Martins Creek Quarry Project

I have been employed by Daracon for seven years of which I have required the sourcing of material from Martins Creek Quarry to construct the road and civil infrastructure projects I have been employed to project manage.

The success of the projects relies heavily on the specific material type and availability from Martins Creek Quarry, whilst also supporting others employed directly at the quarry and associated contractors, office staff and their families.

An expansion to the quarry shall provide the consistent and stable employment of the current staff and contractors whilst still making tax payer funded projects (RMS, Council's, etc) viable without the need to source these materials from potentially unviable / further afield quarries that do not support the area via local community donations and charities in the way that Daracon Group do.

refer attached letter

Please find attached Hunter Workers Submission and political disclosure form

Martins Creek Quarry supports local jobs and provides materials to many projects crucial to the growth and prosperity of the region: road construction, housing, railway construction and other public infrastructure.

Refer file attachment 1

Refer letter attached

To Whom it may concern
I would like to express my feelings on the proposed expansion to the Martin's Creek Quarry Expansion.
I am totally opposed to it !!
As you will see from my address I do not live in Paterson but am a frequent visitor for family reasons, as my children now live there. The peace and quiet of a small rural country town has been devastated by the Quarry and now they wish to further destroy the town and the life style by increasing the number of trucks. This is an absolute disgrace.
As well as the noise, there is also the danger to my family of increasing the no of truck, already there is a constant stream of trucks coming and going from morning until night.
How much damage these constant truck movements must be doing to the local roads and buildings, I can only imagine, not to mention the regular blasting at the quarry, but no doubt this is a cost the taxpayer will have to wear.
I sincerely hope that sanity will prevail and this expansion will NOT be given the green light.

I oppose the Martins Creek Quarry Expansion. Already with the increase of trucks we are seeing now, my wife is no longer able to ride her horse down Butterwick Road and into Paterson. One of the main reasons we moved to this area was for the piece and quite and to be able to ride into town. In the last three years we have had two dogs run over and killed by Daracon trucks who failed to stop. At the front of our address it is 80klms per hour, quite regularly empty trucks will come through doing in excess of 100klms per hour. The noise of the empty trucks is becoming over bearing. The road is already damaged enough now by the amount of trucks travelling over it, with the amount of truck movements proposed the road will be destroyed in no time. I am not opposed to progress but why can't they use the existing railway line? My other major concern is that it is only a matter of time before a truck is going to clean up a push bike rider that quite regularly use Butterwick Road or cause a car to have an accident. My wife was nearly run of the road a couple of months ago but a speeding truck early in the morning cutting a corner very fine. My family and I oppose the expansion to Martins Creek Quarry for these reasons, the extra truck movements and the extended working hours and days.

I object to this project due to the overloading of the roads, and the effect it will have on public life. The roads around Paterson were not built to take the loads that are now being put on them, they will not take any extra load.The quit little town of Paterson is being destroyed by the trucks as it is! It is just too much ! If the owners of the quarry wish some expansion then THEY should construct a purpose built hall road on the east side of the railway line and Martins Creek rd to Butterwick road, yes, it will cost, but you got to spend money to make it.
The people of the Paterson area will not let this project just happen!

Complete support for the expansion, this will secure supplies of quarry materials that go towards building new roads, rail, and other developments in our area. This will also secure employment directly for operating the quarry and jobs that demand these products. This will then flow on to retail as people will have extra income to spend on luxuries.

I would like to show my support to the Martins creek expansion, as it is good for the business, provides employment to the community and will provide needed infrastructure to the Hunter region. This expansion will also help provide job security to Daracon employee's. I have worked for Daracon for 7 years and found their highest values is the community and their employee's.

I have not made any reportable political donations.

