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Lee County residents combat quarry with zoning

<p>Signs opposing the quarry can be found throughout Beulah on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020, in Beulah, Ala.</p>

Signs opposing the quarry can be found throughout Beulah on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020, in Beulah, Ala.

In response to the proposed granite quarry in Beulah, the Lee County Commission unanimously voted to allow zoning of the affected area. Residents of Lee County’s Beat 13 will have the opportunity to vote on adding zoning on May 18.

The addition of zoning could prohibit a quarry or other industrial uses for land in the area.

Residents of Beat 13 signed a petition asking for zoning changes. Of the 2,656 registered landowning voters in the Beat, 15%, or 399 signatures, were required for the petition to be submitted. The petition received 633 signatures, 445 of which have been verified.

The May 18 zoning special election will only be available for voters who are registered in and live in Beat 13. It will consist of one question related to zoning.

During the Lee County Commission meeting on Jan. 11, three residents spoke to the Commission about stopping the quarry from being built. They set up the zoning petition and spent a day in January gathering the signatures required.

Probate Judge Bill English said he has asked for a proposal from the law office that represented the City of Opelika in its quarry dispute last year. He did not mention obtaining a lawyer in the most recent Commission meeting.

When CreekWood Resources was planning a quarry on the northern border of Opelika, they pulled out of the project shortly after applying for permits from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, which was going to require a public hearing.

CreekWood has applied for permits with ADEM for the current project and has requested a public hearing. ADEM has not yet scheduled a time or location for a public hearing.

According to the permits requested on Dec. 4, the quarry’s construction is planned to begin sometime this summer and operation will begin in the fall. The site will be able to mine granite, then sort and crush it to be used in construction applications.

“Two entities have entered this county and have played havoc on the people of this community,” said resident Tara Brumfield. “The two entities are CreekWood Resources, represented by Jeff Majors, and Weyerhaeuser.”

CreekWood cited the water basin of the Saugahatchee Creek as their reason for pulling out of the Opelika quarry project, Brumfield said. The Beulah quarry is planned to sit on the Halawakee Creek, which is connected to the water supply for Opelika, and parts of Lee County and Auburn.

Brumfield asked that the Committee compares CreekWood’s claims about noise and traffic to what has been observed at the quarry in Loachapoka.

“We all fear lower property values, structure damage to our homes, drying of streams, creeks and drinking wells, water pollution, noise [and] increased heavy trucks,” Brumfield said. “[The site] is already in a very well populated and congested area.”

On Jan. 22, CreekWood Resources sent a letter to English to address concerns presented in previous meetings. The letter states the quarry will be no closer than 1,000 feet to Halawakee Creek and water used in the quarry will be directed towards six storage ponds onsite. In addition, water will be sprayed to control dust.

CreekWood expects six to eight truckloads of rock to leave the quarry every hour, with roughly 80% of them using Highway 29 to get to I-85. The primary exit to the quarry will be on Highway 29, with an entrance on Lee Count Road 177 only being used in case of an emergency.

According to the letter, the quarry will operate during “normal business hours,” five or six days per week. CreekWood does not plan to operate at night, but they did not negate the possibility in the future.

The quarry will be blasted on average twice per month. Blasting materials will not be stored onsite, instead being delivered on the day of the blast. CreekWood plans to offer nearby homeowners the option to have their homes inspected by a third-party engineer to record the pre-existing condition of the building at no cost to the homeowner.

“It is not uncommon to co-locate an asphalt plant and/or ready-mix concrete plant near a quarry,” the letter reads. “Should facilities such as these be located at the proposed Shady Grove Quarry, they will most likely be owned by companies other than CreekWood, however, their activities will be monitored by CreekWood to assure their compliance with environmental standards as well as ensuring that their activities are in keeping with acceptable community standards.”

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Charlie Ramo | Content Editor

Charlie Ramo, junior in aerospace engineering, is the content editor of The Auburn Plainsman.

@byCharlieRamo


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