An April Fool’s Day event in Plymouth will focus on sand mining at the Cedarville Conservation Area. All are welcome to join an awareness raising picket from 8 to 10 a.m. at 71 Hedges Pond Road.
Until January, the Cedarville Conservation Area was a globally rare pine barrens forest. It is a Native American historic site. Town Hall claims digging a 90-foot-deep hole across the 33 acres is merely “incidental” sand mining under the town’s earth removal regulations. They say after mining $12 million in sand, the developer will bring the town tax revenue and jobs with a five-building, 300,000-square-foot “unified complex” business park. Except there are no specific plans for this. Sound familiar? In 2022, the town, including current Select Board members, fooled the public with another “unified complex” for a manufacturing complex on Route 3. Almost four years later we are left with a fifteen-acre 70-foot hole for all to see. About $15 million in sand is gone. This is tax revenue and good paying jobs for residents? We won’t be fooled again.
– Meg Sheehan