U.S. Silica Delays Request for Conditional User Permit Until October

U.S. Silica to Delay Request for Conditional Use Permit Until December

Tuesday, Oct. 25 -- U.S. Silica, which has an option to purchase 520 acres of land in a newly annexed part of the city of Sparta, will present its request for a conditional use permit at the December city planning commission and city council meetings, which are currently scheduled to be Dec. 19 and 20. Initially the company was going present its plans at the November meetings.

Jeff Jahn, mine planning and development manager and U.S. Silica's on-the-ground man on the project (although U.S. Silica's CEO, Brian Slobodow, also has been in Sparta to reach out the community) said that the company extended what had been a 90-day option to buy with the property's sellers to a 120-day option to buy. The company worked out an extension with the owners. The extension means that U.S. Silica has time to present the city with a plan that is as complete as possible. Meeting the deadline of Nov. 14 an 15 for the meetings would have caused U.S. Silica "significant problems," Jahn said.

Presenting the plan and applying for the conditional use permit--which U.S. Silica hopes to have approved at the December meeting-- also gives U.S. Silica that chance to continue to seek input from the community itself. Jahn stressed the importance of getting feedback and local input.

"We didn't want people to think we were trying to rush something through," he said.

Click here to see a PDF of U.S. Silica's draft of what it is tentatively considering doing on the Sparta site.