The town of Cortlandville has won an appeal of a lawsuit brought against it by a mining company in town in what the town attorney called a well-written, but confusing, ruling that leaves open a chance for further legal action.
“We have the parties’ remaining contentions and have found them to be lacking merit or rendered academic,” the court ruled.
“It took me 12 1/2 times to read the decision to conclude we won,” Town Attorney John DelVecchio said of the state Supreme Court Appellate Division’s ruling during a recent town board meeting.
Route 13 Rocks, a subsidiary of Cortlandville Sand and Gravel on Route 13, the company that sued the town over an ordinance restricting its activity, could not be reached for comment. A judge ruled in favor of the town in December as well, a ruling the company appealed.
Route 13 Rocks sued Cortlandville after the town board passed an ordinance to prevent the company from expanding its mine by 9 acres and digging 100 feet below the water table.
The town amended the wellhead protection law in 2022 to let mines expand laterally, but not downward directly over the aquifer, including in the area where the company asked to mine below the aquifer.
Route 13 Rocks filed suit to challenge the amendment.
The original law banned all mining projects that produce or process bulk quantities of hazardous materials, gas stations, disposal of toxic substances in aquifer protection districts.
The mine is located above the Otter Creek-Dry Creek aquifer, the sole drinking water source for more than 30,000 people who live in Cortland County.
Documents from the December ruling say the company’s claim wasn’t “ripe” for judicial review because the company still did not have approval from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which said the project would have a major environmental effect, necessitating further review, a decision the Appellate Division upheld.
“The judge almost expects the case to come back,” DelVecchio said in the meeting.
“The mining permit is still before the DEC,” he said. “The ball is in the court of the mining company – not totally – but DEC is going to make a choice at some point, and whatever that is will drive the next move of the mining company.”
