In the beginning…

It started as talk about someone building apartments or a storage shed. But two years on, the blasting, dust, continuous machine and rock noise, and dump truck traffic on the highway have made it clear that this isn’t some temporary construction project. The ridge line laid bare of trees and the massive open pit on the property leads anyone who makes an honest assessment of the site to one conclusion: this is a rock quarry. This operation is so much of quarry that it has acquired a Storm Water Permit for Industrial Activities from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC permit TNR059888) and is registered with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, Mine ID 4003565. These registrations list the site as a limestone quarry and limestone mine, respectively.

The land the quarry sits on is currently zoned A-1 Agricultural-Forestry. In the county’s Zoning Resolutions, A-1 zones have 16 “Permitted Uses”. None of them come remotely close to encompassing an MSHA registered mining operation. The article states “Any item not specifically noted above…” to be prohibited uses. However, county zoning officials maintain that this operation is no different than a farmer moving dirt off his land. It really begs question how far can you go in ag land? With the majority of the county being zoned agricultural, and the apparent attitude of officials being that agricultural zoning equates to unzoned, what stops this kind of operation from popping up all over?