# Montgomery County Code — Part II. Local Laws, Ordinances, Resolutions, Etc.

## Chapter 38. Quarries.

**Sec. 38-1. Definitions.**

  In this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:

  (a)   Abandoned area:

    (1)   Any area previously licensed for quarry operations for which no current license has been issued; or

    (2)   Any licensed quarry area, or part of a licensed area, which has not been operated as a quarry or used for related purposes for 2 years.

  (b)   Control Equipment: Any stationary or mobile device, or any structure, which reduces air, water, or noise emissions.

  (c)   Department: The Department of Environmental Protection.

  (d)   Director: The Director of the Department of Environmental Protection or an employee of the Department of Environmental Protection designated by the Director.

  (e)   Excess Emissions: Emission of any substance into the air that exceeds any applicable emission standard under any federal, state, or county law or regulation, or any license issued under this Chapter.

  (f)   Installation: Any structure or equipment, including control equipment, materials handling equipment, processing equipment, or stationary or mobile conveyance equipment, capable of causing or reducing air, water, or noise emissions.

  (g)   License Boundary: All areas designated in the license application and all other contiguous areas used in conjunction with, or necessary for, quarry operations. License Boundary includes excavations, overburden, berms, stockpiles, installations, processing and materials handling areas, required setback, and drainage areas.

  (h)   Licensee: Any person to whom a quarry license has been issued under this Chapter, including any agent or contractor of any licensee.

  (i)   Maintenance: Keeping property and equipment in operating order, and protecting it from failure and deterioration. Maintenance includes repair and associated short-term performance testing of equipment. Maintenance does not include production, handling, or disposal of any quarry product or by-product.

  (j)   Materials Handling: Any movement or handling of any raw material, processed material, finished product, or quarrying or processing by-product within the license boundary, including the loading of any such material onto any vehicle or other instrument of conveyance.

  (k)    Minor Quarry: Any quarry that:

    (1)   has less than 50 acres within the area covered by the license boundary, and

    (2)   ships less than 400 tons of extracted materials per day, averaged over the previous calendar year.

  (l)   Processing: Any operation or activity within the license boundary that facilitates conversion of any raw material to finished product. Processing includes handling of any by-product, and operation of any equipment, control equipment, installation, building, structure, or other improvement associated with activities conducted in the license boundary.

  (m)   Quarry: Any pit, excavation, or mining operation for the purpose of searching for or removing any mineral resource, and later handling and processing of extracted materials and associated by-products within license boundaries. Quarry does not include the excavation or mining of coal to the extent those activities are regulated by the State.

  (n)   Spillage: Intentional or unintentional deposit of any raw material, product, or by-product on any surface except the loadbearing portion of any vehicle, control equipment, or other equipment.

**Sec. 38-2. County policy.**

  The operation of a quarry is a legitimate business, but also is a heavy industrial activity which must be carefully regulated. Accordingly, the Director and other enforcement agents must take appropriate measures authorized by this Chapter or rules adopted under it to ensure maximum practicable protection to the environment and the health, safety, and welfare of the public working or living near any quarry subject to this Chapter.

**Sec. 38-3. Effect of Chapter on other laws.**

  (a)   This Chapter is in addition to and does not replace or override any County zoning law or special exception issued under any County zoning law by the County Board of Appeals, or any other applicable state or Federal law relating to the excavation, mining or removal of natural resources.

  (b)   This Chapter supplements other State and County laws and regulations governing noise, air quality, surface mining, blasting, sediment control, stormwater management, water quality, and mineral resource recovery.  If this Chapter conflicts with any other County, State, or Federal law or regulation, the most stringent law or regulation controls.

**Sec. 38-4. Right of entry by director, police, etc; enforcement.**

  (a)   This Chapter must be administered by the Director. The Department, the Police Department, the Department of Fire and Rescue Services, or other agents of the County as directed by the County Executive, may enforce this Chapter.

  (b)   The Director, employees of the Department, the Police, the Department of Fire and Rescue Services, and other agents of the County as directed by the County Executive, may enter any property licensed or required to be licensed under this Chapter or any abandoned quarry area, including structures thereon (except private residences), without consent of the owner or occupant at any time during the hours of operation and at other reasonable times as may be necessary to enforce this Chapter or any license provision. A person must not hinder, prevent or refuse to permit any inspection or investigation under this Chapter.

