Vote Expected This Week on UMore Mining Request

The Rosemount City Council is expected to vote this week on a request from Dakota Aggregates to mine nearly 200 million tons of gravel and sand from the western edge of UMore Park.

According to a story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the company is seeking a permit to mine nearly 900 acres of UMore Park land in the city during the next 40 years.

A vote, the newspaper reports, would be a culmination of a four-year process that has included neighborhood meetings, environmental studies, impact studies, public hearings and negotiations involving the city, Dakota Aggregates and the University of Minnesota, which owns the land.

Agreements on dust, noise and other nuisances that would come from mining were hammered out between city officials and Dakota Aggregates during planning commission public hearings this fall, said Rosemount City Planner Eric Zweber.

After adding nearly three dozen conditions over several meetings, the planning commission recommended approval of the permit in September.

Dakota Aggregates, a partnership between Cemstone Products Co. and Ames Construction Inc., hopes to mine approximately 1,722 acres of the 5,000-acre UMore Park property, which falls in Rosemount and Empire Township.

The company, which  finalized a mining lease with the university last year, plans to mine the Rosemount UMore Park land for 25 years, followed by 15 years of mining the Empire Township land.

The UMore property is one of the last large properties left in the metro area with high-quality aggregate, which is used for concrete, asphalt and other products, said Shawn Dahl, vice president of real estate and aggregate development for Burnsville-based Ames Construction.