The Jackson County Board of Commissioners wasted no time Monday night, Nov. 18, in denying a big mining company’s bid to install a granite quarry in a 900-acre tract in the southern part of the county.
After a two-hour public hearing, commissioners rejected Vulcan Materials Company’s request for special permits in a series of eight quick 5-1 votes—one vote for each of the eight land parcels that were to be combined for the quarry operation.
The land now is mainly forested with some wetlands, partly bordered by the North Oconee River, and is designated rural and conservation in Jackson County’s land characterization map. Downstream of the site, the North Oconee is Athens-Clarke County’s main water source.
Only retiring Commission Chairman Tom Crow voted in favor of granting the special use permits Vulcan was requesting. District commissioners Jim Hix, Chas Hardy, Ty Clack, Marty Seagraves and Cole Elrod each voted, without comment, to deny. The county’s planning commission had earlier voted to recommend denial, as had the fast-growing county’s professional planning staff.
About 100 people attended the meeting, most of them there to oppose the quarry and many wearing lime green T-shirts bearing “Stop the Rock Quarry” slogans. The crowd applauded after each vote.
The commission’s denial might not be the end of Vulcan’s quest, however. The site is favorably positioned for Vulcan to supply granite products such as gravel in what is one of the state and nation’s fastest-developing regions.
“It’s great that we got this result tonight, but we know this is not the end of the fight,” said Jackson County resident Randy Durham, one of the leaders of the opposition movement.
“Vulcan is not going to go away,” he added, predicting the company would challenge the commission’s decision in court.
Lawyer David Ellison, who presented Vulcan’s case, warned commissioners that denying the request based on some of the opponents’ objections, such as environmental concerns, could violate Georgia law and Vulcan’s right to due process. “Don’t be governed by the general will, be governed by the rule of law,” he said.
“We believe we have the legal right to approval,” he said at another point in his presentation. Immediately after the votes, Ellison had no comment.
Vulcan launched an informal campaign to gain public and official favor for the project well over a year ago, meeting informally with residents and county leaders, and in September had staged an elaborate open house event outlining the company’s plans for the quarry and the benefits it would bring to the county, including cash payments to county government. The quarry would provide a buffer between land in industrial use to its south and rural areas above it, according to the company.
Only a small part of the land, just off U.S. Highway 441 north of Athens, was to be used for the actual quarry, and 200 acres nearby would be set aside along nearby Chandler Bridge Road. “We’re preserving the rural character of this area,” Ellison told commissioners. Most of the land would be left undisturbed, according to the company proposal.
The proposal ignited widespread and intense public opposition, not only in Jackson County but in neighboring Clarke County, including a letter of opposition from the Athens-Clarke County government. Several conservation groups also went on record in opposition. More than 1,500 people had signed a petition opposing the quarry by the time of Monday’s meeting.
Opponents noted maps that label the area as an important groundwater recharge area, with a significant part of it in floodplain and wetland. The quarry could impact the already impaired North Oconee River with toxins and reduced water flow, would have traffic impacts nearby with hundreds of gravel trucks entering and leaving the quarry six days a week, and the dust it would generate could affect air quality, they said. Property values would decline for the quarry’s neighbors, Sarah Sutherland, another opposition leader, warned commissioners.
“We have the ability to approve a conditional use, but it doesn’t mean we should,” said former Jackson County Planning Commission chair Tim Cornelison, speaking for the opposition. Instead, the commission should be good neighbors and protect area water resources, he said. “This is a significant groundwater recharge area,” he said.
Another speaker against the quarry proposal, University of Georgia hydrologist Todd Rasmussen, said he was “horrified” at the lack of scientific investigation in the proposal Vulcan submitted to county officials.
Studies conducted by Vulcan showed that the area is not a recharge area because of underlying solid granite, however, according to Ellison. And concerns about dust and toxins possibly entering groundwater and river water are unfounded, based on theory and not facts, he told commissioners. “Everything you’ve heard is based on conjecture, hearsay or their beliefs,” Ellison said.
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