**Sec. 38-5. License required; issuance and renewal.**

  (a)   Applicability; term.

    (1)   A person must not operate a quarry without a valid license issued by the Department.

    (2)   Where 2 or more parcels of land containing quarry operations are not adjoining, a separate quarry license is required for each parcel.

    (3)   Any person conducting any quarrying activity within a license boundary is subject to the license and this Chapter.

    (4)   A license is valid for 3 years, unless revoked or suspended under this Chapter.

    (5)   The Director may extend a quarry license, for reasonable cause, up to 90 days beyond its expiration date. The Director must not extend a license more than 90 days. Any extension must be in writing and specify why the extension is granted.

  (b)   License Applications.

    (1)   Each applicant for issuance or renewal of a quarry license must pay the County a license fee established by Executive Regulation under method (3).

    (2)   Each application for issuance or renewal of a quarry license must be signed by each owner of the property in the license boundary (or, if there is more than one individual owner, the owners of a majority interest in the property), any lessee of property in the license boundary, and any operator of a quarry in the license boundary.  Each application must be in a form prescribed by the Department.

    (3)   An application for issuance or renewal of a quarry license is not complete until all information and documents required under this Chapter have been submitted, including any insurance policy, performance bond, site plan, water quality certification, sediment control and stormwater management plan, sediment control permit, or abandonment plan.

    (4)   The licensee must file a completed application for renewal of a quarry license with the Department at least 120 days before the license is scheduled to expire.  The Director may extend this deadline for not more than 15 days if the licensee shows good cause for not filing the renewal application on time. If a completed application is not filed by the applicable date, the Director:

      (A)   must not renew the license before it expires, and

      (B)   must treat any application for renewal as an application for the issuance of a new license.

    (5)   If the Director finds that a license or license renewal application is not complete, the Director must notify the applicant within 30 days after receiving the application and specify what additional information is necessary for the Department to process the application. The Director may extend the deadline set in the preceding sentence by 15 days by so notifying the applicant.

  (c)   Pre-hearing Procedures.

    (1)   The Department must make available for public inspection and copying at its offices, and at the public library nearest the site of the quarry or proposed quarry, a copy of the application and all other materials submitted by the applicant.

    (2)   If the Director finds that the license or license renewal application is complete, the Director must, at the applicant's expense, publish a notice of the application, including any license conditions proposed by the Director, in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the area of the quarry once each week for 2 consecutive weeks.  The notice must include:

      (A)   a brief description of any conditions that would be attached to the license;

      (B)   the time, date, and location of the public hearing; and

      (C)   the person to whom written comments on the license application can be sent.

    (3)   The Director must provide a copy of the notice under subsection (2) to any civic organization in the area around the license boundary if the organization has given the Department a written request to receive such notices.

  (d)   Two-stage Hearing Process.

    (1)   Before issuing or renewing a license, the Director must hold a hearing under this subsection.

    (2)   The first-stage hearing must begin not less than 30 days after the applicant files a completed application with the Department.

    (3)   The first-stage hearing is a legislative-type hearing.  Any person may testify orally or in writing or submit written questions to the Director at or before the hearing. The Director must then forward each question that is relevant to the issuance or renewal of the license to the applicant.  The applicant must file an answer to each written question with the Department not later than 15 days after the Director adjourns this hearing, and these answers must be included in the record of the proceeding.

    (4)   If the Director finds, on request of any party, after considering the record of the first-stage hearing (including the answers filed by the applicant), that any disputed issue of material fact impacting the public health, safety, welfare, or the environment, remains unresolved and an adjudicatory hearing may help resolve that issue, the Director may appoint the Office of the Hearing Examiner to hold a second-stage hearing under the procedures of Article I of Chapter 2A.  The Director by regulation may adapt the procedures of Article I of Chapter 2A to reflect the nature of this proceeding.  If the Director has proposed conditions for the issuance of the license, the Director's designee must participate as a party in this hearing.

