Lawyers make all sorts of legal arguments. It’s a big part of their job.
On Tuesday, a lawyer representing the proposed Pancras Road rock quarry made the legal argument that county commissioners in Baldwin County have no legal authority to stop any rock quarry project in Baldwin County.
It all comes down to zoning designations, or a lack thereof, according to attorney Jeff Haymore.
“Every land owner in Baldwin County currently enjoys the ownership of their land, without any zoning restriction,” Haymore said during a public meeting hosted by the county commissioners on Tuesday.
The city of Milledgeville has zoning designations – Residential, Commercial, Industrial, etc. In fact, most counties in Georgia have zoning designations. However, unincorporated Baldwin County has no zoning designations.
Haymore also strongly indicated that any rock quarry-related moratorium would be struck down in court.
“Any attempt to apply the current or any proposed moratorium like the one before you tonight would be discriminatory in intent and fruitless,” he said.
Instead of zoning designations, unincorporated Baldwin County has a hodgepodge of land-use rules. According to the attorney who spoke Tuesday, state law (the Georgia Surface Mining Act) would supersede any of the land-use codes in Baldwin County.
So, how is the dynamic in Baldwin County different than Putnam County, where a rock quarry is proposed on Dennis Station Road? Well, Putnam County has zoning designations, and the site of the proposed rock quarry on Dennis Station Road currently is zoned “agricultural.” In order for that rock quarry to be greenlit, the Putnam County Planning & Zoning board would have to recommend a change from “agricultural” to “industrial-manufacturing,” and the county commissioners in Putnam then would have to approve the recommendation.
Haymore spoke first, and he was the only person on the agenda to speak in favor of the rock quarry.
Fifteen different people, most wearing red, then spoke in opposition of the quarry. Claudia Headrick was among the speakers, telling commissioners that an online petition titled “Stop the quarry on Pancras Rd.” now has more than 400 signatures.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, county commissioners voted to extend its moratorium on “the acceptance of applications and the issuance of land disturbance permits, variances, licenses...related to uses or activities associated with mining sites and the removal of minerals and natural materials from the earth.” That decision was received with loud applause in the audience.
Two rock quarries currently are proposed in Baldwin County, one at 531 Pancras Road and one at 241 Avery Store Road, located off Ga. 212.
The description for the land use permit filed about the Pancras Road project reads: “Construction and development of an aggregate quarry for the extraction, crushing and processing of rock for use in construction materials.”
The developers also are proposing “an open mine pit, overburden/waste/ spoilage piles, a rail/spur loop and bridge crossing over Little Camp Creek.”
Meanwhile, the proposed quarry on Avery Store Road sits on 592 acres. According to the proposal:
• Pit area – 118 acres
• Plant site area – 29.94 acres
• Tenant site area – 35.68 acres
• Overburden storage areas – 26.45 acres
• Permitted undisturbed area – 313.05 acres