Council - Lords Quarry Upgrade, Upper Woodstock Supplement to Environmental Effects Report dated 11 January 2018 as required by Environment Protection Authority under EMPCA Section 27E

Lords Quarry – Environmental Effects Report – Supplement

Version Date Recipient Organisation

Revision 1 19 April 2018 Environment Protection Authority

Table 1 – Additional information required by the EPA Board Issue Further information requested Response

Noise Model noise impacts by quarry The Noise Study (Noise Vibration Consulting (a), December 2017) has been expanded and replaced with (Noise operations when extraction Vibration Consulting (b), March 2018). The new study takes into account noise from trucks using the access road from progresses to the upper bench the boundary of the owned land to the quarry. The upgraded study also includes an assessment as predicted by future mining of the likely noise impact of operating the crusher on the highest bench formed as a possible future expansion of the plan quarry. The results of the new study show those residences located close to the quarry (within 1 000 metres) will receive a maximum predicted noise level using the current layout (including truck on the access road) of 40 dBA and a maximum predicted noise level from the proposed expanded quarry layout of 40 dBA at a different site. The Quarry Code of Practice (Environment Protection Authority, May 2017) sets a maximum noise level recorded at a sensitive use (dwelling) during daytime hours (7.00 am to 7.00 pm) as 45 dBA. The predicted noise levels are at least 5 dBA below this level and hence should not cause a nuisance to neighbouring properties.

Model noise impacts by truck As above. movements on existing quarry access road to Pelverata Road.

Lords Quarry – Environmental Effects Report - Supplement Revision 1

Table 2 – Other matters raised during public consultation period Issue Further information requested Response

Justification More information justifying In order to provide the highest quality and most cost efficient construction and maintenance of council owned the development of Lords public infrastructure the Huon Valley Council (HVC) own and operate gravel pits located strategically within the Quarry in preference to other municipality. HVC recently embarked on a campaign to rationalise the council owned quarries to keep ongoing HVC assets. maintenance and permit fees to a minimum. More was invested in fewer assets ensuring that high quality product was available at the lowest possible cost from quarry assets that were well operated with minimal environmental impact. The council is able to provide better construction and maintenance to council assets at a much lower cost than by purchasing quarry products on the open market, thus stretching the rate revenue further. HVC municipal area is large extending from Vince’s Saddle to Cockle Creek and is serviced by an expansive sealed and unsealed road network. Two quarries were identified with the correct source rock to produce the products required for construction and maintenance to best service the road network The two quarries are Lords Quarry in the north and Tylers Quarry in the south. HVC previously had twelve quarries in various locations used infrequently or not at all. These quarries all required maintenance and incurred annual fees for permits and leases. Ten of the twelve leases have now been surrendered or lapsed saving the council is ongoing annual fees, cost and effort to maintain redundant sites.

Potential for Explain how the risk of the The products run out of Lords Quarry will be derived exclusively from material won on site. No materials or introduction introduction of weeds and product will be imported into the quarry and hence there will be no opportunity to introduce weeds or disease of disease will be controlled. with quarry products won elsewhere. Phytophthora cinnamomi

integrated land management & planning | Table 2 – Other matters raised during public consultation period 2

Lords Quarry – Environmental Effects Report - Supplement Revision 1

Noise and Explain how noise and dust Pelverata Road has a gravel surface and hence all traffic on the road will generate dust in dry conditions. Trucks dust emanating from quarry traffic travelling to and from the quarry will most likely be travelling slower than light vehicles but are still likely to on Pelverata Road will be generate dust at times. managed. Trucks servicing the quarry will be well maintained and fully serviced, operated by reputable contracting companies and will have proprietary silencers fitted.

Transport Describe transport routes on A formal Traffic Impact Assessment is being prepared but does not form part of this submission. routes and public roads, residential The Pelverata area represents less than 5% of the road maintenance task hence traffic from the quarry east impact on setback and vehicle bound will be negligible. The transport route west bound on Pelverata Road is considered. Pelverata movements on the route Road Eight residences are situated close to Pelverata Road on the west bound section between Lords Quarry entrance and Channel Highway. These residences vary in distance from the road from around 89 metres to 15 metres. Traffic on Pelverata Road will increase from a weekly average of 193 vehicles to 248 vehicles with the quarry operating normally and 353 vehicles for short period when the quarry is operating at peak production. See Figure 1 below.

integrated land management & planning | Table 2 – Other matters raised during public consultation period 3 Lords Quarry – Environmental Effects Report - Supplement Revision 1

Number Address Dwelling Setback from Pelverata Rd 1 'WOODSTOCK PARK' - 1806 PELVERATA RD UPPER yes 72 m WOODSTOCK TAS 7150 Figure 1: Quarry traffic transport route diagram 2 9 GOODWINS RD UPPER WOODSTOCK TAS 7150 yes 89 m 3 'CHISHOLM LODGE' - 1807 PELVERATA RD UPPER yes 15 m Drawn: BW, Revision: 1, Date: 19/04/2018 WOODSTOCK TAS 7150 4 1847 PELVERATA RD UPPER WOODSTOCK TAS 715 yes 60 m 5 1896 PELVERATA RD UPPER WOODSTOCK TAS 7150 yes 55 m 6 1986 PELVERATA RD UPPER WOODSTOCK TAS 7150 yes 44 m 7 2059 PELVERATA RD WOODSTOCK TAS 7109 yes 19 m 6 8 8694 CHANNEL HWY WOODSTOCK TAS 7109 yes 49 m