Kind regards
Lee Krake

I have been moved to write a submission with regard to the proposed increase in productivity of Buttai Gravel P/L (Daracon). It is obvious that their expansion will have a huge impact on the traffic flow in the area of Martin's Creek, Paterson and Bolwarra. There has already been enormous development which has already resulted in a greatly increased volume of traffic.
Daracon seems not to consider the welfare of the beautiful and peaceful rural area of Bolwarra. Also there are three childcare establishments and a primary school within several kilometres - safety should be paramount.
Our treasured historic bridges must be protected at all cost. The enormity of 80 trucks an hour belting through a beautiful part of the world should be argued against most vigorously. Unfortunately the ugly dollar counts for more than bushland animals, birds and reptiles which are going to end up as roadkill.
I appeal to the Department of Planning to reject the development outright.

I, Dr. Michael Stockenhuber strongly object against the extension of the Daracon owned Martin's Creek quarry operation. I live in 180 Paterson Road and the truck traffic and noise has significantly increased since Daracon has stepped up its operation, which is currently part of court action against Daracon by Dungog council. During the time of increased operation in the last year it was almost impossible to cross the road to the lookout on Paterson Road ( a school bus pickup point)and it is only a matter of time a terrible accident will happen. There is deep rooted distrust in the community against Daracon, because of the dishonesty ( sudden decrease in truck traffic during times of monitoring,.e.g., monitors were removed Nov 9-11 2016 and after this the truck traffic has significantly increased) and ignorance of the community needs ("If you do not want the traffic move away..",D. Mingay) at a community meeting". On a personal note, I was suffering cancer of the immune system and was advised by my doctors that increased stress levels would significantly hinder my recovery. The constant noise from truck traffic already causes increased stress and an extension of operations would increase this even more.
A further increase in road traffic is just not feasible in a local community like ours. The proposed expansion would mean a truck driving through narrow roads every 45s, which is expected to have disastrous consequences for noise levels, safety and other traffic. It would, for example, make it almost impossible for residents of the Hunterglen to join Paterson Road because of the traffic. Extension to essentially night time operations ( both in rock breaking and transport) would have a terrible impact on the health and wellbeing of residents in the area. The roads have never been built for heavy truck traffic and thus any increase in the operation bears a great risk to people living along the road. Furthermore, the noise and not to forget the exhaust particulates and NOx from the trucks is not mitigated at all and is a threat to the health and quality of life for a large number of residents. The large turnout on the community meetings is a clear indication of the impact this proposed extension has on the community. This is a typical example of how the benefit of a few severely impacts a large number of people financially ( decreased property values) , in their safety and the quality of living. The original quarry operating license was mainly given for rail transport(70%), which impacts significantly fewer people and as outlined in the rail transport report, rail transport has the least impact on communities. While in this report logistical difficulties in getting access to rail transport are mentioned, it would be totally unfair to offload these difficulties onto the community. If Daracon wishes to expand, they would be expected to pay for the rail infrastructure and not offload the cost to taxpayers and the community to have to cope with an enormous increase in truck traffic as outlined above. As it stands with he current level of operation the noise and impact on our lives is already very high ( due to an operational increase above the license) and Daracon should be forced to erect noise reduction walls and pay for residents noise reduction such as triple glazed windows and air conditioning. Daracon is also responsible for any reduction of the value of homes along the road and near the quarry, and as a consequence should pay compensation to homeowners should this project go ahead.

I oppose the Martins Creek Quarry Expansion on the following grounds .
1 The clearing of an extra 37 ha of existing native vegetation. This will or may result in the reduction in numbers, or local extinction, of several native bird, animal and plant species.
2 The increase in truck movements. We personally do not live along the haulage route, but know people who do and know of their distress over house damage and broken sleep and noise disturbances. I personally have had trucks "tailgate" me and whilst driving at the speed limit been blasted by the following truck's horn. (this was reported to Maitland Police) The additional truck movements through the Paterson village may one day result in a bad accident possibly, a fatality.
4 The ratepayers of Dungog Shire Council having to pay for the infrastructure damage caused by quarry trucks. The arrogant (in our opinion) Daracon management seem to think that this is fair and just.

