State will decide on quarry's output

AN AMENDED proposal for the controversial expansion of Champions Quarry at Tucki Tucki - which was rejected by Lismore City Council in 2009 - went back on public exhibition yesterday as a state-significant project.

The council has already spent more than $775,000 defending its decision in the NSW Land and Environment Court based on environmental, cultural-heritage and community-amenity reasons.

The original application sought to raise the quarry's output from 63,800 tonnes per annum to 200,000, which was later increased to 250,000 tonnes part-way through the approval process by owner and former Lismore mayor, Jeff Champion, so that the proposal qualified as a major state project and therefore overrode the council's decision.

The proposal will remain on display at Lismore's council chambers and the library in Magellan St until March 2.

The NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure is calling on the public for feedback and submissions.

As well as the increased output, the application seeks to extend the operating hours to 7am-5.30pm on weekdays and 7.30am-3pm on Saturdays, and increase the size of the extraction pit from two to 16ha.

It also includes the construction of associated infrastructure including dams, a weighbridge, a vehicle wash bay, fuel storage, stockpiling areas and an office block.

Modifications to the previous application included a biodiversity offset strategy, additional environmental, Aboriginal and cultural-heritage studies, changes to management procedures and an increase in truck movements to 50 per day.