Conditions on permit

A. In connection with the application for a permit, the Town Council may grant or deny any application filed pursuant to this article in whole or in part, and in so acting shall take into account public health, safety and welfare, including the possibility of dust, noise, unsightly waste, soil erosion, drainage problems and protection of property values, together with such other factors as it shall deem appropriate, and may impose conditions which, in its discretion and judgment in each particular case, are designed to prevent personal injury, to promote the health and welfare of the Town's residents and to safeguard the surrounding area and the Town against permanent and temporary injury to property values either during operation of the gravel bank (including the handling and transportation of earth materials) or after operations are completed.
B. However, all permits shall require that:
- (1) The following buffer areas be left in their natural state during the life of the permit:
  - (a) Three hundred feet from any street line.
  - (b) Two hundred feet from any other boundary line.
  - (c) Six hundred feet from any occupied dwelling.
- (2) In the permit areas, ledge shall not be left exposed above the approved grade, and all cleared trees, stumps and brush shall be removed or completely buried. If buried, a plan showing the location of all such buried trees, stumps or other material subject to subsequent compacting by decay shall be filed with the Building Official. However, no trees, stumps or other material subject to decay shall be buried at an elevation below the maximum water table.
- (3) All final banks shall be graded to a slope no steeper than one foot vertical to two feet horizontal.
- (4) Following earth material removal, topsoil shall be spread to a minimum depth of four inches. Seeding of the area shall be done per the requirements of the Planning Board.
- (5) No excavation shall produce standing water unless specifically approved.
- (6) Earth material shall not be removed to an elevation less than six feet above the maximum water table elevation.
- (7) In earth removal operations involving two or more acres, a bond shall be posted with the Town Clerk with penal sum and surety satisfactory to the Town Council, conditioned upon the faithful performance by the applicant of the conditions of the permit. Such bond shall not be less than $7,500 per acre of working area; i.e., any area in condition other than its natural or reconditioned state. The applicant shall define bonded areas and costs on the final plan.
- (8) Adequate measures shall be taken to prevent erosion or depositing of sediment upon surrounding land and streets or into any waterway, pond or swamp as required by the Planning Board.
- (9) All work shall take place between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon on Saturday. No work shall take place on Sunday and legal holidays. The Town Council shall modify these hours depending upon its findings of conditions in each application case.
- (10) Screening, either in the form of vegetation or fencing, not less than six feet in height, shall be erected around the permit area along the property boundary.
- (11) Access roads to the site and within the permitted area shall be treated, with water only, to minimize dust conditions.
- (12) No machinery for the screening, washing, crushing or other like uses shall be permitted on the property.
- (13) Earth removal operations shall be limited to 10 acres at any given time. Each additional 10 acres, or a part thereof, shall be part of another approved phase.
- (14) All land excavated must be rehabilitated within one year of completion of the excavations of each phase. Rehabilitation of the area shall be in conformance with the United States Department of Agriculture Guidelines for Developing and Restoring Gravel Pits.
- (15) Access points to the property shall be kept free of loose gravel and debris.
C. The Planning Board may stipulate other site/operational specific conditions in the permit, not listed above, upon review of particular applications.