I write this submission not as an employee of Daracon but as a tax paying resident of NSW. The quarry in question has been in operation for more than thirty five (35) years producing a building / construction product for NSW construction projects. The greater number of people in the local council areas and surrounding NSW areas are not aware of the operation due to it isolation but would only be made aware of its location if the operation were to cease and then those same citizens would be forced to pay additional costs for products that are produced, currently from the quarry, that would have to be sourced from further afield resulting in either new development costs or additional haulage - all costs that would be passed on to the citizen rate payer / tax payer. There are times when for the betterment of the greater good that the minority need to be inconvenienced. I write this not as a Daracon employee but as a rate / tax payer who believes the small population surrounding the quarry where aware of the rural advantages and disadvantages of buying in such proximity of a operating quarry and made their decision to voluntarily buy residences in proximity on the understanding that the inconvenience of the operating quarry were far out weighed by the other idealistic advantages of living in a rural environment outside of the urban sprawl which is where the majority of the quarry product is used.

I oppose the Martins Creek Quarry expansion.

We have lived in Martins creek now for over 10 years and this Quarry has been expanding over this time and impacting the surrounding areas greatly.

We face many issues on a daily basis that impact us directly as we live extreamly close to the Quarry site.

DUST- This is an issue we face daily. The dust is evident and travels to meet our home and other areas. The dust is evident all over clothes that we remove from the clothes line and is getting to the point where you cannot hang washing out. This dust also settles in our home. You cannot open windows freely as this dust enters our home and affects our living. This is not to mention that we have to breath this in every minute of the day. This dust has been linked to many childhood asthma cases. This needs to be controlled at the quarry site so that the dust does not travel causing major issues as mentioned above at surrounding residential properties.

ROCK BLASTING- These days of blasting are similar to that of an earthquake. The quarry sets off an alert siren and then the blast occurs. This balst is that loud and shakes the ground so much that my young children are terrified and come running as soon as they hear the warning siren. This explosion shakes our home so much that the windows rattle and the ground beneath us. We also have major cracking in the brickwork of our home and internal cornice and architraves are moving and cracking. We did not come to live in this quiet little town to feel terrified and unsafe living here. They use a blasting technique in America where all dust, noise and vibration is not ever noticable to anyone in the surrounding areas. This Quarry and Daracon need to upgrade to something similar if this quarry is to continue to operate in such a resedential built up area.

NEW ENTRY POINT FOR TRUCKS (via dungog rd)- This was made known to us at the last community meeting. So the proposed entry is on a main tourist route and to be placed right at the front entry to our property. I Oppose this greatly as this is just moving the problem from one area to another. People should not have to adapt to this chance or accept that the value of their property will decrease grealty if this intersection was to go ahead.There are residents on this road that would then have to live with the noise and pollution from these trucks not to mention the battle that we would face daily to get in and out of our property in a timely manner. This is a decision has not been thought through to look at the impacts as a whole. Daracon should consider continuing to use thier current entry but purchasing the properties from Sation st Martins Creek to allow safe access into their site. This company has made no attempt to compensate the comminuity or made any contribuions to the council for the quarry impacts on roads and environment.

TRUCK MOVEMENTS- I understand that this quarry needs to remain functional but for this to occur the truck movements need to be kept to an amount that the community can cope with. 80 truck movements per hour cannot happen. This is unsafe for school children using the local bus service, tourists driving on our roads, the Goswick bridge was not biult to carry that amount of heavy haulage and is only a one lane bridge. It is only a matter of time before a huge accidnt is going to occur with this large scale of heavy trucks on this traffic route.

HOURS OF OPERATION- need to be kept to a limit that allows residents in the area some down time. This quarry is not out in large rural area , this quarry is in the middle of a small town and is surrounded by other small properties. People still need to live here. I belive the hours of operation to incude all aspects of this quarry need to be kept between 6am and 6pm Monday to Friday. This is still a big impact on all concerned but one I believe residents could live with.

