei.
A predecessor to Grace acquired Pacific Concrete and Rock in 1984, and today the facility is one of three basalt aggregate rock suppliers on Oahu. The Makakilo quarry produces around 1 million tons of stone annually for asphalt paving and general construction needs that include fill material and an ingredient for concrete.
In 2007, Grace sought to amend the Special Use and Conditional Use permits governing the quarry's operation so that it could enlarge the mined area by about 20% and operate the facility until 2032.
Grace at the time said that it had nearly excavated all A-grade rock, which is used in asphalt and concrete, in the permitted extraction area.
The company, which is also an asphalt paving contractor and historically produced 70% of the A-grade aggregate used for asphalt paving on Oahu, said the constraint led it to import rock from Canada at the time to meet demand.
To mitigate issues and help obtain expansion approvals sought in 2007, Grace agreed to move its hot-mix asphalt production and distribution facility from part of the quarry to Campbell Industrial Park in Kalaeloa.
This relocation was part of an agreement by Grace to cease all processing operations in a 55-acre portion of the quarry makai of the H-1 freeway adjacent to the Kapolei Knolls and Villages of Kapolei subdivisions by 2012.
Concessions, including altering contours of the quarry mauka of the freeway to reduce negative view impacts, were estimated to cost about $40 million, and in part led to the Villages of Kapolei Association board rescinding prior opposition to the plan. Grace received its approvals in 2009, and the company returned the quarry area makai of the freeway to more of a natural area with grading and landscaping.
Now some of the new changes sought by the company aim to reduce costs and extend business at the quarry, which today includes a roughly 70-acre pit used for processing, 30 acres for rock extraction and 100 acres with berms that include allowed excavation expansion areas.
Improving operations
Improving the financial performance of Grace has been a long-running objective of A&B, which bought Grace in 2013 for $235 million and is trying to sell the business after disappointing results at times in recent years.
Some of the changes sought by Grace could improve the value of the company.
Grace said in its pending application that lease rent at its Kalaeloa asphalt plant and the need to truck in rock there from the quarry add to operating costs, which would be eliminated by moving the operation inside the Makakilo quarry pit.
The company also said it seeks to permit its proposed relocated facility to run 24 hours a day every day because much of the demand for asphalt is from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for paving jobs done at night to minimize traffic disruption.
"These cost savings would permit Grace Quarry to provide more competitive pricing and, for City and County of Honolulu paving work, would ultimately result in saving taxpayer dollars," the application said.
Grace also wants to allow a ready-mix concrete production plant it established in the quarry pit in 2022 to have the same 24/7 operating hours instead of the current schedule of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
No change in operating hours is proposed for rock excavation, which includes drilling and blasting, or rock crushing.
The company said noise from the proposed nighttime activities shouldn't be significant for residents and that asphalt plant emissions must comply with federal and state air pollution laws.
Grace isn't seeking to enlarge the total area permitted for excavation, but wants to shift the boundaries of its buffer and mining expansion zones. The company wants to dig into 15.6 acres of buffer zone along the quarry's western edge below homes in Makakilo and a hillside, and in return add to the buffer zone 15.6 acres permitted for quarry expansion on the northern and southwestern rim of the quarry.
The company said in its application that the change would allow it to access a seam of higher-quality rock.
Grace is seeking a 15-year extension to its operating permit, from 2032 to 2047. The company said this should allow it to fully exhaust the approved mine area based on current demand for rock and expected increases in recycling that reduces rock use from the quarry.
Shaking up neighbors
Thad Spreg, who has lived in one of the closest homes above the quarry for 15 years, said he can feel when Grace blasts into the hillside about a half-mile away. "It's like a very, very short earthquake," he said. "You can feel the whole house shaking."
Still, Spreg isn't opposed to Grace's proposed changes, and he doesn't expect they will result in noise or dust issues.
"They've been pretty good neighbors," he said of Grace.
Maeda Timson, another longtime Makakilo resident, gives the company credit for being responsive to community concerns and minimizing impacts.
"They have a good relationship with the community," she said.
Other residents do have issues with the proposed changes.
Jon Hake, a 14-year Makakilo homeowner, urged DPP to reject Grace's application.
"When we bought our home in 2009, we were aware of the quarry, but not the daily blasts that shake our home and rattle our windows and have caused our foundation and rock walls surrounding our property to develop cracks," he said in an Aug. 6 email to the agency. "We haven't complained, because we saw light at the end of the tunnel with the quarry permit slated to end. This extension and expansion will, I fear, increase the blasting cycle frequency and cause more damage to our home."
Another Makakilo resident, Janey Yim, informed DPP that she has observed homes closest to the quarry develop interior wall cracks, and expressed concern about cumulative effects from extended quarry operations.
Grace said in its application that Colorado-based vibration evaluation firm Detecht LLC concluded that the proposed excavation area change won't have adverse impacts on surrounding properties. Grace also said there would be a small increase in noise but nothing audible to neighbors.
Neighbors who want to contact the company with questions, comments or complaints may call its quarry phone hotline at 808-671-4722.
To read or comment on the application, visit honolulu.gov/dpp/public-input.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Thad Spreg's last name and used an incorrect gender reference for Janey Yim.
