Bucks judge’s ruling blocks asphalt plant

The township successfully argued that zoning rules don’t allow for the facility at a quarry site.

A Bucks County judge has ruled in favor of the township in a zoning case over a proposed asphalt plant at Rockhill Quarry.

Judge Robert Mellon made his decision following a two-day trial March 2 and 3.

Quarrying at the site on N. Rockhill Road began more than a century ago, but there has been little if any activity there since the early 1980s.

Richard E. Pierson Materials Corp., which leases the property from Hanson Aggregates Pennsylvania, has been attempting to reactivate the site, resulting in protests from residents and legal battles with the township.

A year ago, a federal judge ruled the property had the right to be used as a quarry, but sent back to Bucks County Court the question of whether an asphalt plant was allowed.

Under East Rockhill’s zoning rules, asphalt plants are allowed in the industrial zoning district, but not at the quarry site, which is zoned for extraction, the township successfully argued.

Robert Gundlach Jr., the quarry’s attorney, said during the start of the county trial that asphalt plants are an accessory use to quarries and that there was previously one there.

John Rice, the township’s attorney, said asphalt plants are sometimes, but not always, at quarries.

“You may find them on the same site as a quarry,” he said. “Doesn’t mean that they’re accessory uses.”

A written decision in the case is expected within 20 days, Township Manager Marianne Morano said.

Following the detection of naturally occurring asbestos at the site in December of 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ordered a halt to all quarry related activities. That ban remains in effect and U.S. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1, state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-10, and the Bucks County Commissioners recently called for the ban to be made permanent.

The case to be decided in Bucks County Court was only about zoning, Mellon said.

“Asbestos has nothing to do with what I have to decide,” he told the court at the start of the trial on Monday.