If Daracon is to continue to run this quarry in such a biult up area they need to step up and make some fundimental changes that allows everyone to live happy and safely in this community of Martins Creek.

I oppose the Martins Creek Quarry Expansion on the grounds of increased truck movements past my residence, leading to excessive:-
noise levels impacting on my quality of life
vibration levels impacting integrity of my house and the damage to the road surface
dust levels impacting air quality
and safety while entering and leaving my property, (the speed limit is 90klm/hr, while other settlements around this area have a speed limit between 70klm and 80klm/hr.

I have not made a reportable political donation.

I oppose the Martins Creek Quarry expansion.

The Martins Creek Quarry currently affects my family in the following ways:-
Safety, in the number and frequency of truck movements, their speed and subsequent road deterioration, and
Pollution, noise, dust and diesel fumes.
Road traffic of B-Double trucks. The trucks commence driving passed our home at approximately 5-45am every morning from Monday to Saturday. The noise is bothersome and not conducive to country living, but the jamor issue fro us is road safety. While going passed our home from the Quarry the B-Double trucks are loaded and traveling up hill so their speed is very slow. However, on their return journey the b-double trucks are empty and traveling down-hill at great speed. When turning right into our driveway we are subject to the horror of a B-Double truck coming over the crest of the hill and smashing into the back of our turning vehicle. Indeed if we are aware that a B-Double truck is traveling behind us as we approach our driveway we do not turn in, but continue on to the corner and turn, as the B-Double truck driver would know he has to slow at the corner to also turn.
Very often the number of B-Double trucks traveling in a 'convoy' can be two, three or even four B-Double trucks traveling together.
The high volume of B-Double trucks driving along Butterwick Road (and others) has caused considerable damage to the road, rendering the road unsafe for other road users. Butterwick Road is a narrow country road totally unsuitable for the commercial use of the high volume B-Double trucks to and from Martins Creek Quarry. When following behind one, or two, or three, or four of these B-Double trucks you can see that the trucks do not 'fit' on the road. The trucks drive whith their right wheels on or over the double separation lines so as to be able to fin on the road. As they are also traveling at high speed this is "an accident waiting to happen".
Pollution. Noise from passing B-Double trucks (as set out above). Diesel fumes from the B-Double trucks grinding up-hill fully loaded fall thick over my home. Dust - Although trucks loads are covered fine dust escapes from the loads and finds its way into my home. My home requires dusting every day inside and out. This pollution causes my family allergic reactions and breathing difficulties. Without the B-Double trucks we would have clear country air.

Impact on us when visit our local village of Paterson.
My family and I visit Paterson on an almost daily basis for food supplies (fresh meat, fruit and veg, bread, milk and groceries), postal services, newspapers, fuel, takeaway food and social events at the Paterson Tavern and coffee shops. The village setting of Paterson is NOT conducive to the current high volume B-Double truck traffic. Again the issues are noise, road safety and pollution.

The current B-Double truck road traffic is fat too excessive for the rural communities it traverses. The routes are county roads not commercial/industrial thoroughfares. Hence, ANY increase in this B-Double truck traffic will kill our rural communities by making it untenable for us, our horses and our neighbours to safely live our chosen country lifestyle.

I oppose the Martins Creek Quarry Expansion.

I have lived at the above address for almost 10 years now and in this time I watched the quarry grow to a place now where it is destoying the lives of people in the community.

The dust that is generated from the quarry is now causing concern at our home.
We can very rarely hang washing on the line or open the windows to our home as the dust levels are so high. This is not something that residents should not have to put up with. This dust is linked to breathing problems in adults and Asthma in young children. Control methods need to be put in place to reduce dust levels greatly.

