Marcia Comer of Greenbank is celebrating a small victory and catching her breath.

For Comer, a vocal critic of Rempel Brothers Concrete and its proposed plan for a 100-acre gravel pit in her neighborhood, Island County’s rejection of the company’s application on Friday gave her and others along Ellwood Drive a little bit of breathing room.

Comer said she will now form a coalition of other affected neighborhoods in the area and conduct research before Rempel Brothers reapplies to expand its pit again. County officials rejected the company’s permit application last week, saying Rempel Brothers had not lived up to restrictions placed years ago on its existing mining operation.

“It’s really good now because it will allow us some time to research and figure out what we’re doing, because I am sure they will be returning,” Comer said.

“One of the main things we’re going to be doing is attempting to notify the people in the other neighborhoods that will be potentially impacted,” she said.

Rempel Brothers had hoped to expand its mining operation by 100 acres and filed an application with the county on Nov. 2. The expansion proposal led to a raucous outcry by Comer and others on Whidbey Island. Many said they were worried the county was fast tracking the company’s application and disregarding potential environmental impacts that could come from an expanded mining operation on Central Whidbey.

Rempel Brothers had planned to mine 10 million tons of gravel and sand from the property.

Last week, county officials said the company had not followed through on creating a vegetation buffer around its current mining operation and did not install required fences at the site. Other problems that violated a county-issued conditional use permit from 1976 when the mine first opened were also noted.

County officials discovered the problems during a visit to the gravel pit on Dec. 6.

Rempel Brothers Concrete Inc., which has owned the mine since 1992, has run afoul of other regulations in the past, as well. It paid $23,000 in penalties to the State Department of Ecology for two separate surface water violations in 1997 and 1999.

The company’s performance record throughout its ownership of the mine has upset its neighbors.

“What I would like to see is a coalition of the different neighborhoods involved because I don’t think ours is going to be the only one affected by a long ways,” Comer said.

“The public outcry made a difference,” she added.

Comer said she expected the company to submit a new permit application before new rules restricting activity near wetlands are adopted by the county

“I expect they will be moving very quickly,” she said.

Spencer Webster can be reached at 221-5300 or swebster@south

whidbeyrecord.com.