Explanation
Background: This Ordinance authorizes the Director of the Department of Finance and Management to enter into a Underground Limestone Mining Lease with Columbus Limestone, Inc. (CLI) a subsidiary of Shelly Materials, Inc., for subsurface (underground) mining of limestone and other minerals under the City owned property, containing approximately 52 acres, located at 2500 Jackson Pike, Columbus Ohio. CLI currently operates an "open pit" mine on its property adjacent to this site. This lease will allow CLI to continue their mining operations in this area without necessitating disturbance of the ground surface or creating interference with the above ground uses of the City's property. Portions of the surface ground of this same location are leased to the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO).
The feasibility of limestone mining at this location has been under discussion among the interested parties for several years. Initially, the City authorized CLI to conduct "open pit" type mining activities on a portion of its 2500 Jackson Pike property. After further discussions among the parties and before any mining activities commenced, it became apparent that surface mining of the site limits any expanded mining operation on the site. The ability to expand mining operations is in the best interest of both the City and CLI. Based on these discussions, SWACO agreed that it no longer wished to be involved in the leasing of the mineral rights and released its right to sublease the mineral rights to CLI.
Subsurface or underground mining via the "room and pillar" method is the preferred method for extraction of limestone and other minerals as it does not disturb the surfaces uses of the property and creates the opportunity to develop the subsurface mined area for an underground storage facility upon the cessation of mining activities. The storage facility will potentially have commercially leasable space which would provide a future revenue source for th...
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