A quarry company will have to try for a new permit or file an appeal after a federal appeals court rules in favor of the city of Osage Beach. 

Three years ago Magruder Limestone announced plans for a rock quarry near the joint sewer plant on Woodriver Road which is operated by the cities of Lake Ozark and Osage Beach.

The joint sewer board requested and was granted a hearing on the matter, and then protested the plans.  At the end of the hearing the department of natural resources, acting through the Land Reclamation Commission approved a permit for Magruder Limestone.

The city appealed the decision to the Western District Court of Appeals, stating that the argument in favor of the permit was invalid.  The sewer board said in its appeal that the Land Reclamation Commission put the burden of proof of safety on the city, when state policy says the burden of proof should fall on the quarry operator.

Osage Beach City Administrator Nancy Viselli says the decision from the appeals court was clear.

“Basically at the end it says that they reversed the commission’s decision to grant Magruder a permit and remand the cause for a new hearing," Viselli said. "So, actually, he will have to go back and apply for a new hearing."

"I would think that the ball is back in Magruder’s court if he wants to even pursue it."

Mark Magruder is the owner of Magruder Limestone.  The full decision from the court of appeals can be found online at www.osagebeach.org.