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Dividing 3,899,696 tons by 31.41 acres, we get 124,155 tons of
sand and gravel per acre. Thus, a loss of 2 acres of land to
setbacks will reduce the available volume by 248,310 tons.
ii. Work Area
The next factor reducing recoverable volume is the need for
some land to be set aside for a workplant to sort the excavated
material. We find credible the evidence that most plants are
built on the property being mined. Terrene disagrees, arguing
that we should not make any adjustments for a workplant because
one might be set up next door on property that is still owned by
Terrene or on the tract already given to the Foundation. We are
unpersuaded. No evidence exists that shows Terrene ever
contemplated such an offer during its talks with the Foundation,
and we find that it would not be practical to have a plant on the
previously donated parcel because it lies on the other side of a
very busy Hamblen Road.
A closer question is the size of the work area. The
Commissioner urges us to find that roughly seven acres would be
needed, while Terrene claims it would take only three.
Voluminous testimony on this exact point convinces us that four
acres would suffice. Local operators Enloe and Vestal credibly
testified that, in their experience, operators on plots the size
of the Hamblen Road property usually used about three-to-four
acres to set up their work area. According to witnesses, the
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Last modified: November 10, 2007