WORTHINGTON — Citizens voiced concerns Thursday night with the state Department of Environmental Protection and Amerikohl Mining about a proposed strip mining site.

They spoke at a DEP hearing at the Worthington-West Franklin Fire Hall.

The proposed 194-acre strip mine site in Donegal Township near Buffalo Creek and the Hickey Bottom Wetlands has some people worried about the future condition of the surrounding nature and wildlife, including one of the few sites where the endangered Massasauga Rattlesnake can thrive.

Water and air quality concerns were mentioned by just about all of the six speakers who addressed DEP officials. They also asked about how effective the reclamation efforts would be, how property values would be affected and how much traffic would be generated by the mine.

A mining site would hit Roger and Gloria Wenzel of Chicora particularly hard. When they opened their 26-acre alpaca farm in 2006, peace and quiet on their property was one of their priorities.

But with the possibility of a strip mine abutting their property, they’re concerned about how it could affect them, particularly their alpaca business, Old Point Alpaca Park.

“I’m afraid our tourism will go down from the noise, the blasting from the mine,” Roger Wenzel said.

The possibility of soot in the air blowing onto his property is another concern.

“I’m really afraid the processing cost to clean up the fleece will cut into our profit,” he said.

Amerikohl filed a mining permit in July with the DEP. The state agency either will approve or deny the project within 130 business days of the submission. DEP will likely make a decision on the project by December or January.

“From this, we will take all of the testimony and make a comment and response document,” said Lorraine Odenthal, chief of technical services and permitting at DEP. “We’ll take into consideration all of the issues raised here.”

John Saugrich, vice president of operations at Amerikohl, assured those who live close by that the company will try to be a good neighbor.

The mine will be open during daylight hours, during the week and on Saturday for maintenance work.

When residents asked about local residents getting jobs there, Saugrich said there wouldn’t be any new hires. Seven miners, a superintendent and an engineer would be working on the site. Saugrich also said there would be between 20 and 40 truckloads of coal transported each day, and that the company would maintain roads worn by the truck traffic.

Between the two seams of coal that are proposed to be mined, there is 72.6 acres of coal in the lower seam and 51.7 acres of coal in the upper seam, with overlap between the two.

If the project is approved, Amerikohl estimates the site would be up and running within six months to a year. The project will probably take about two years between retrieving the coal and reclaiming the land.

About a dozen residents attended the hearing. Amerikohl has its headquarters in Center Township.