Neighbors Join Rock Quarry Fight
Posted: November 6, 2009 at 8:14 a.m.
FAYETTEVILLE — Neighbors of a proposed rock quarry west of Fayetteville want to intervene in an appeal of the county’s decision to deny the project.
“Basically, we’re intervening to make sure that the county participates in the way we think they should,” Dave Bolen said.
The group thinks the county did the right thing denying the Rogers Group a conditional-use permit for a quarry.
“The health, welfare, safety and property values of the intervenors is, and will be, affected and impaired by the expansion of the existing dirt pit into a quarry,” according to the motion fi led Thursday afternoon in Washington County Circuit Court.
The neighbors maintain the Rogers Group and its predecessors operated an illegal dirt pit and quarry on the site. They say the county Planning Board was right to deny a conditionaluse permit for a quarry on the site because adequate utilities, roads, drainage and other services are not available in the area.
Neighbors also say a quarry is incompatible with the surrounding area.
Bolen, Marian Bolen, Roma Gray, Don Johnson, Debbie Johnson, Michael Luna, Carlton Huitt and Janas Ward are listed as intervenors.
The case is scheduled for a bench trial Jan. 15.
The issue of mining and quarrying blew up beginning in late 2008 when the Big Red Dirt Farm just outside west Fayetteville asked to convert to a limestone quarry. The red dirt operation was grandfathered in because it existed before zoning, but the change of use required county approval.
The planning board rejected the request, but the Quorum Court granted the changeover on appeal. Neighbors sued, and the case is pending in court.
Shortly after, Rogers Group asked to expand their 45-acre quarry just north of Big Red into a neighboring 100-acre dirt pit. The planning board and Quorum Court both rejected the expansion, and the company sued.
The Fayetteville City Council recently passed an ordinance limiting rock and red dirt mining operations in the city and areas within one mile of the city limits. The regulations would e◊ect the Rogers Group pit and the Big Red Dirt Farm. The pit operators have said they’ll appeal.
News, Pages 5 on 11/06/2009
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