The Gloucester County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing tonight to consider a proposed Conditional Use Permit sought by Waste Management for a “surface mineral mine.”

The meeting will begin at 7 o’clock in the colonial courthouse.

The parcel of land in question, 60 acres off Pampa Road, is currently zoned Suburban Countryside (RC-1), which does not allow such uses by right.

The surface mineral mine in question will be a “borrow pit,” which is a storage pit for soil for “use in WM’s daily operations at the landfill on Tax Map 9, Parcel 60,” Planning and Zoning documents explain.

East and west of the landfill are residential areas and farmland borders it on the north side of the parcel. The borrow pit for soil, if approved, would be constructed next to an already existent sand mining operation.

Included in proffers is the maintaining of a 50-foot buffer area between said pit and any neighboring residential property. As no ...