Martin Marietta says local quarry meets safety standards as residents press city on dust and blasting

Martin Marietta's local manager told the board the company has operated in the area for decades and that the quarry operation at issue has not had environmental or MSHA citations at that location in his 15-year experience. "We've not had any violations ever, environmental, water, air...in my 15 years, we've never had a safety, citation from MSHA," said Jeff Farrell, vice president/general manager for Martin Marietta.

Residents and former industry employees contested the company's reassurances. Bridal Kroger, a former plant manager at the Tri Cities Airport Quarry, said that facility had "17 years without any form of injury whatsoever," described dust control via water and said utility companies had been consulted about blasting adjacent to transmission lines. Community members raised concerns about silica exposure, foundation and sidewalk cracking, and disruption to Holston-area students; one resident asked the board whether the proposed buffer distances were measured from property line or the school building.

The city’s public record: planning staff and the planning commission framed the rezoning request as consistent with the property’s location near the interstate and as an appropriate transition between commercial and residential land uses; staff said that traffic and stormwater reviews would be part of subsequent approvals. Martin Marietta asked the board to reconfirm the zoning application and emphasized that any historical compliance issues cited in public materials referred in some cases to prior subsidiary operations, not the present site.