[Adopted 4-13-1992 as part of Ord. No.
92-4]
No person or persons, firms, partnerships, corporations or other entities hereinafter desiring to continue small limited agricultural/personal use soil extraction operations to extract, process and remove any sand, gravel, shale, stone or other earth materials by way of any open pit, quarry or digging into the face of a hill which is not a commercial or industrial excavation of said materials but only for personal use which existed prior to the adoption of Chapter 90, Land Use and Development, of the Code of the Township of Franklin and which operation is not determined to have been abandoned shall, before continuing operation or any extraction as herein defined or to continue said operation on an annual basis at any time during any calendar year, apply to the Township Committee for a permit to continue to conduct such operation or extraction.
Upon the filing of an application for continuing the operation of a soil extraction use, as defined in § 116-15, which said use meets the criteria of § 116-25B providing for exemption from the requirements of § 116-15 et seq., the applicant shall, upon submitting the application, request said exemption. Any application for a permit requesting said exemption and filed along with the required fees, a scaled plat showing the Tax Map parcel upon which shall be demarcated and the boundary to be permanently established, together with the required fees, shall entitle the application to be deemed complete for public hearing purposes. Said application shall further include a statement of the eventual plan of reclamation, to include the filling, types of materials, regrading and maintaining or retaining original slopes, which said plan shall be by virtue of a statement. Any and all materials shall be those materials meeting the requirements of any governmental law, statute and regulation, particularly the rules and regulations of the Board of Health and Department of Environmental Protection and Energy. If said public hearing results in a finding that the application for the operation does not meet the criteria herein provided for exemption (the full terms of this article), the application shall be denied and the applicant shall be subject to the full permitting application and the full regulations and provisions of this article. Any application requesting exemption shall continue to be subject to the provisions of § 116-16B and C, subject to the proviso of the fact that if the preexisting use is in issue or there is in fact an issue as to abandonment, said issue or issues shall be resolved only by application to the Franklin Township Board of Adjustment, which determination shall be a condition precedent to the holding of the public hearing under the provisions hereinafter provided.
A.
Any application submitted requesting exemption of soil extraction operation. Said application shall initially be accompanied by a fee of $100. In the event that the applicant does not satisfy the standards of the preexisting nonconforming use or nonabandonment or satisfy the criteria for exemption under § 116-39, said applicant shall then be subject to the full fees as provided under § 116-18A, B and C and the full requirements of a complete application, subject to the full terms of this article.
B.
Said application shall further be accompanied by an initial
inspection fee of $200 for an initial inspection and report to the Township
Committee by the Township Engineer as to the physical characteristics and
type of operation and as to conformity to this article.
C.
Subsequent to the initial application and determination
of the operation being exempt under the terms of this article, the applicant
shall be subject to an annual fee of $150, which said application fee shall
be filed no later than November 1 of the prior year so that the Township Engineer
can inspect the status of the same so that the permit can be issued by January
1 of each year. Said fee shall include the inspection and report of the Township
Engineer.
A.
General. The operation or continued operation of an extraction use shall be permitted only upon lands for which Chapter 90, Land Use and Development, of the Code of the Township of Franklin provides the same as a permitted use; lands upon which the applicant obtained a use or special exception variance from the Franklin Township Board of Adjustment; or a clear preexisting nonconforming use or nonabandonment; or a determination by the Franklin Township Board of Adjustment that said extraction operation is a preexisting nonconforming use if said preexisting use is clear and convincing to the Township Committee. When said operation is an allowed use or allowed by virtue of a use variance or special exception or has been determined to be a preexisting nonconforming use, said extraction operation shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter, except those operations deemed exempt as limited preexisting nonconforming uses which would not be subject to the full provision of this chapter subject to § 116-25B, and further subject to provisions of § 116-19B and C.
If at any time at any annual inspection or in the course of any license year any Township official or the Township Engineer finds that the exempt operation violates the limitations and criteria as herein provided, he shall notice the owner/operator of said violation by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner/applicant's address as set forth in the application, or current address if different, of said fact, and the owner/operator shall immediately cease operations and the extraction or the hauling of any materials from said site until the violations are corrected. If said violations are not corrected within 30 days from the date of receipt of said letter as certified by the Township Engineer, the permit to operate shall be revoked. Unless the owner/operator files for a new exemption permit or files for a soil extraction permit under § 116-15 for operations not exempt, which application will require determination of application to the Franklin Township Board of Adjustment for a use or special exception variance, the owner/operator shall immediately commence reclamation in accordance with the original plan of reclamation as may be amended from time to time. If the permit is either exempt or the soil extraction operation is not granted or the owner/operator voluntarily ceases operations and reclamation is not commenced within a six-month period, the owner/operator shall be subject to the penalty provisions as herein provided under § 116-32 in Article II.
Any limited soil extraction, as defined in this article, that is deemed exempt shall be exempt from the provisions of Chapter 116, Article II, with the exception of §§ 116-15 through 116-17, 116-19, 116-20, 116-21 and 116-26 through 116-33, provided that they meet the additional following criteria:
A.
The applicant shall be the landowner and operator of
the limited soil extraction operation.
B.
The surface area of the open pit, quarry or digging into
the face of a hill shall not at any time exceed one acre in total surface
area as demarcated in the original plot plan filed pursuant to this article.
C.
The depth of the excavation shall at no time exceed 35
feet in depth.
D.
The area of soil extraction shall have a minimum setback
from adjoining property owners of 10 feet and, if any existing operation classified
exempt violates the within provision, the same shall cease further excavation
in that area and shall abide by the terms hereof in all other areas of the
excavation.
E.
All slopes shall be maintained so that they do not exceed
a slope of 2:1 with the slope ratio as being defined in this article.
F.
The owner/applicant shall be required to install substantial
fence along the top of any slope and around the excavated soil extraction
area. In the event that existing parameters of the excavated areas are flat,
the fencing requirement may be waived, provided that the owner/applicant establishes
sufficient warnings of the existence of the excavated area.
G.
The operation of extraction shall only be by the landowner/applicant,
which operation shall include the hauling of materials, and any excavating,
extraction or hauling by any third party, person, partnership, firm or corporation
or other entity is hereby prohibited.
H.
At all times the operation of extraction and excavation
and removal of the earth materials shall be accomplished only with small equipment,
i.e., front-end loaders, and any rock-crushing equipment is specifically prohibited.
