PORT LUDLOW — The residents of Port Ludlow say they just want a good neighbor.
Pope Resources officials said they are working on being that.
On Wednesday, the two groups took the first step in forming that relationship. More than 100 people gathered at the Bay Club to ask questions of Pope Resources managers about a proposed quarry site just south of Port Ludlow to be leased to Iron Mountain Quarry LLC.
The quarry will be located next to the existing 40-acre Shine Quarry. Residents have shown concern over the size of the operation because Iron Mountain would lease about 140 acres from Pope for the basalt mining.
“Our main issue today is to listen to you,” Pope CEO David Nunez said. “We understand that some of you are upset with this, and we do want to listen.”
“We won’t make any decisions today, but we do want to listen and start the dialogue.”
Jon Rose, a manager at Pope, said the company has committed to at least two meetings with the community in an effort to improve relations.
“We’re not just here to take our flogging and then disappear,” he said.
“We will be back if you think it’s worthwhile.”
Pope and Port Ludlow
Rose gave a brief history lesson regarding Pope’s involvement in the early days of Port Ludlow.
“We developed the community in the late SSRq60s,” he said.
“When we moved out in the 90s, we wanted to do so on good terms.
“My feeling is that we did that.”
Pope left the development it started with several protections against future development too close to the town.
Specifically, a 20-acre buffer zone was established between the zoned residential locations within the town and the working forest areas Pope owns in the area.
Pope also allowed for trail easements to run through much of the working forest locations surrounding the community, as a good faith gesture, Rose said.
Rose pointed out on a large map that the proposed quarry is well beyond the 20-acre buffer zone established in the 1990s.
Rose also said it was always the intent of his company to work the forest and mineral rights of the land owned near the area.
“We might have taken for granted that we thought people knew it was always there,” he said.
“If we erred on the omission of that, I’m sorry, because it wasn’t our intention.”
Then came the questions. For more than an hour, residents asked Pope officials what they intended to do with different sections of the land and specifics about the quarry itself.
Responding to quarry concerns, Rose either answered or told residents that their concerns were noted and said they would take it into consideration.
Blasting and aquifer
Rose said he did not believe that blasting in the area of the new quarry would damage the Port Ludlow aquifer.
“The blasting is not using chemicals that could impact the aquifer,” he said.
“I’m not an engineer, so I don’t know if the blasting could crack the aquifer.
“We will look into it though.”
Rose also said Iron Mountain — which did not have representatives at the meeting — was willing to leave a protective ridge between their work and the community and would agree not to ship loads through Port Ludlow and to Mats Mats Bay.
“The reason you don’t hear the current quarry is because there is a wall of rock there,” he said.
“Just as it is today, a wall will be between their noise making and the community.
“Also, they said they wouldn’t ship mass quantities through Port Ludlow.”
As for the promises being made, Rose said those would be put down in writing.
“We’ll sit down and do that,” he said.
“We will sit down with the [Port Ludlow Village Council] and talk about everything we heard.
“We won’t be 100 percent successful but we will come back and tell you where we agree and where we disagree with you.
“Then we will talk about it again.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
