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would impel a reasonable operator and landowner to consider
factors such as minimizing disturbance to the neighbors. And we
found credible the testimony of both a local operator who used
50-foot setbacks and one who used 100-foot setbacks. Questioning
by Terrene’s attorney, though, brought out that the 100-foot
setbacks were dictated by a real-estate developer who wanted to
build roads around the pit once it was exhausted and filled with
water, to accommodate what he was planning to call lakefront
homes. Neither party suggested that what was left of the Hamblen
Road property after it was mined out would be of interest to
homebuilders, so we find it most likely that an operator would
minimize setbacks to maximize his volume of minable material.
Terrene claims that local industry practice is to leave 5-foot
setbacks where not required by law. This seems rather small, and
not in accord with the most credible evidence. We therefore find
that a 10-foot setback on the western and northern edges is
appropriate, and that a 25-foot setback on the eastern edge--
where there is a private road--would be most reasonable in light
of the legally mandated 25-foot setback on the property’s
southern boundary.
The effect this would have on the volume of recoverable
deposits is unclear, because the Geotest report does not describe
its formula for calculating minable material in great detail.
Therefore, we resort to an indirect, and necessarily imprecise,
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