    (5)   The second-stage hearing must be on the record, and each party must be given an opportunity to cross-examine each witness. Other than public access to Department files on the application under the state public records law, pre-hearing discovery must not be available.

    (6)   The applicant must pay the costs of recording and transcribing testimony at each hearing.

  (e)   Decision.

    (1)   After considering the record of the first-stage hearing (including the answers filed by the applicant) and the record of the second-stage hearing if one is held (including the report and any recommendations of the Hearing Examiner), the Director may issue, renew, refuse to issue or renew, or conditionally issue or renew a license.

    (2)   If the Director refuses to issue or renew a license, the Director must specify in a written decision the reasons for this action.

    (3)   In issuing or renewing any license, the Director may attach conditions, and may require compliance procedures and schedules, as the Director finds necessary to achieve the purposes of this Chapter.

**Sec. 38-5A. Annual license review.**

  (a)   Each licensee must, at least 30 days but not more than 60 days before the first and second anniversaries of the issuance or renewal of the license, file with the Department a certification updating the information in the most recent license application. The certification must include an updating of the site plan in accordance with Section 38-11 and a summary report of all monitoring required under the license.  The certification must be signed by the persons listed in Section 38-5(b)(2).

  (b)   The Director must publish, at the licensee's expense, a notice of receipt of the certification at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of the quarry.  The notice must inform the public:

    (1)   that a certification has been received for the particular quarry and licensee;

    (2)   where the certification can be reviewed;

    (3)   that the department will receive written comments on the completeness and accuracy of the certification for 14 days after the notice is published; and

    (4)   of the date, time, and location of the information meeting under subsection (d) if one has been scheduled.

  (c)   The Director must send a copy of the notice to each civic organization in the area around the license boundary that has given the Department a written request to receive such notices.

  (d)   On request of any interested party during the 14-day comment period, the Director must conduct an information meeting within 30 days to receive public comment on the completeness and accuracy of the certification.

  (e)   After the information meeting, if one is held, and the 14-day comment period, the Director must decide whether the certification is complete and accurate.  If the Director finds that the certification is not complete and accurate, the Director must so advise the licensee in writing.

  (f)   The Director may suspend any license on the anniversary of its issuance if the licensee did not timely file a complete and accurate certification as required under subsection (a).  The Director must reinstate a suspended license if the Director finds, after following the process in subsections (b)-(e), that the licensee has filed a complete and accurate certification.

**Sec. 38-6. Liability insurance and performance bond required.**

  (a)   An applicant for issuance or renewal of a license under this Chapter must file with the application an insurance policy issued by a corporate insurance company authorized to do business in the state with the following coverages:

    (1)   commercial general liability coverage of at least $1,000,000; and

    (2)   automobile liability coverage with a minimum combined single limit for bodily injury and property damage of $1,000,000 per occurrence.

  (b)   The types or amounts of insurance required under this Section may be modified, and additional types of insurance may be required, by Executive Regulation.  When issuing or renewing a license for a minor quarry, the Director may waive the requirement for automobile liability coverage under subsection (a)(2) and the additional amount of performance bond authorized under subsection (e).

  (c)   Any insurance policy required under this Section or Executive Regulation must provide that the Director must be given 60 days advance written notice before the policy is cancelled or materially modified.

  (d)   Each licensee must maintain on file with the Department:

    (1)   current valid insurance policies that comply with this Section and Executive Regulation; and

    (2)   a valid performance bond or letter of credit under this Section.

  (e)   A licensee must also file annually a performance bond or a letter of credit acceptable to the County Attorney in the amount of $10,000, plus $300 for each acre under license, and an additional amount found by the Director to be necessary to guarantee rehabilitation of the abandoned area as provided in the abandonment plan and compliance with other applicable provisions of this Chapter and the license. If any portion of the bond or letter of credit is drawn against to correct violations of the license or this Chapter, the licensee must immediately provide a substitute or additional bond or letter so that the full amount required is posted.

  (f)   The requirements of this Section supplement any insurance or bond requirement under state law.  If state and County law require the licensee to obtain the same insurance policy, letter of credit, or bond, the licensee need only obtain one such policy, letter, or bond in the largest amount required by the state or County if the policy, letter, or bond is made payable to the County or jointly to the County and the state.

