Columbia County approves rezoning for quarry corridor, adds school‑hour truck restrictions after public outcry

Columbia County commissioners voted 3–2 on Jan. 6 to approve a contested rezoning that clears the way for a privately funded rock quarry in a corridor residents say was promised as residential.

The motion, introduced by Commissioner Malir, included multiple conditions — traffic improvements, paving specifications, platting requirements and environmental controls — and was amended during the meeting to add a restriction that “no truck traffic shall turn left onto Lewisville Road on school days before 9:00 a.m. or between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.” The amended motion passed on a recorded tally of 3–2; the audio-recorded transcript notes the count but does not show a roll-call list of how each commissioner voted.

The rezoning touched off more than an hour of public comment. Resident Gregory Guido told commissioners the quarry and a nearby data center “function as one industrial system” and said treating them separately hides cumulative impacts, including blasting, truck traffic and wetland transfers the county now owns. “Approving the quarry moves us further down that path,” he said.

Dr. Morgan Groothan, who identified herself as a nearby landowner and parent, urged commissioners to consider health risks from fine particulates, citing peer‑reviewed studies on PM10 and PM2.5 and saying the applicant’s groundwater conclusions were based on desktop reviews rather than baseline well testing: “Would I raise my own daughter 2,000 feet away from a quarry?” she asked.

Representatives of Quality Materials, the company proposing the quarry, told commissioners they would preserve roughly 40% of the site, maintain large undisturbed buffers (the eastern section cited as about 750 feet in one presentation), install vegetated berms, and place seismographs on their property and offer them to nearby homeowners. David Grayson, who spoke for the company, said the operation would likely produce about 500,000 tons a year and generate roughly 100–125 truck trips daily. “We will continuously monitor these blasts. We’ll put seismographs on our property, and we hope to on adjoining properties,” he told the commission.

Company witnesses and consultants also said the quarry would operate during daytime hours — mining activity between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturdays until noon, and no Sunday operation — and that blasting would likely occur once or twice per month and typically in the middle of the day to reduce overpressure effects.

Residents continued to press the board on enforcement and long‑term impacts: concerns included silica and fugitive dust, vibration and structural stress from blasting, damage to septic systems and private wells, added wear on narrow local roads, and potential declines in nearby property values. The applicant said a fugitive dust control plan must be submitted to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and that it would fund roadway turn lanes and other required improvements.

Commissioners added the school‑hour left‑turn restriction at the request of members concerned about peak‑period conflicts with bus and parent traffic. The amended condition was written into the motion as a permit condition; the transcript records the condition’s language and the 3–2 vote but does not include a roll‑call of which commissioners voted yes or no.

The rezoning motion also includes standard reclamation and bonding language the applicant noted would finance eventual site reclamation; the company suggested reservoir conversion among possible long‑term uses.

The commission approved the rezoning as a set of conditional land‑use actions. Opponents said the record lacks baseline well testing, long‑term monitoring commitments and full disclosure of financial arrangements related to a nearby data center; supporters and the applicant said mitigation, monitoring and financial bonding will address many risks. The meeting adjourned after completing the agenda.