This story by Patrick Bilow was first published in the News & Citizen on Aug. 14, 2025.
As resident concerns linger about a proposed industrial park across from the Morrisville-Stowe Airport, a new wrinkle has drawn even more people to the opposition party — the possibility of exposure to silica, a potentially harmful rock dust, during construction.
Morrisville’s Manufacturing Solutions Inc. has been working for years to secure local and state permits to allow the development of a sprawling industrial park on an 89-acre parcel just off Route 100. According to local planning and zoning officials, it would be one of the largest developments of its kind in the region. Company management say it could help boost the local economy — if it ever comes to fruition.
Though many Morristown residents have yet to be convinced, and a groundswell of people spoke against the project at a development review board meeting in 2023, the application cleared local approval and is currently making its way through the state’s Act 250 land-use approval process.
Many residents, particularly those who abut the property, are making last ditch efforts to block the project from state approval. For two years, they’ve said the project at all phases will have a negative effect on the area’s appearance and community’s health.
During a Morristown Selectboard meeting last week, two residents — Thea Alvin and Kristin Fogdall — gave a presentation about the project to a packed room, focusing on new application materials that have surfaced as part of the Act 250 process. The thesis focused on silica, and the possibility of exposure to the dust during construction.
The first phase of the project would involve demolition of the knoll in the center of the property, allowing MSI to flatten out the land and maximize the footprint for the industrial park.
According to application materials, MSI would set up a temporary quarry to break down the knoll over a decade, crushing and trucking 49,000 tons of material each year. Morristown’s development review board approved the operation, but the exposure to silica comes as new information to residents.
As required by Act 250, the developer recently submitted a rock sample, which confirmed the presence of silica in the knoll. The mineral, when crushed into a fine powder, can become airborne, potentially causing lung and kidney disease and other respiratory illnesses for people who come in contact with it, according to some of those at last week’s meeting.
Following the presentation last week, several residents again spoke against the project.
“I’m very concerned about the health of our community,” Dacia Rockwood, a nurse at Copley Hospital and neighbor to the project, said. “I see patients everyday with (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and cancer … and this is putting everybody at a huge risk for new or worsening problems.”
For Rockwood, the potential health impacts from silica exposure hits close to home. Her husband and son both have a genetic kidney disease, and last year her husband received a kidney transplant.
“To think his new kidney is at risk of failing because of our proximity to this is very upsetting,” Rockwood said. “We will probably have to move, and nobody will buy our property because of this project.”
Rockwood echoed the presenters, stating, “I didn’t move next door to this project; it moved next door to me.”
Patrick Towne, another neighbor to the project, agreed.
“There’s just no way I’m going to get away from the dust from this project,” Towne said. “I’ve been sick to my stomach over this project because of all the problems it’s going to cause.”
According to application documents, MSI plans to wet down the area during extraction to reduce the amount of dust, but everyday enforcement over 10 years could prove difficult. Selectboard member Laura Streets was sensitive to concerns about enforcement, stating there’s no way the town could always have someone on site.
MSI founder and CEO Garret Hirchak was invited to last week’s meeting, but the selectboard instead read a statement from his lawyer Chris Roy. In 2021, Hirchak purchased 437 acres behind the airport and only 89 of those acres are proposed for the industrial park. The knoll lies on an even smaller fraction of that land — 27 acres.
During an interview after last week’s meeting, Alvin, who presented at the selectboard meeting on the threat of silica exposure, questioned why demolishing the knoll is even necessary.
“How important is this one corner of that land that we need to put the entire community at risk?” Alvin said.
She also rebuked MSI’s classification of a temporary quarry operation. “How is 10 years of our lives temporary?”
Roy, MSI’s lawyer, pointed to the allowed used of MSI’s property, which was zoned as “light industrial” more than a decade ago, when new development at the airport was taking shape, a project that has since stalled.
According to Act 250 documents and Roy’s statement, MSI is interested in maximizing the footprint of the land, and extracting rock from the knoll will allow the company to generate initial revenue to fund the remainder of the project.
Although the project has advanced to Act 250 review and a hearing is still open, residents last week urged the selectboard to speak up, particularly if the developer mischaracterized the project in the initial development review board hearing.
As a stakeholder in the project, the board has interested party status and can submit testimony on behalf of the community, even to dispute previous local decisions.
The selectboard last week agreed to send a letter highlighting resident concerns. The board will draft the letter at its next regular meeting on August 18.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the weight of material MSI would be breaking down.