**Sec. 38-7. Notices to comply; revocation or suspension of licenses.**

  (a)   If the Director finds that:

    (1)   the holder of a license issued under this Chapter has violated any provision of the license or this Chapter;

    (2)   a quarry is not being operated in a manner that ensures maximum practicable protection of the environment and the health, safety, or welfare of the public; or

    (3)   a quarry is being operated in a manner that may endanger the health, safety, or welfare of the public; the Director must issue a written order directing the licensee to stop the violation or to correct conditions that the Director finds endanger or do not sufficiently protect the public health, safety or welfare.

  (b)   The order must inform the licensee of the specific violations or conditions to be corrected.

  (c)   Any order or notice must be served on the licensee by:

    (1)   personal delivery;

    (2)   mail to the address on the license application; or

    (3)   posting the order in a conspicuous location on the premises.

  (d)   An order to comply, cease, or correct conditions must give the licensee a reasonable time to comply.

  (e)   If the licensee requests a hearing before the time for compliance, cessation, or correction expires, the Director must conduct a hearing, after notice as provided in this Section.

  (f)   After notice and hearing, if requested, the Director may revoke, suspend, or impose or modify conditions attached to any license or issue a further corrective order if the Director finds that:

    (1)   the licensee has violated this Chapter; or

    (2)   the continued or proposed operation of a quarry would result in less than maximum practicable protection of the environment and the health, welfare, or safety of the public.

  (g)   Any revocation, suspension, order modifying license conditions, or further corrective order must be in writing and include the reasons for the decision. The Director must give the licensee notice of the decision as provided in this Section.

  (h)   If the licensee does not comply with an order issued under subsection (a) within the specified time and does not submit a timely request for a hearing, the Director must suspend the license until the licensee complies with the order.

  (i)   When a license is suspended or revoked, the licensee must immediately stop all quarry operations. If a licensee does not stop operations after receiving an order suspending a license, the Director must revoke the license.

  (j)   A citation for a violation of a license or this Chapter issued under Section 1-18 or 1-19 is not subject to this Section.  Any citation must be enforced as provided in Section 1-18 or 1-19.

**Sec. 38-8. Summary action by director to suspend or revoke license.**

  (a)   If the Director finds that the operation of any quarry poses an imminent threat to the public health, safety, or welfare, the Director must:

    (1)   issue an emergency corrective order, or

    (2)   summarily suspend or revoke a license until the threat is removed.

  (b)   The Director must give the affected licensee notice of and an opportunity for a hearing on the emergency order or summary suspension and revocation, as provided in Section 38-7.  A request for a hearing does not stay the Director's action.

  (c)   The Director must hold a hearing on an order issued or action taken under subsection (a) within 10 days after receiving a request for a hearing from the affected licensee. After the hearing the Director must promptly continue, modify, or withdraw the order issued or action taken under subsection (a).

**Sec. 38-9. Appeals from action of Director.**

  (a)   Any applicant for a license under this Chapter, any licensee, or any other person aggrieved by any action or order of the Director (including any person who lives or works within 3 miles of a quarry who participated in the hearing before the Director if a hearing was held), may appeal to the circuit court under the state law and rules governing appeals from administrative agency actions within 10 days after the order is issued or the action is taken.

  (b)   An appeal by a licensee stays a suspension of a license, except an emergency suspension under Section 38-8, but an appeal does not stay denial, revocation, or refusal to renew a license or a corrective order issued by the Director unless the court grants a stay of the action or order.

**Sec. 38-10. Barriers; setback.**

  (a)   Each licensee must screen visual intrusions on any residential property created by any quarry operation in the license boundary, except access roads.  The screening must be visually impenetrable to the maximum extent feasible.  In reviewing the type of screening required, the Director must consider the degree of screening provided, the degree of screening achievable, the component of the quarry operation being screened, the intrusiveness of the particular activity being screened, the cost of screening, and any other relevant factor.

  (b)

    (1)   Each licensee must maintain a 75-foot deep buffer zone along the license boundary in a natural condition, undisturbed by any structure, mining, or excavation.

