Dirt Under Development

God knows it’s not good to build your house on sand, and Northwest Arkansas developers know it’s not good to build on karst terrain without a buffer bed of tough red clay.

Rampant development has made the red clay business big business locally.

“I know in Fayetteville and many areas around here they have trouble. You try to put a building on it and it just sinks,” said Harvey Luttrell, who owns more than 100 acres west of Fayetteville and operates an open-cut clay mine on about 17 acres of it.

Luttrell, who worked for McClinton-Anchor Construction in Fayetteville for 29 years and is now retired, is familiar with the need for good fill dirt. He also knew what the state required before he started mining dirt from his place.

Luttrell used to raise cattle on his property, but health issues forced him to stop. It had also become apparent that there was a better way to generate income on his land. He started mining in 1995 when McClinton-Anchor was working on some improvements to Interstate 540 and needed good fill dirt.

“The first hill we got dirt from was there,” Luttrell said pointing to part of his property. “The cows wouldn’t get out on it anyway. It was too rough.”

Luttrell soon realized he could get about $14,000 per acre for the thick red clay and still keep his property. He points out an area he’s already reclaimed where the slopes have been reduced, top soil brought back in and grass is growing.

Between environmental regulations and other costs, Luttrell said he’s netting 17 to 20 cents on every 50 cents per cubic yard of clay or fill dirt he sells. t

Luttrell doesn’t load the trucks or mine the dirt. He simply provides access to his property for a couple of dirt hauling operators who pay him on a per-load basis. He also maintains the state mining permits and requirements, conducting regular inspections and working to control runoff from the site.

Luttrell has a clay-mining permit, a stormwater permit for runoff control and an air-quality permit, which is required if he needs to burn trees, etc.

Regulatory Dirt

The need for more and more open-cut clay mines has also brought headaches for the two-and-a-half member staff of the mining division of the Arkansas Department of Environment Quality, the state’s permitting agency for mines and quarries.

The regulations they enforce are mostly protection for adjoining property owners who are often affected by runoff and dangerous slopes from such mining operations.

The regulations require that open-cut mines keep a minimum 50-foot buffer area from all adjoining property, they have to be secure to deter illegal dumping, and they have to be inspected regularly for runoff problems, including within 36 hours of a substantial rainfall. The state also has strict requirements for the reclamation of the mine site once the mining operation is done. Reclamation rules include maximum slope standards and the replanting of vegetation.

James Stephens, chief of the ADEQ mining division, said the situation is better than it used to be because of changes in laws pertaining to open-cut clay mining operations. In 1999, the Arkansas Legislature redefined an open-cut mine to make it clear that top soil and clay mining operations fall under the department’s jurisdiction and have to be permitted.

“There’s a lot more cooperation than there used to be,” Stephens said. “I think people are just more aware.”

The department still investigates complaints of mining operations that aren’t permitted and aren’t meeting state standards, but not as often, he said. Landowners are more likely to call to find out what regulations apply and if they need a permit before they begin trucking clay and/or top soil off their property, he added.

Another recent legislative change requires mining operations to post their permit number and telephone number at the mine’s entrance, which helps with immediate recognition of compliance.

Some mines are still exempt from state regulations, Stephens pointed out. If the open-cut mine is 2.9 acres or less and maintains the proper buffer distance from adjoining property, it doesn’t have to get a mining permit. Mines that are in the middle of large tracts of land are also sometimes exempt, Stephens said, referring to a state exemption for open-cut mines one-quarter of a mile or more from any adjoining property owner.

James Whitener, vice president of compliance/safety for JDL Development, is a former inspector for the state mining division who recently went to work for the development company owned by John David Lindsey. Whitener had fined Lindsey operations for compliance problems when he was a state inspector, but he said recently that the company wants to “be a good steward” to neighbors of Stephens Red Dirt on Hamstring Road, a rock quarry and dirt farm Lindsey now owns, and that’s why Lindsey hired him.

The company is working with the Big Red Dirt Farm, a neighboring dirt mining operation owned by Sweetser Construction, to pave Hamstring Road from Arkansas Highway 16 past the Lindsey mine entrance. Lindsey is also planning to construct a large concrete bay at the mine’s entrance where the trucks, particularly truck bottoms, will be rinsed before exiting the mine.

