PAULDING COUNTY, Georgia. – The Paulding County Planning Commission has voted against a proposal to convert 200 acres of land into a quarry.
The quarry would have been located on the border of Paulding and Carroll counties off Highway 101.
The proposal was controversial from the start. Local residents said they feared the mining operation would bring more noise, traffic and health problems.
“If that happens, we may not be able to stay here,” Charlotte Steed Moon told FOX 5 at a meeting in July. Her family has lived on the same property since before the civil war. “The noise, the air pollution, the explosions, the damage to the houses.”
Planned quarry in Paulding County faces fierce opposition
The construction of a quarry is facing fierce opposition in an Atlanta community. The 200-acre site is located off Highway 101 on the border of Carroll and Paulding counties. Residents fear that the explosions and truck traffic from the mining operation will destroy their peaceful neighborhood.
Carroll County Commissioners also spoke out against the project in a letter, urging their counterparts in Paulding County to reject the project “out of concern for the safety, environment and general welfare of the residents of Carroll County.”
Supporters of the project say strict regulations would have been needed to ensure that impacts on surrounding communities were minimal.
“There are many misconceptions about quarries that cause unnecessary fear and anxiety among citizens,” Mark Brown of TPM Land and Natural Resource Consulting, one of the applicants, wrote in an email to FOX 5. “The state of Georgia is at a deficit of the products produced in quarries that are used to build our roads, schools, churches, homes and businesses.”
After discussing the concerns at a meeting Tuesday evening, the Paulding County Planning Commission rejected both requests by a 5-0 vote.