    (2)   Access or security patrol roads; directional, identification, and warning signs; security fences; and acoustical or visual screens, berms or walls must be allowed in the buffer zone.

    (3)   The Director may reduce the buffer depth where a 75-foot setback is not practical or undue hardship would result. Any reduction must be offset by environmental effect mitigation measures that the Director finds offer equivalent protection.

  (c)   The Director may waive any requirement of this Section as a license condition for a minor quarry.

**Sec. 38-11. Site plan.**

  Before issuance or renewal of a license under this Chapter the applicant must file an updated site plan, which must be corrected annually at time of certification, showing:

  (a)   License boundary and property boundaries, and setback area.

  (b)   Portion of tract actually being excavated, and proposed excavation areas.

  (c)   The location of each building, equipment, processing plant, stockpile, berm, overburden, and other improvement or quarry activity in the license boundary.

  (d)   Permanent roads and temporary haul roads.

  (e)   Water supply and wastewater disposal.

  (f)   The date of approval of a current sediment control and stormwater management plan.

  (g)   The date of approval of a current sediment control permit.

  (h)   Compliance with state air quality operating permit requirements, specifying equipment locations.

  (i)   Compliance with state water quality discharge permit requirements, specifying discharge locations.

  (j)   Location and description of each item of control equipment.

  (k)   Abandoned areas, slope grades of abandoned areas, and a projected schedule of future abandoned areas.

  (l)   Certification of compliance with this Chapter.

**Sec. 38-12. Water quality.**

  (a)   The applicant for a license, or renewal of a license, must show that:

    (1)   the quarry complies, or before operations begin will comply, with all state water quality protection laws; and

    (2)   an approved sediment control and stormwater management plan is in effect, and a current sediment control permit is issued for the quarry.

  (b)   The licensee must not, in the license boundary or otherwise in connection with quarry activity, improperly handle, store, or dispose of any hazardous or toxic material or any other substance that may contaminate ground or surface water.

  (c)   Any license issued under this Chapter must require compliance with monitoring requirements and discharge limitations specified by a state National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit or any other state water quality permit.  The licensee must annually provide the Department with any monitoring results associated with a state NPDES permit or any other state water quality permit.

  (d)   Any slope, except an area of active excavation or a temporary stockpile, must be seeded within 10 days after land disturbance activity in the area is substantially complete.  A vegetative cover must be maintained on any slope required to be seeded under this subsection.  In this subsection, a temporary stockpile is a stockpile which exists for 10 or more days.

**Sec. 38-13. Vibrations and blasting.**

  (a)   Sections 22-14 and 22-71, regarding the storage and use of explosives, apply to licensees and licensed quarries.

  (b)   The operation of any quarry must not cause vibration by blasting, equipment operation, or any high-energy impulse that exceeds a peak particle velocity of 1 inch per second.

  (c)   The maximum allowable air blast must not exceed 130 linear decibels peak through the frequency range of 6-200 hertz.

  (d)

    (1)   On request of the Director, a licensee must produce a seismographic record, using response spectrum analysis, of each blast.

    (2)   The Director must approve the measurement method and instrumentation necessary to comply with this Section.

    (3)   The licensee must employ a person who is competent to use an approved instrument that has been calibrated according to the manufacturer's specifications.

    (4)   Vibration and air blast must be measured at the property line of the nearest occupied building that is not owned or leased by the licensee.

  (e)   The licensee must promptly report to the Director each blast or high-energy impulse that exceeds the standards set in subsections (b) and (c).

**Sec. 38-14. Noise.**

  (a)   For any quarry originally licensed before January 1, 1981, the maximum allowable property line sound levels for all operations, including blasting, must not exceed 80 A-weighted decibels between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.  Between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m., the maximum allowable property line sound levels must not exceed the levels specified in Chapter 31B.

  (b)   For any quarry originally licensed after January 1, 1981, the maximum allowable property line sound levels for all operations except blasting must not exceed the levels specified in Chapter 31B.  The maximum allowable property line sound levels for blasting must not exceed 80 A-weighted decibels between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.

  (c)   During 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., blasting is prohibited at any quarry.

  (d)   The Director may set stricter noise standards than those set in subsections (a) and (b) as license conditions for any quarry if the Director finds that stricter standards will better protect the public health, safety, or welfare.