8 7

1 5

4 3 2

Expected average weekly traffic movements on Pelverata Road (west bound to Channel Highway) Weekly total without quarry Weekly total with quarry operating at Weekly total with quarry operating at operating (traffic count 26/03/18) normal production peak production Light vehicles Heavy vehicles Light vehicles Heavy vehicles Light vehicles Heavy vehicles 136 57 146 102 146 207 Total vehicles 193 Total vehicles 248 Total vehicles 353

integrated land management & planning | Table 2 – Other matters raised during public consultation period 4 Huon Valley Council 23rd April 2018 40 Main Street 7109 5636_02.docx Attention: Malcolm Russell LORDS QUARRY – NOISE ASSESSMENT Huon Valley Council (HVC) operate a Level 1 quarry off Pelverata Road, Upper Woodbridge. They are seeking to upgrade the maximum permitted production, and thus the EPA requires a noise assessment to form part of the Environmental Effects Report (EER) for the proposal. This letter presents the results of this assessment, conducted by NVC in December 2017. This revision (5636_02) includes additional noise sources and assessment of potential future quarry expansions, as requested by the EPA in Table 1 of their RFI document, dated 21 February 2018. 1.0 SITE DESCRIPTION 1.1 QUARRY SITE OPERATIONS The quarry is located just south of Pelverata Road in a Rural Resource zone, and operates from 7:00AM to 7:00PM Monday to Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM Saturdays. The quarry’s current permit allows a processing volume of 5,000 m3 per annum, which is proposed to be increased to 20,000 m3 p.a. under the new permit. Figure 1 shows an aerial image of the quarry and surrounding area, with radii of 750m and 1000m marked approximately from the quarry boundary.

N

L K J

C I B D

H A 1000m G 750m

E

F

Figure 1: Aerial Image of Site and Surrounds CW Butler, trading as NVC A.B.N. 55 452 696 986 PO Box 476, Rosny Park, TAS 7018 t. 6244 5556 [email protected] LORDS QUARRY – NOISE ASSESSMENT

The quarry operation is to extract rock by ripping benches to produce stockpiles of product. Much of this product will be used without further processing, with the remainder to be processed on a campaign basis. A crushing contractor is to be employed over a three to five week period per year, to process the product via crushing and screening. The remainder of the year the operations will comprise only extracting raw product and loading from the various stockpiles for transport off site. For processing the quarry is expecting to use a primary jaw crusher, a secondary cone crusher, a mechanical screen, a loader and an excavator, with potential intermittent use of a vertical shaft impactor. When crushing is not occurring, the equipment will comprise of just an excavator and a loader. The operation is currently focused on the southern half of the quarry. The pit floor is beneath the natural ground level on the west, south and east sides of the quarry, which offers topographical screening to the residences. The quarry has also proposed a future expansion, involving new benching extending south from the existing pit. The first of these benches is to be at RL202, and day-lighting on the north-east and south- west edges of the ridge. Further benches will reduce the level to equal the existing quarry pit level. It is proposed that the crusher may sit on top of the new bench at some points, to expedite processing.

1.2 SURROUNDING AREA The immediate surrounds of the quarry are bush, and zoned as Rural Resource. There are a number of residences to the west and north of the quarry, in a combination of Significant Agricultural, Environmental Living and Rural Resource zones. There are no nearby residences to the east and south-east of the quarry. The Huon Valley Interim Planning Scheme 2015 specifies, in Table E9.1, an accepted attenuation distance of 750m between the boundary of a quarry which crushes rock and a ‘sensitive use’, such as a residential dwelling. Figure 1 shows an aerial view of the site and surrounding area, with the red and orange circles indicating radii of 825 m and 1075 m respectively from the site. The quarry operations are contained within a radius of approximately 75 m from the centre of site, and thus this distance is added to the attenuation distance. Six residential dwellings (locations A – F) have been identified within this region. Additionally, the EPA has requested all dwellings within 1000m of the site be considered in the assessment. The 1075 m radius represents this area. A further eight dwellings have been identified in this region, marked as locations G – L. Locations J and K each encompass two neighbouring residences. All residences have a combination of topographical and foliage screening from the quarry pit. 2.0 NOISE PREDICTIONS Sound power levels (PWL) for similar equipment have previously been measured by NVC, and are shown in Table 1. The PWL assigned to the crushing / screening plant was measured on a plant comprising a primary jaw and secondary cone crusher, as well as a mechanical screen. This equipment has been assigned a combined sound power level due to the nature and proximity of its operation. The front end loader PWL uses several measurements made while the loader was working with product. The excavator PWL was measured while ripping dolerite. The locations of the equipment for both the current configuration and the future expansion are also shown in Table 1. Table 1: Equipment in Use Sound Location in Model Power Equipment Type Current Configuration Future Expansion Level (dBA) Easting Northing Easting Northing Mechanical Screen / Crushers 119 506906 5230229 506976 5230128 Front End Loader 107 506858 5230213 506858 5230213 Track Excavator 106 506904 5230173 506987 5230078 Transport Trucks – B-Double 103 Access Road – See Figures 2 & 3

