Edgefield County quarry moves past commission; state permitting yet to come down (2024)

State permitting has yet to come down, but the 70-year rock quarryproposed for southwestern Edgefield County gained the full, if resigned, backing of the Edgefield County planning commission May 9.

“They have met the requirements. They’ve checked all the boxes,” District 5-North Augusta commissioner Sharon Hadden said. “Do I like it? Not necessarily, but there’s not a whole lot we can do about it.”

The site that Virginia-based Luck Stone has picked out for its 600,000-ton-a-year crushed stone operation is located north of Woodlawn Road, near the McCormick County border, and is 435 acres of still un-zoned land.

The county is currently in the middle of a lawsuit over the planning commission’s rejection last summer of a proposed subdivision for similarly un-zoned land the Sweetwater area, and Edgefield County planning director Hart “Doc” Clark advised commissioners Thursday, “property rights are constitutional.”

“Zoning is the tool the state gives counties to regulate the use of land,” he said. “Basically, ‘un-zoned’ means, ‘yes, you have the freedom to do anything you want to on your land — but so does your neighbor.’”

Edgefield County citizens, particularly those who live on Woodlawn Road, this week urged county officials to stop the quarry before it gets started.

More than a dozen people spoke during the planning commission’s public hearing May 9. Two showed up at County Council on May 7, though the quarry wasn't on the council's agenda; and about 80 people came to Luck Stone’s own public information session the day prior, on May 6.

“Every way that I look at it from everything I've been able to research — the dust pollution, the noise pollution, the danger on that road… you add hundreds of dump trucks coming in and out, going around blind curves…” Nathan Pottinger illustrated for commissioners his own experience with Woodlawn Road, also pushing for the commission to reject the quarry on environmental grounds: “you add this thing that will permanently disfigure the landscape — it's going to be destructive for the views, for nature, for everything,” he said.

The traffic analysis for the quarry determined that Woodlawn would be minimally impacted, even when the quarry's first 10 years are expected to bring about 235 heavy trucks to it per day and, upon full operation, 345 of these haulers.

There hasn’t been enough time for citizens to learn about the proposal, to “really research this ourselves,” Beverly Boniewicz said.

“I know we’ve got growth coming, and I love the idea of something like this instead of one of those high-density housing projects, but I want to know how close the homes and farms are to where they’re going to be blasting,” Joyce Olive told Post and Courier North Augusta during the May 6 information session hosted by Luck Stone. “People that have moved here and bought land, they don’t need to have their windows rattling throughout the day.”

Christopher Carey was at all three forums this week — the information session, County Council and the planning commission.

“Morally, it is base to expect many people to suffer every day for 70 years for the financial benefit of very few people,” he told Council. “It is unfathomable that the entire community must be expected to accept this dangerous intrusion, this disruption to our already established homes and for it to be endured for the remains of our natural lives and possibly our children’s as well.”

Not that everyone is opposed. Billy Ryan, who was at the information session, told Post and Courier he used to live by an asphalt facility, and “I never knew the quarry was there unless I saw trucks going in and out. We had no problem — never heard nothing, no noise, nothing.”

“Go with it,” he said. “It puts growth in our community.”

If state permitting does get approved for the quarry, it would be an initial investment by Luck Stone of $40 million. The crushed stone that would come from it would be used in building foundations and infrastructure.

Katie Kosloski, Greenfield development manager for the company, earlier told Post and Courier North Augusta that beyond the cash poured into the quarry itself, Luck Stone intends to invest in Edgefield County “through active volunteerism and support of local nonprofits, schools and community focused organizations.”

The company is also not seeking any kind of financial incentive for the project, including any type of agreement for paying fees in lieu of taxes or for getting a break on water usage rates.

Edgefield County planning commissioners, though hesitant in their granting Luck Stonethe preliminary plat that wouldsupport the operation, indicated that if a mining business had to come to Edgefield County that they were content that it was this one.

Tracy Walsh, commissioner at large who lives in North Augusta, said Luck Stone goes “above and beyond,” invests in those communities where it’s already established itself and does what it can to maintain the natural environment.

Kosloski said a 1.2-mile trail along Stevens Creek would be added as part of the project and that 60% of the site's 435 acres would remain as open space.

“Our due diligence activities focus on understanding environmental, cultural and habitat attributes of the property,” she told Post and Courier. “These findings inform the design of the proposed site to ensure that our proposals include responsible actions for the uses and demonstrate that we will be good stewards of the land in support of the community.”

The development plan and its accompanying hydrological study show that mining operations would be relegated to two pits, the first one of 50 acres and the second of 43 acres, at the center of the property; with overburden (a mine’s waste material, itself recycled for streambed restoration) stored in berms surrounding those central pits.

Even the approval granted by the county this week is just “the first step in a lengthy process,” Kosloski said.

Should the permitting come down, something Kosloski said can be anywhere from a six- to 18-month process, the company is committed to long-term engagement with the county, including stakeholders and citizens, and that an engagement team will be formed to collect continual feedback and “hold us accountable on any promises made,” she said.

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