  (e)   The Director may waive any noise monitoring requirement with respect to a minor quarry if the Director finds that the monitoring is unnecessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare or the environment.

**Sec. 38-15. Air quality.**

  (a)

    (1)   All processing and materials handling equipment and systems and control equipment within the license boundary must be constructed and maintained to comply with permit standards of the state Department of the Environment or any successor agency.

    (2)

      (A)   A licensee must not discharge any emission visible to a human observer from any processing or materials handling equipment or control equipment, except water vapor in an uncombined form.

      (B)   However, a licensee may discharge emissions that do not exceed 40% opacity (unaveraged) for not more than 6 minutes in any 60-minute period and not more than 12 minutes in any 24-hour period because of start-up, process modifications or adjustments, occasional cleaning, or non-negligent equipment malfunctions.

    (3)

      (A)   The licensee must report any excess emissions from any installation to the Department.

      (B)   The Director may establish specific excess emission duration limitations, stricter than those set in subsection (a)(2), and reporting requirements as a license condition.

      (C)   Any period of excess emissions does not comply with the license.  The Director may consider any information reported by a licensee in deciding if any excess emission results from a legitimate installation malfunction or violates a license and this Chapter.

  (b)   A licensee or other person must not install or use any equipment or other device which, without reducing the total weight of any emission, conceals or dilutes any emission that would otherwise violate a license, this Chapter, or any other law.

  (c)

    (1)   Each licensee must use reasonable control measures to prevent particulate matter from becoming airborne.

    (2)   As part of any license application or renewal, the licensee must submit and the Director must approve a particulate control plan.

    (3)   The Director may require reasonable particulate control measures as license conditions.

  (d)   Except for stockpiles of product, excavation, and processing areas, any other disturbed area must be maintained in accordance with Chapter 19 and County regulations issued under it.

  (e)   The Director may require a licensee to install and maintain particulate and gas monitoring equipment to monitor control equipment performance. If the Director requires a licensee to install monitoring equipment after issuance or renewal of a license, the Director must give the licensee advance written notice that the monitoring equipment must be selected, sited, and installed with the concurrence of the Director. The licensee must make all data obtained from any monitoring equipment available to the Department on request.

  (f)   Emission or deposition of any material or substance beyond the license boundary violates the license and this Chapter.

  (g)   If the Director finds after reasonable investigation that a substance that is hazardous or toxic under federal, state, or County environmental, health, or safety laws or regulations is likely to be present in the air, water, or soil at or within one mile of a quarry in amounts that may be hazardous or toxic, the Director;

    (1)   may require further monitoring if the hazard is potentially continuous or recurring; and

    (2)   must order reasonable steps to remedy or abate the hazard, which may include periodic or continuous monitoring, testing, or analyses, or take other appropriate action to ensure maximum practicable protection of the public health and safety.

**Sec. 38-16. Access roads.**

  (a)   Within the license boundary.

    (1)   Roads for entrance and exit to public roads must be at least 20 feet wide and constructed of impervious material such as concrete or asphalt.

    (2)   Access roads listed in subsection (1) must be constructed and maintained for a distance of 150 feet, or more, if required by the Director for dust control, from the public road into the license boundary.  All other roads must be treated as needed with a preventive to control dust.

    (3)   The licensee must inspect and clean all vehicles exiting the license boundary so that residues or entrained material are removed from any non-load carrying parts of the vehicle.  Any vehicle with any residue or entrained material on any non-load carrying part of the vehicle must not exit until it is thoroughly cleaned.  The Director may, in the license, waive this condition for vehicles leaving office parking or other non-processing areas if these areas are totally segregated from other quarry activities.

  (b)   Outside the license boundary.

    (1)   When necessary, the Director may, in the license or by special order, designate truck routes to and from the quarry and restrict traffic originating at the quarry to those routes to prevent damage to public roads, to avoid unsafe traffic conditions, and to protect residential areas.

