Residents on bush lifestyle blocks in Reedy Marsh are concerned they will be bombarded with blasting, earth vibrations and dust from a proposed quarry with a 50 year lifespan.

The $100,000 quarry development, to be excavated on a dolerite hill owned by Carl Porter and operated by Walters Contracting, will operate seven days a week. The 33.3 hectare site is currently used for forestry and grazing.

Six properties on nearby Saddlers Run Road are most at risk of being disturbed by the proposed blasting and grinding activities. Blasting is allowed on weekdays from 10am to 4pm.

Residents are also concerned about potential road accidents caused by up to 64 B-double heavy vehicle movements a day, into and out of the quarry entrance road onto the narrow Porters Bridge Road and the single lane Porters Bridge.

Margaret Brown, who operates a poultry farm on Saddlers Run Road said, ‘I’m concerned about quarry run-off affecting my water supply and the blasting and grinding putting my hens off the lay.’

Only a week before objections to the project were due to Meander Valley Council, Mrs Brown said she had just learnt about the quarry from a neighbour who had received a council letter about the project.

Four Saddlers Run Road residents who spoke to the Gazette said they all had concerns about the quarry to be located east of their properties. 

Two residents said they would not object, Dave McCarthy because it was ‘progress’, and Rob Crowden because several other properties were between him and the quarry.

One of the closest residents said they would object to the quarry planning application on the grounds of flora and fauna loss. 

‘Ovata [eucalypt] species is threatened by this quarry and the curved rice flower, which is listed as rare. There’s been so much clearing in Reedy Marsh recently that I get a large number of wallabies on my lawn each night because they have nowhere else to go.’

An extractive industry such as a quarry is a permitted use within the planning scheme’s rural zone but the usage is discretionary because it is a level two use. Zoning for Saddlers Run Road is rural living.

The environmental report by Richard Barnes of Van Diemen Consulting listed not only Ovata and the curved rice flower as potentially affected by the quarry, but two wedge-tailed eagles, the threatened tussock skink, masked owl, green and gold frog, spotted tailed quoll, eastern barred bandicoot, grey goshawk and the Tasmanian devil.

‘Approximately 75 curved riceflower plants will be taken by the activity based on the plant numbers within the maximum extraction area,’ Mr Barnes wrote.

‘At least 120 plants in the main portion of the land will be undisturbed by the quarry.

‘Tasmanian devil, eastern quoll, and spotted‐tailed quoll are known to occur in the region and may occur sporadically given they are territorial and have large home ranges. 

Mr Barnes recommended areas to be cleared ‘should first be surveyed by a suitably qualified person to identify if dens or woodpiles supporting dens are present … and any dens or suspected dens removed via a procedure approved by the EPA’. 

He said no trees [for masked owl habitat] were observed but recommended potential roost trees be ‘checked for any signs of occupation to see if a bird is flushed, prior to removal’.

It is planned that 19m B-doubles trucks each carrying 30 tonnes of dolerite gravel turn onto Porter’s Bridge Road at the southern end, then turning right straight onto Porter’s Bridge. 

Doug Tangney from Walters Contracting confirmed that no trucks would travel into Deloraine via Porter’s Bridge Road and River Road.

The planning application’s traffic report said both Porter’s Bridge and the bridge over the Bass Highway towards Exton were able to support the trucks but a special license would be needed as neither was the required 8m width for B-doubles.

The report also recommended removal of vegetation obscuring driver view near Porters Bridge.

The landowner, Carl Porter, has 872 hectares of his property up for sale and has also recently applied for subdivision of 347 hectares of his land.

The property has been in his family since 1846.