The proposed new intersection on Dungog Rd is planned to be just at the front entry to my property. I Oppose this and believe that Daracon are not fixing a problem by relocating this entry rather just moving the problem to a new area. We would have to deal with the constant noise and pollution coming from these trucks and the congestion at the front gate with 80 trucks an hour will make entry and exiting our property in a timely manner almost impossible. Daracon should consider spending some money in the community to keep residents happy and healthy and this may extend to purchasing the properties in Station Street so that they can use this entry for their trucks and not cause any further disruption to a small community.Personally if this intersection was to go ahead the value of our properties would decrease dramatically as no one would ever choose to purchase a property with that large intersection located at the front gate.

The proposal carries a component where it states that there will be 80 truck movements per hour. This is just going to be very dangerous. This quarry operates in a built up area and on a main tourist Route. School children and buses are going to be affected greatly and it wont be long until there is a major accident and someone is serioulsy hurt.
These truck drivers also find it difficult to obey our road rules. There is an 80klm speed limit as you leave Paterson and head to the quarry these drivers are continuously breaking this limit and placing peoples lives in danger. Daracon should be looking at exporting more by rail and reducing these trucks so that our roads can become a safer place.

The rock blasting is also something that compares to an earthquake. We experience a large warning siren before a huge blast that shakes the ground and the windows in our home. Pictures on the walls have fallen down! We now have significant cracks in the interior and external bricks of our home. This is not OK. Daracon should be made responsible for this damage they are causing to our homes.

Finally the operating hours of this quarry need to be something that is fair to Daracon and also the residents that have to live with this on a daily basis. As a resident you need some down time where we are not experiencing this pollution,noise and blasting coming from this quarry site. I believe that operational hours between 6am and 6pm Monday through to Friday is a fair agreement for both parties.

This is not a small problem but one that needs to be controlled so that both Daracon and the residents can go about their business and feel that they are both happy to do so.

To whom it may concern:
I am opposed to the changes to the operating conditions of the Martins Creek Quarry as outlined in the EIS.
This opposition is based on the financial hardship it will cause to my business Paterson Automotive Repairs. Combined with the financial impact will be a loss of amenity and service to the community due to the effect of the operating conditions as outline in the EIS.
Profile of Business
This business operates seven days a week and on weekdays it is open from 6.30 am to 6.30pm catering to the demand of local residents.
Currently the business has a two bay workshop for mechanical repairs, which are full booked, coffee shop with a high pedestrian turnover, gift shop, large stock feed area as well as small plant section. Besides petroleum and diesel the business has an LPG tank for gas bottle refills and a large Ice freezer for bags of party ice. This provides the community with much needed essentials not available in the immediate area and at times no other provider is open. This business is a RMS registered e-safety inspection centre and this caters to a wide range of the residents and is an essential service to the community.
There is limited on-site parking with two petroleum pumps and one diesel pump continuously being used. Street parking is essential for the sustainability of the business. Access to the workshop, stock feed and pump area is via two driveways off the only access road (On Appendix H of Daracon's EIS it is noted as Gresford Road but the correct nomenclature is King St--another example of poor research). Customers utilising the coffee shop are on foot and park their vehicles on the street.
This business is currently employing three (3) full time staff and eleven (11) part time staff. This reflects the size and importance of the business.