Stephens Red Dirt has expanded its mining operations since Lindsey purchased the operation, leasing acreage from an adjoining landowner for more red clay removal. During a recent tour of the mine site, Whitener pointed out deep ravines on the land. When the red clay mining is complete, Whitener said, the land will be much more even with a natural-looking slight slope and new vegetation — more conducive to development or cattle farming than the rough terrain that existed before.

“Mining operations are not the most beautiful thing in the world,” Whitener said, adding that if done right, the property will “look like a park” when it is reclaimed.

The 120-acre quarry and mine is full of holding areas for runoff, and Whitener pointed out, the buffer area around the edges of the mine site are much larger than state requirements.

Since Lindsey bought the Stephens mining operation last year, it ended an agreement the former mine owner had with another nearby landowner to mine dirt from his property. That property doesn’t have a state permit and doesn’t meet state exemption criteria.

Don Morgan, an ADEQ field agent who works from the department’s Springdale office, said on Feb. 9 that he intended to issue a letter to that landowner demanding that he obtain a stormwater permit, make some effort to control the extreme erosion of the site, and stabilize the property if he’s not going to seek the permits and mine it more.

Whitener said Lindsey crews have dug out a ditch in the right-of-way along the property and placed some bales of hay in the ditch in an effort to help with the drainage problems along Hamstring Road that were caused by the illegal operation.

Problem Site

Both Big Red and Stephens are located within a mile or so of Luttrell’s property. And so is a 9.5-acre piece of land that sent a Washington County man to jail over clay mining in 1998.

Cliff “Wayne” Kilpatrick is still in the dirt business. He now works for Quality Trucking, a hauling company with a Fayetteville office. Kilpatrick was ordered to reclaim the site on Double Springs Road where he’d started an open-pit mine in 1997, but didn’t comply with the court order and eventually spent more than a week in jail for contempt of court.

“As far as I know, I’m the only guy to go to jail over mining that I know of,” Kilpatrick said.

The issue was convoluted by the fact that Kilpatrick didn’t own the property and neither did the man who contracted with him to operate the open-pit mine, Randall Barnes. Barnes had sold the property, but hadn’t been paid in full for the sale and never foreclosed on it. Washington County property records show the land is now in the name of Barnes’ former wife, Mildred Barnes, who could not be reached for comment.

Stephens said the state has given up its efforts to get the land reclaimed. A dam built by Kilpatrick on the site has been reinforced to some degree, but that’s about all the reclamation steps Kilpatrick took, Stephens said.

Kilpatrick said he tried to plant new vegetation on the property but there wasn’t any top soil for the seed to adhere to and it didn’t take. He also said he now owns the land and is considering mining the dirt off of it eventually. Kilpatrick couldn’t be reached later for comment on the county records that dispute his ownership claim.

Don Johnson, who owns the adjoining property on a downhill slope, said he’d like to see the site reclaimed completely. He said the property still has steep unsafe slopes and the vegetation on it consists of scrub brush.

“They’ve just given up,” Johnson said about the state’s effort to pursue reclamation of the site.

If the site had been properly permitted with a bond posted, the state would be able to get the bond money to pay for a forced restoration of the land, he noted.

Doing it Right

Bryan Precure, who manages Rogers Sand & Gravel, said his family-owned company doesn’t have a mining operation right now, but it has in the past. It usually leased property to mine.

“It’s a new ball game,” Precure said about mining regulations. “They’re really monitoring the situation now.”

Rogers Sand & Gravel’s most recent mine site in Centerton has already been reclaimed, and Precure is proud of the result.

“When you look at that pit now, it’s all reclaimed. You can’t tell,” he said.

He said the site was mined in three-acre sections, with the top soil from a new mining area spread over the previously mined area and replanted.

“Now most of our dirt comes out of third-party sites,” Precure said. “There are more opportunities now for us to purchase from a third-party.”

The company pays about $1.50 per cubic yard for red clay from mining operations that include a loading operation. Mines like Luttrell’s that don’t do the excavating and loading, charge about 50 cents per cubic yard, Precure said. Most dump trucks hold about 16 cubic yards.

Rogers Sand & Gravel has 11 trucks that it keeps busy on a regular basis.