HARTWICK - The Hartwick town planning board gave a ten-acre gravel mine a negative declaration during its environmental review of the project Tuesday night.

The negative declaration in the State Environmental Quality Review process indicates the planning board did not believe the project would have a significant adverse impact on the environment.

The mine would be located off Route 28, south of Pop's Place drive-in, on an 80-acre parcel owned by the applicant Scott Ubner, of Fly Creek.

Ubner was represented during the meeting by Jon McManus, an assistant project engineer with Lamont Engineers.

McManus explained that the project is outside the 100-year flood plain and will not impact wetlands on the property. They plan, he said, to keep excavation away from the wetlands.

The proposal calls for the extraction of 800,000 cubic yards of gravel over the life of the mine, which is estimated to be 15 to 20 years, McManus said.

The ten-acre mine area will be reclaimed and replanted as a meadow according to requirements that are a part of the Department of Environmental Conservation's permitting process. Topsoil removed prior to the start of mining will be saved for the reclamation work.

The project includes screening and crushing the material from the mine and muddy water from those activities will be held in an on-site retention area. According to McManus, no discharge permit is required.

The mine will be located away from Route 28 and McManus said he would be surprised if people could hear the mining activities from Route 28.

The planning board declared lead agency status, but McManus said it is not uncommon for the DEC to take that role because of the agency's permitting process.

"If they have no problem with the site, I don't see them contesting lead agency status," he said.

Often the planning board will hold a public hearing on a site plan application, but decided to waive the hearing following a request from McManus.

He explained to the board the DEC will advertise the Ubner's permit application and have a public comment period that will last from 30 to 45 days. That, he said, should provide plenty of opportunity for the public to express their opinions.

"I would be more concerned if it was a bigger project with a bigger impact, but there's a minimum of traffic and minimum of noise," board member Orrin Higgins. "I think it's sufficient if the state has there's."

The planning board will forward the site plan application to the Otsego County planning board for its required review of the proposal.