    (2)   All haulers must comply with routes designated under subsection (b)(1). The Director may issue a stop order to any hauler who has received 5 or more citations or warning notices for using a route other than designated routes within a 60-day period.  The stop order may prohibit the licensed quarry from furnishing materials to the hauler for up to 30 days.  After the Department has given a copy of the stop order to a licensee, the licensee must not furnish any quarry product to a hauler who is subject to a stop order.

    (3)   The licensee must keep the public roads free of foreign material and spillage, particularly dust-producing substances, at each entrance to or exit from the quarry and for a distance of up to one mile from the license boundary along the principal haul routes designated by the Director. The licensee must remove any spillage from the public roadway that originated from its quarry and properly dispose of the spillage within the license boundary.

    (4)   Each hauler also must remove any spillage on public roads that originated from its vehicle and properly dispose of the spillage. Each hauler and the licensee are jointly and severally responsible for cleanup of spillage within the one-mile boundary set in subsection (3) in addition to any other liability for spillage under applicable law.  Beyond the one-mile boundary each hauler must remove its spillage and properly dispose of it.

    (5)   Unless authorized by the Director in writing, road washing is not an acceptable means of removing spillage. The Director may require a licensee or hauler to provide water quality and sediment control mitigation measures as a condition of authorizing road washing to remove a spillage from a roadway.

    (6)   If the licensee or haulers do not remove spillage or other quarry-related road debris from a roadway promptly, the Department or the Department of Transportation may arrange to remove the spillage or debris at the expense of the licensee and haulers.  The licensee and all haulers using the quarry during the week the spillage occurred are jointly and severally  responsible for this expense.

  (c)   The Director may waive any requirement of this Section with respect to a minor quarry if the Director finds that waiver will not significantly reduce the protection of the public health, safety, or welfare or the environment.

**Sec. 38-17. Hours of operation.**

  (a)

    (1)   Except for blasting activities and as provided in this Section, a licensee must engage in excavation, mining, processing, or materials handling only between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday.  Blasting must only be conducted between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

    (2)   From 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., only administration and maintenance activities are permitted within the license boundary.

    (3)   A licensee may conduct secondary and tertiary crushing of materials, associated conveyance of materials inside the license boundary, and screening and stockpiling of materials, between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, from April 1 through September 30 of each year.

    (4)   Only those operations necessary for administration or security of a quarry may be conducted on Sunday.

    (5)   Activities listed in this subsection are permitted only if sound levels do not exceed the maximum property line sound levels specified in Chapter 31B or other requirements established in this Chapter or by regulation or as a license condition.

  (b)   The Director may approve extended operating hours for processing and materials handling under the procedures of this subsection.

    (1)   A licensee may submit an application for extended operating hours at least 12 days before the extended operating hours would begin.  The Director must require each applicant to pay a fee, established by regulation under method (3), that is sufficient to pay the Department's cost of processing the application, notifying the public, and monitoring the extended operating hours.

    (2)   After receiving an application for extended operating hours, the Director must notify the public and civic associations in each affected community by direct mail or other means that will effectively inform them of the proposed extended hours at least 10 days before the extended operating hours begin.

    (3)   Any person may submit written comments to the Director before the Director decides whether to approve the extended operating hours.

    (4)   The Director may approve extended operating hours only if the Director finds that:

      (A)   the applicant has shown substantial public need for the extended hours; and

      (B)   the public interest will generally be served by allowing the extended hours.

    (5)   The Director may also allow a licensee to load materials on trucks and haul the materials outside the license boundary during the extended operating hours if the Director finds that:

      (A)   the materials are required for work done by or for a government agency; and

      (B)   timely completion of the work requires that the materials be delivered to a work site between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

    (6)   Any approval order must specify the period of time during which the extended operating hours are effective and any other conditions of operation necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare or the environment.

    (7)   During extended operating hours, sound levels must not exceed the maximum property line sound levels specified in Chapter 31B or set under Section 38-14(d).

    (8)   The Director may require additional noise mitigation measures during extended operating hours.  These measures may include:

    (A)   strobe light backup warning devices on mobile equipment during periods of darkness; and

    (B)   audible warning devices which are adjustable to 5 decibels over ambient background sound, measured 20 feet from the device.

  (c)   Materials must not be loaded on trucks or hauled outside the license boundary between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., except as allowed under subsection (b)(5).

