Note: The following is not a verbatim transcript of the Zoning Hearing Board meeting; it is simply one person’s summary of the major points made by those involved in the hearing process.  For that reason, quotation marks are not used unless a direct quote was recorded.  For information about obtaining an official ZHB transcript, contact the New Hanover Township office.

What is GR 2?

The first 40 minutes were spent by Mr. Harris (attorney for Gibraltar Rock) putting into the record Mr. Amey’s evidence and testimony from GR1. After that he asked if there was anything he said in GR1 that was different. Amey said there was not. For more information on Amey's original GR1 testimony, read the summaries from March 5, 2003, April 2, 2003, and May 15, 2003.

Harris also entered into exhibit a letter from the Pa. Museum Commission that said that they had no issues with the quarry and historic structures in the area.

Mr. L. Sager (representing Louis Farrell of Atomic International) began cross-examination.

Sager spent most of the next hour asking Amey questions revolving around Amey’s lack of experience in land use planning and experience with any type of extractive (mining) zoning at all. Amey has never developed a comprehensive zoning plan nor done much work on developing zoning ordinances. He has no experience with mining ordinances, yet he purports to be an expert land planner.

At this point the audience saw, for the first time, the frustration of members of the zoning board.  One of the zoning board members questioned Mr. Harris directly on the fact that he (the board member) received no copy of a valid GR2 application.  While the issue was resolved, it was clear from the board members tone that at least one member of the board is frustrated by the nearly four years of testimony.

Sager went on to show that Amey had never taken a course on zoning or extractive minerals.  Sager also showed that Amey did very little work on his own, that he relied on comments by Gibraltar Rock owners and their minions and paid witnesses.

During this part of the testimony, Harris was very unprofessional. At one point he hijacked Sager’s cross-examination by answering for Amey when it was obvious that Sager was leading to a question that Amey did not know the answer to.  Those in the audience who understood what Harris did all agreed that it seemed very inappropriate and unprofessional.

After this, Sager brought out the fact that Amey has never (before this time) worked on a mining plan.  Sager next tried to show (in a timeline manner) By his own testimony, Amey said his background as an expert land planner began in 1994 when he began calling himself an expert land planner.  As of 2001 he had never seen a mining plan and only had a general idea what was in one. Between 2001 and 2003 (when he first testified) he said he learned more about a mining plan based on the reports of other GRI witnesses.

Sager next took Amey through each of the reports and tried to get him to tell the board specifically how the repost factored into his (Amey) thinking as an expert land planner.  It was tough going for Amey.

It was when Sager began quizzing Amey on terms like “de facto exclusion” and “fair share” that Harris objected.

Sager then went on to ask Amey about the size of the HI and LI zones. Amey was unable to tell how many acres were contained in each of these designations.

At one point Sager asked Amey if it was his opinion that “Gibraltar Rock is greedy and wants more site specific relief?”  When Amey hesitated, Sager also asked (rhetorically) why the zoning board should give site specific relief to the quarry (allowing LI to be used as HI) from a planning standpoint.

The next GR 2 meeting is December 16, 2004 at the New Hanover Township Building, 7:00 PM.