Vulcan Materials to Hold Second Meet & Greet at Site of Planned Granite Quarry

Vulcan Materials is planning another drop-in meeting for the public on the grounds of the old Milliken Plant on Highway 59 in Lavonia.

The drop-in will take place on Tuesday, May 17 from 3p to 7p.

This is the second drop-in meeting by Company officials since last fall when they held the first one last October.

Most who attended that event told WLHR News they are very concerned about the plan and are worried mainly about the truck traffic and the noise.

Since then, at least one grassroots group has formed to fight Vulcan’s plan, and Stop the Rock Quarry signs can be seen all along Highway 59, Highway 328/Gumlog Road, and throughout the town of Lavonia.

Ray Lawhead is one citizen against the rock quarry’s location citing environmental hazards as well as health risks to people living nearby.

Lawhead, a retired cardiac oncologist who lives on Lake Hartwell says he’s not against Vulcan but against the location of the quarry so near to residential areas.

“I would say there is no place for a toxic industry in a residential community and next to a thriving small town,” he said. “There’s absolutely no place for a toxic industry in that setting.”

In a press release sent Monday, the Company again says it plans to operate a rock quarry on part of the 250-acres and the second meeting is to again assure citizens of Franklin County, the City of Lavonia, and surrounding counties are fully informed of their plans.

Jimmy Flemming, VP of Permitting and External Affairs for Vulcan Materials said this is another effort to meet with the public to address their concerns and answer their questions.

“At the first one we said we would provide another opportunity for people to come and ask questions and we would again try to provide answers,” he said Tuesday. “There have been some perhaps some minor tweaks to the plan but for the most part, it’s pretty much the same plan that we’ve had. The weather was good the last time. We’ve had bouts of COVID and bad weather in winter since then. So, we feel like this is a good time to just have another one of these events to try and answer questions.”

So far, Vulcan has still not filed for any permits or submitted any rezoning applications with Franklin County Planning and Zoning.  However, Flemming said they’re hoping to do that in the coming months.

“I don’t know that we have a firm timeline,” he said. “To a certain degree, these types of meetings help us determine what that timeline would be. We would like to look toward making a decision and filing a permit sometime soon, this summer or this fall,” he said.

Meantime, the Planning and Zoning Board will hold their regular meeting on Thursday, May 19 at 6:30p where they will hear from P&Z Director Scott DeLozier.

DeLozier will unveil the proposed Unified Development Code, which contains a section specifically for rock quarries inside Franklin County in Section 3-149.

However, many of those opposed to the Vulcan granite quarry say quarries of any kind should be banned from Franklin County altogether.

Again, the second meet and greet by Vulcan takes place Tuesday, May 17 from 3p to 7p at the proposed quarry site on Highway 59 in Lavonia.