  (d)   The Director may require additional periodic ambient air quality or noise monitoring during activities allowed under subsection (a)(3) or extended operating hours authorized under subsection (b) when necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare or the environment.

  (e)   Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, any independent asphalt production and distribution operation that was active within a license boundary before January 1, 1992, may operate from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. if it complies with all applicable noise, water quality, and air quality requirements under this Chapter.  This subsection does not allow any other licensee to operate during those hours.

**Sec. 38-18. Abandonment.**

  (a)   Minimum rehabilitation requirements.

    (1)   An applicant for a license or license renewal must file with the application an abandonment plan for the safe and environmentally sound termination of quarry activities on any property within the license boundary.  As each site or part of a site is abandoned in accordance with the abandonment plan, the licensee must perform the following minimum rehabilitation program to the area abandoned.  Failure to renew the license for a site or part of a site is conclusive evidence that the area is abandoned.

      (A)   Regrading.  All disturbed land must be regraded to no more than the maximum stable slope angle as the Department determines for the particular site.

      (B)   Drainage.  All damming or ponding areas within the abandoned site must be drained and filled, except where dams and ponds were in existence before the quarry was licensed or where authorized to remain by the Director for soil erosion or other rehabilitation purposes.

      (C)   Landscaping, erosion and backfilling.  All piles of disturbed earth or material resulting from the excavating operation must be graded to a smooth contour to control erosion and to prevent ponding and undrained water pockets.  Whenever erosion may cause silting of streams or wash onto public roads, or may cause erosion or silting on adjoining property not owned by the licensee, the area causing erosion or wash must be graded, covered with suitable soil to sustain growth, and then sodded or seeded.  All such areas not sodded must be landscaped by planting grass and trees where soil conditions permit. Seedling trees must be planted at a rate of at least 200 per acre as required by the Director and maintained through 1 year's growth. Other reasonable measures to prevent erosion may be prescribed by the Director as necessary.

      (D)   Removal of machinery and buildings.  All machinery and buildings must be completely removed and underlying excavations filled and properly compacted to grade, except such buildings or machinery that are to be continued in operation for a use permitted under the zoning classification.

      (E)   Fencing. Whenever the side of any excavation is greater than 75% grade, the excavated area must be fenced with a durable galvanized or masonry fence 6 feet high, located not less than 20 feet from the edge of the quarry excavation.  The Department may enter and repair or maintain such fence whenever the licensee or property owner has failed to do so after notice and a reasonable opportunity to comply.  The licensee and property owner are liable to the county for the cost of repairs or maintenance.

      (F)   Prohibited fill. Solid waste, as defined in Chapter 48, must not be used as fill for the abandoned quarry unless the quarry is licensed as an approved place of final disposal under Chapter 48 and state law.  However, nothing in this Chapter prevents the use of excavation for a solid waste acceptance facility under applicable law and regulations.

      (G)   Performance bond.  Failure of the licensee or property owner, after notice, to comply with the approved abandonment plan, license, or this Chapter must cause the performance bond or security to be forfeited. The Director must use the proceeds to correct the violation of the license or this Chapter or to carry out the approved rehabilitation plan including the minimum rehabilitation requirements hereunder. If the cost of correction or rehabilitation exceeds the bond amount, the licensee and the property owner are jointly and severally liable for all excess costs incurred by the County.

      (H)   Access roads.  All access roads must be suitably barricaded to prevent the passage of vehicles in or out of the abandoned area, except as needed for vehicles engaged in rehabilitation work until the plan for rehabilitation has been completed and other use necessitating access has commenced on the property.

  (b)   Exception. Quarries already abandoned on November 9, 1961, are not subject to this Section.

**Sec. 38-19. Trespass.**

  A person, without the consent of the owner of the premises, must not swim, fish, boat, hunt or discharge firearms upon any property within a license boundary.

**Sec. 38-20. Penalty for violations of chapter; injunctive relief.**

  (a)   Any person who violates this Chapter and any licensee who violates a license condition is subject to punishment for a class A violation. Each day a violation continues is a separate offense.

  (b)   The Department may seek injunctive or other appropriate judicial relief to prevent or stop violations of this Chapter or a license.