! 5636_02.docx Page 2 LORDS QUARRY – NOISE ASSESSMENT

Due to the number of receivers, noise predictions were completed using the noise prediction software iNoise, which implements the ISO9613 algorithms. The predictions account for spherical spreading, topographical screening, and air and ground absorption. The ground in the quarry is taken to be ‘hard’, with ‘mixed’ ground used for the remaining area out to the receiver. The predictions assume simultaneous operation of the equipment listed above. This is a worst-case scenario, which will only occur for up to 32 days per year. For the remainder of the year the quarry noise emissions will be significantly lower. In addition, an average of 8 truck movements per day are expected, with the number occasionally increasing to 30 if required. The predictions assume 30 truck movements per day. For the modelling of noise due to traffic movements on the Land, the access road is modelled as the section of road which lays on land parcels 126703/12 and 126703/10. Two scenarios are included in the predictions; the current operation, and the proposed future expansion. The worst-case scenario is modelled for the future expansion, with only the first bench cut, and the crusher on this bench. This configuration results in the least screening of both the crusher and the excavator from the residences – as the benches become lower the effective screening to the residences increases, and as such as the quarry progresses the noise levels are expected to decrease. The predicted noise levels at the receivers are shown in Table 2, and the noise contours for the two stages are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3, in appendix.

Table 2: Predicted Noise Levels Distance from Predicted Noise Level, SPL (dBA) Location Quarry (m) Current Layout Proposed Expansion A 445 40 39 B 560 35 35 C 710 37 37 D 710 38 39 E 710 37 40 F 710 32 34 G 805 37 39 H 890 37 38 I 845 36 37 J 760 27 28 K 930 35 36 L 960 32 33

3.0 CRITERIA To determine acceptable noise levels at the nearby residences, the EPA Tasmania Quarry Code of Practice 2017 is referred to. It defines the following pertaining to noise emissions: “Noise from quarrying and associated activities, including equipment maintenance, when measured at any neighbouring sensitive use must not exceed the greater of; - the A-weighted 10 minute L90, excluding noise from the quarry, plus 5 dBA, or, - the following levels; o 45 dBA from 0700 to 1900 hours(day time), o 40 dBA from 1900 to 2200 hours (evening), o 35 dBA from 2200 to 0700 hours (night time). ” Background noise levels near the quarry have not been measured, and as such the criterion during the day time is taken as 45 dBA. It should be noted that the measurement of background noise levels can only result in an increase of this criteria.

! 5636_02.docx Page 3 LORDS QUARRY – NOISE ASSESSMENT

4.0 ASSESSMENT The quarry operates within the day time period of 0700 to 1900 hours as defined in the Tasmanian Quarry Code of Practise, and therefore only day time operation is assessed. The predicted noise emissions from the quarry listed in Table 2 are significantly below the criterion at all nearby residences. The maximum predicted noise level at any residence is 40 dBA, which is still 5 dB below the criterion. Figure 4 and Figure 5 (in appendix) show, for the current layout and the proposed expansion respectively, the regions which are below the criteria in green, and those which are above in red. It may be seen that all residences fall well within the acceptable zone, and as such the noise emissions are considered acceptable at all nearby residences. It is noted that the proposed expansion results in a 1 dB increase in the predicted noise level at the majority of the residences (with the crusher on the top bench), with the biggest increase a change of 3 dB. Generally a 1dB difference is an imperceptible change, and 3dB a just perceptible change. The predicted noise emissions meet the Quarry Code of Practise noise criteria. In order to ensure that quarrying noise in the community is minimised, it is recommended that the existing bund on the western side of the quarry is maintained. If the crusher is located on the top bench, it is recommended that it is positioned to the east as far as practicable, to maximize screening to the residences on the western side of the quarry.

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to call this office directly. Yours faithfully

Jack Pitt

! 5636_02.docx Page 4 APPENDIX: Noise Contours LORDS QUARRY – NOISE ASSESSMENT

K L

J

C I B D

H A

G

E

F

Figure 2: Noise Contours - Current Layout ! 5636_02.docx Page 1 LORDS QUARRY – NOISE ASSESSMENT

K L

J

C I B D

H A

G

E

F

Figure 3: Noise Contours - Proposed Expansion ! 5636_02.docx Page 2 LORDS QUARRY – NOISE ASSESSMENT

K L

J

C I B

D

H A

G

E

F

Figure 4: Assessment Noise Contours - Current Layout ! 5636_02.docx Page 3 LORDS QUARRY – NOISE ASSESSMENT

K L

J

C I B

D

H A

G

E

F

Figure 5: Assessment Noise Contours - Proposed Expansion ! 5636_02.docx Page 4