Effect of Increased Heavy Vehicle traffic
The configuration of the road and business means it is a high pedestrian area combined with many turning, reversing and parking vehicle movements. There are adjoining businesses that have high pedestrian and vehicle requirements that add to the complexity. The railway gates and railway line often cause long traffic delays due to the new multiple wagon trains (50 plus wagons) that service the coal industry, North Coast line with some passenger services. Another feature is that this is the end of the commercial zone and many vehicles are turning around either through U-turns or through parking zones. There is no other alternative for this task. This gives the zone a high degree of busyness and activity. Many of our customers have commercial vehicles often with trailers or horse floats. Our suppliers all have large commercial vehicles that have specific requirements. Large delivery trucks (including petrol tankers) with and without pantec bodies all need clear access to this site.
Consequently the proposal by Daracon to have high volumes of heavy haulage along Gresford Road/King St makes access to this business and the surrounding road very precarious and very dangerous. The width and length of these articulated vehicles is beyond the capacity of the road network to handle. Customers are currently having to take greater precautions whether drivers or pedestrians.
Customers to the coffee shop find the noise imposing and uncomfortable and with the volumes proposed this will increase. The solution offered by Daracon is to punish the community in their quest for greater output and hence extreme volumes of heavy vehicles.
The volumes and times as specified in this EIS for the transportation of gravel will cause stress and pressure on customers and suppliers trying to access this business and those around it. This will ultimately result in financial stress and also reduce the ability of the community to access important infrastructure, which will then affect their lifestyle and social amenity. This appears to be ignored in the EIS.

Effect of Proposed Road Alterations.
It is noted with some alarm that Daracon have included some alterations to the road for the benefit of trucks negotiating the corner around the Post Office. ACOR Consultants in Appendix H have outlined the proposed alterations. This proposal that was submitted at the penultimate moment is highly flawed and if instigated will cause traffic chaos. It will also cause demonstrably high impacts on the viability of this business. This proposal effectively stops all light vehicles using this commercial zone so that the heavy and articulated vehicles can manage a road network that was not designed to handle them. Add the proposed volumes of trucks going both ways and the zone is an even greater accident black spot.
The proposed island limits vehicle access to this business to one driveway only. Suppliers will only have one option to deliver product. Customers will be forced to use only one driveway thus reducing their options for service, especially when crowded in peak times (vehicles can have fuel caps on either side of the vehicle). Customers and suppliers leaving the premises will not have the option of turning right on Gresford Rd/King St. Customers will have to drive to other end of town to Prince St to perform a U-turn (possible only without trailer or with a short vehicle) or enter the residential area of King St to perform a three point turn then re-enter the intersection via a Stop sign and this will generate more traffic congestion. With this traffic option long vehicles and /or vehicles with trailers have no real option to travel west from this business along Gresford Road/King St unless they perform a reverse manoeuvre onto Gresford Road/King St which will decrease the safety for all road users. Residents will be at a great disadvantage and inconvenience to satisfy Daracon. Further to this, suppliers to this business with large vehicles coming out of this business will have to reverse out onto the road to head to Gresford Rd/King St. As this proposed island is in the centre of the road the current alignment, which is already narrow, will be further reduced. Wide vehicles like these trucks with their turning circle will make parking a very hazardous operation. Alighting the vehicle will also be of some concern as trucks will be very close to the parked vehicles. Those that are aged, young or lacking mobility will particularly be at risk. Carrying parcels or items to or from vehicles will multiply these risk factors. Again not addressed in the current EIS.
The loss of parking in an already congested and limited access zone will create further confusion and chaos. Short term parking outside the Post Office is critical for this community (it has services not available any where else in Paterson) and if those spots are lost then it puts pressure on all parking. It appears from this thumbnail sketch that the traffic zone will encroach on the parking outside this business. At a minimum the parked vehicles will have less space. Motorists will have little margin for error as fully loaded trucks roll by in convoy. Alighting vehicles will be a dangerous and high risk activity.

Ultimately it will force customers to find alternative sources of supply due to access difficulties and many of these services are only available at Maitland approximately 20 kms away. Hence affecting their amenity and access to services and adding more traffic to the already clogged roads.
Financial impacts will definitely result in staff reductions and possible downsizing of the business. The Post Office is the only financial center in town and the adjoin café/newsagent is the only establishment for takeaway foods and newspapers. They will also be impacted through this proposal. This is not a sound traffic solution nor is it a sound decision for local businesses and is definitely an impost on the amenity of the local area for residents and visitors alike.

Regards,
Robyn Burgmann