Maple Hill, NC Says "No" to Martin Marietta 1,800 Acre Quarry

Unlike Shelby County, Alabama and the Town of Vincent who are willing to sell out to rock miners at every turn and who see no harm in losing productive farmland, this community had enough chutzpah to say "no" to an 1,800 acre quarry. Bravo!


Decision Made in Rock Quarry
JD News, Jacksonville, NC
By: Lindel Kay
Harris Creek Road resident Wade Brown said Wednesday he was glad to see Martin Marietta didn’t hit pay dirt in Maple Hill.

The Onslow County Zoning Board of Adjustment voted down a special-use permit request by the national mining company to build a 1,800-acre rock quarry off N.C. 50.

Martin Marietta argued the limestone mine would present no health risks and would not bother neighbors. Many of those neighbors, about 100 people in all, attended Tuesday’s meeting with several of them telling the board they didn’t want the quarry in their proverbial backyard.

Brown said he had lived his entire life in the Maple Hill area.

“Martin Marietta cannot buy my happiness with money,” he said. “I built this house with these hands.”

Heidi Cronin, a 30-year real estate agent who lives in the area, said she believed the quarry would have had a negative impact on her property values. She said the rock quarry would have meant buyers wouldn’t purchase property in the area.

Board member Alex Wood said he felt strongly that the real estate evidence presented by Martin Marietta’s experts was fabricated to the extent it did not include information on foreclosures or buyouts of properties surrounding other Martin Marietta quarries. He also felt their studies purposely ignored land closest to roads where mining activity was obvious for property on the peripheral of the operations.

Legrand Lanier, owner of a 220-acre hog farm with a clay-lined lagoon that cost $1 million to build in 1992 and is under moratorium now, said his farm was 200 feet from the proposed mine.“I’ve been neutral,” he said. “I haven’t attended any of the meetings.”

But he opposed the mine because lagoons are fragile and he was concerned about any possible sinkholes that might cause a waste spill. He said he was also concerned about how the noise from heavy blasting would affect his animals.

“I send 2,000 pigs a week to other farms in Duplin and Sampson counties,” he said, adding that his farm branches off to six nurseries which each branch off again.

In order to receive the permit, Martin Marietta had to prove to the board that the quarry would not endanger public health, would meet required specifications, would not injure property values and would be in harmony with the surrounding area.

The Board voted that Martin Marietta met the first two requirements, but failed to meet the last two conditions. The company has 30 days to file a court appeal.

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