Parma Ridge Winery and Bistro is preparing to open their patio this weekend, but they have concerns for the future of their business because of a proposed project.
"There is going to be a lot of noise and a lot of dust," said Stephanie Hodge, one of the owners. "That is concerning for us with regards to this business, our customers and we also have one of our vineyards right here."
We checked out the application and found this gravel pit would be on 238 acres next to the Boise River south of Parma. It would operate 12 hours a day, six days a week with rock crushing occurring four to five months during the year.
Premiere Aggregates runs the Pintail Pit just across the river. They look at this as an expansion, but they still had to go through the permit process with several government agencies.
We spoke with one of the owners who told us they will build berms to limit noise, use water to limit dust and they have a long term plan with the Idaho Department of Lands where reclamation will happen concurrently with operations and they believe it will benefit wildlife will with the end result in a wetlands type environment.
Premiere Aggregates estimates 6,000 trucks will pick up material per year and those trucks will haul material out using Highway 95. We confirmed all this information on the application.
Stephanie and Storm Hodge, the owners of Parma Ridge Winery have concerns over truck traffic, noise, dust and the future of their business.
“We really don't want to look at that outcome because It will dramatically impact our business," said Stephanie. "The economy is hard enough as it is to have something like this happen would be detrimental," responded Storm.
People have until Sunday to submit a comment to the Canyon County Planning and Zoning Commission. There will also be a public hearing in the public meeting room of the Canyon County Administrative Building in Caldwell on on April 4 at 6:30 p.m. During this hearing the P&Z Commission will hear public comments.
