NEGAUNEE — The Negaunee Township Planning Commission is holding a public hearing at 5:30 tonight at the Negaunee Township Hall to gather feedback on a request to expand operations at a gravel pit on County Road 510.

Kona Ridge Mining, LLC has requested a special use to expand operations to an adjacent parcel where they would blast, extract, grind and wash gravel Negaunee Township Supervisor Gary Wommer said in a phone interview Monday.

“We are going to set up as much visual stuff as we can, and the planning commission, and a representative from the company will be there to answer questions,” Wommer said.

The company currently extracts gravel from its existing pit and crushes it,

Wommer said the public hearing was published in The Mining Journal, and the property owners within 300 feet were notified individually including the Upper Peninsula Power Company because the operation is near one of its hydro-electric facilities.

“We’ve notified UPPCO because of the dam there that they have concerns about on the McClure Basin,” Wommer said.

The planning commission is not expected to make a decision on the permit tonight, Wommer said. The purpose of the hearing is strictly to inform the public about the details of the request and gather feedback.

“When they (the members of the planning commission) come to their decision, they will make a recommendation,” Wommer said. “From there it will be up to the township board.”

The township approved the initial conditional use permit for the existing site December 2015.

According to Dec. 8, 2015 planning commission minutes the township was to receive a financial guarantee of $3,000 per acre for the 30-acre Natural Resource Extraction Area.