Grace Pacific Corp. yesterday received a special use permit for expansion of the Makakilo Quarry from the state Land Use Commission, the last major hurdle for the company's ambitious plans to not only increase its excavation by 20 percent, but to extend the life of the rock-mining operations by 25 years. The vote was 6-0.

The company, which is seeking the expansion because it is running out of aggregate to mine, now only needs to receive a conditional use permit from the city Department of Planning and Permitting, an administrative procedure.

A spokesman for the company said Grace Pacific expects to receive the conditional use permit "hopefully before the end of the year" and then begin work on the new side early next year.

Grace Pacific has managed to quell much of the opposition from Kapolei-Makakilo residents by promising to address concerns about dust pollution, noise, truck traffic and view planes. Among the main concessions is the decision to move all of its operations makai of H-1 Freeway, near several Kapolei neighborhoods, and into the pit of the quarry at a cost of about $40 million by the end of 2012.

But a handful of area residents yesterday continued to voice reservations about the project in testimony to the Land Use Commission, primarily about the potential impact of pollutants on the health of area residents from a hot-mix asphalt site that is planned for the pit of the quarry.

The commission chose to tack on additional conditions on the permit, including additional monitoring and reporting requirements for the company, to meet the concerns of neighbors, commission executive director Dan Davidson said.

The company already has been planning to relocate its hot-mix asphalt plant, one of the most contentious issues for neighbors, to Campbell Industrial Park by the end of the year, company spokesman Shane Peters said.

But Greg Peterson, president of the Villages of Kapolei Community Association board of directors, submitted written testimony pointing out that Grace Pacific intends to put up a a new hot-mix asphalt plant in the middle of the quarry in three years.

Peterson said that while association board rescinded its original opposition to the entire project after the company made a number of concessions, "we do want to go on record as being opposed to building a new asphalt plant in the upper quarry."

Peters said the hot-mix asphalt plant will be located in the quarry pit, is surrounded by 300 acres of buffer and will only operate during the day. Nighttime hot-mix asphalt plant operations will continue from the Campbell Industrial Park location, he said.

Other Kapolei residents submitted testimony opposing the project, including Kapolei residents Mark and Sara Schnabel.

"When the quarry started in 1973, the site was remote from urban development and the quarry operations went unnoticed for well over 20 years," the Schnabels wrote. "Today, the quarry is surrounded by booming development ..."

Testimony for the expansion came from several labor groups who cited the growing need for aggregate on O'ahu and the worry that a shortage will increase building costs for the island's construction projects.