Lavonia Couple Working to “Stop the Rock Quarry”

While no formal applications have been made to the County by Vulcan Materials to put in a rock quarry on acreage off Highway 59 in Lavonia, citizens living near the proposed site are still worried it might actually happen; especially those who live close by.

Now there’s an effort by one couple to keep the issue in the spotlight.

If you live in and around the Highway 59 area of Lavonia and Gumlog you might have seen signs along the roadside that say, “Stop the Rock Quarry.”

The signs were put there by Brian and Rene’ Duncan and their neighbors, who would be living next door to the proposed quarry on 59 if it goes in.

The Duncans live in the Bradford Place subdivision off Highway 59, which is right next to the old Milliken property where Vulcan Materials plans to put in a rock quarry.

Vulcan purchased the 250 acres in June from Milliken.

So far, Vulcan has not filed for a conditional use permit or a rezoning application, but Brian Duncan said he believes that at some point they will and he wants concerned citizens living near the site to be aware of the Company’s plans.

“We’re just trying to get everybody aware that they’ve actually even bought it,” he said. “It’s going to come. They’re going to ask for rezoning. We just don’t know when.”

He said one of the County Commissioners told him that these companies come in and, “They just try to wear you down. That’s their whole tactic. They’ll just wear, wear until you give in.”

“I’m like, ‘that’s not what we’re doing. I hope that’s not what your intentions are.’ He just sounded like, ‘we’ll fight it as long as we can but eventually, it’s going to come because that’s what they do.’ I didn’t like that,” he said.

Duncan said he put a petition on the Advance Franklin County FB page but it got pushed down by other announcements. That petition is also now posted on his Facebook page, Brian Duncan

Vulcan Materials also owns a quarry in Jackson County. Duncan said he and his wife recently went to look at the quarry and were upset by what they found.

“We actually rode by there and it’s owned by Vulcan. I don’t think they even use it anymore. It’s all grown up. There are ruts washed all through the property. The gate was open. We drove up as far as I felt comfortable driving and it’s horrible. It’s just wasted land. I didn’t see any equipment there. There was a dirt road right before the property.  There used to be some mobile homes there but it looked like they were abandoned. The Amazon and Walmart distribution centers are right there in that industrial area but there are no homes near there,” Duncan recalled.

Another concern among citizens living near the proposed site for the Vulcan rock quarry is blasting.

Local businessman and former Franklin County Commissioner David Strickland has one of Duncan’s signs in his yard and is against the quarry going in.

He said he had a relative that worked at a Vulcan quarry in Gwinnett County and said blasting would cause rock and dirt to be flung so high into the air they would have to let Hartsfield International know.

“This was years back and he would tell me that they would actually call the Atlanta airport and let them know when they were blasting because the rocks would go so high up and that was a flight path,” Strickland said.

Strickland added that could mean rocks and debris from blasting could be landing in people’s properties; especially with homes so close to where the Company plans to blast.

Vulcan Materials held a meet and greet for citizens living near the old Milliken property last month.

Jimmy Flemming, VP of Permitting and External Affairs for Vulcan Materials said the meet and greet was the first step towards allaying the concerns of those who will be living near the quarry.

Flemming said he did not know when the Company would begin filing for the conditional use permit and rezoning.

He did say, however, that the Company is willing to hold more meetings with the public to discuss their concerns before proceeding further.