Did you laugh out loud when you passed the Gibraltar Rock sign on Route 73, New Hanover Township? Laugh, yes, because the sign is a bright yellow. Yellow means danger ahead, proceed with caution. Facing danger is exactly what Gibraltar Rock is doing. With a few bull dozers pushing some dirt around they are trying (or pretending) to start up a quarry in violation of the law. They face paying a $500. per day fine until the land is restored to where a farmer could plant some winter wheat. Go slow, Gibraltar Rock. There are other legal restraints , a state agency to deal with and a zoning hearing process that is far from complete.

Today with a host of obstacles in their way, and with Gibraltar Rock slow to get the message, the sign is yellow. With a little common sense, and with the continued support of township residents, this sign may soon be painted red signaling a quick stop.

Do you remember a decade ago, or nearly a decade ago, in 2001, when Gibraltar Rock rode into town and announced that they were the new “good neighbor” ready to give us what nobody wanted, namely a dust producing quarry to torment 850 elementary students in the habit of playing hard and breathing deep? Very quickly BAN THE QUARRY signs sprouted everywhere. New Hanover Township started zoning hearings. Gibraltar Rock experts were called in to explain and proclaim with an air of distain. They tried to convince us that dust does not exist, noise will not be heard, blasting will not rattle windows, and no one will notice long strings of quarry trucks mingling with school buses coming and going on Swamp Pike and Route 663.

Gibraltar Rock decided they couldn’t make enough money with their first chunk of land, known as GR 1. So they acquired more land North of Hoffmansville Rd., known as GR 2. Zoning hearings on GR 2 are still ongoing but progressing slowly with many cancelled meetings. Meanwhile the mood of expansion resembled an addict in need of a fix. Gibraltar Rock jumped across Church Rd. and GR 3 was created. The New Hanover Upper Frederick School started to be surrounded with prospects of dust coming at them from two directions.

And that is where things stand today, these many years later. GR 3 remains largely residential. Church Road is still open. GR 2 exist on paper only. Meanwhile GR 1 has a yellow sign. If we and the township have our way, that sign will soon be painted red.

Sincerely,

Roger Buchanan, President
Paradise Watchdogs/Ban The Quarry