August 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Could local regulations be established for a quarry operation under development in DeKalb County?
During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the DeKalb County Commission heard from residents in the Snow Hill area and others in the second district with complaints about the Smyrna Ready Mix concrete company’s presence on North Driver Road off Highway 70 at the foot of Snow Hill.
Almost a month ago the state fire marshal’s office opened an investigation after receiving complaints from residents who were shaken by a big blast from the company who was doing prep work for a quarry. State investigators just over two weeks ago halted SRM’s operations after finding that the company had not yet applied for a required waste and discharge permit to ensure that the facility does not pollute water.
“If the county government wished it could step in and stop this quarry by adopting zoning or other regulatory measures before SRM submits its application,” said Michael Antoniak, a resident of Snow Hill Road who addressed the county commission during the public comment period at Monday night’s meeting.
Antoniak and others are concerned that SRM was able to move into the neighborhood without their knowledge and that the county currently has no regulations of any kind to stop or oversee development of such operations.
A year ago, the county commission considered but failed to adopt a “County Powers Act” resolution as well as one to establish and enforce regulatory standards regarding health and safety conditions of residential and non-residential properties within the confines of DeKalb County outside the boundaries of the municipalities which already have codes and ordinances.
The idea was to prevent or eliminate dangerous and or unsanitary conditions resulting from overgrown vegetation, accumulation of debris, trash, litter, and garbage, or the presence of vacant dilapidated buildings or structures. Although DeKalb County currently has no zoning regulations in place, the “County Powers Act” gives counties, without establishing zoning, the authority to set and enforce standards for county property owners with respect to nuisances and other practices deemed detrimental to their neighbors.
“My wife Liz and I have been residents of Snow Hill for 47 years,” said Antoniak. “We chose DeKalb County as our home for its beauty, its serenity, and unspoiled nature of a life in the country. Now we find ourselves in a fight for our lifestyle. The dynamite blast which jolted our area and shook homes for miles around earlier this month woke us to two things. Plans for a large rock quarry and DeKalb County has nothing to know of, let alone regulate how outsiders exploit our county’s land and resources,” Antoniak explained.
“Two months ago this commission approved the largest tax increase in county history. What are you doing to preserve the land values of landowners you expect to pay that tax? Over the last year this commission wrangled over measures to adequately serve criminals and courts. How about the needs of these law-abiding citizens who have invested our lifetimes in our homes and community? Those who don’t know the work already underway at the quarry was halted by Tennessee state investigators two weeks ago. Why? Smyrna Ready Mix had not yet even applied for the waste and discharge permit Tennessee requires to ensure such facilities do not pollute our water. Is this the kind of responsible corporate citizen we want to invite into our community,” Antoniak asked.
“If the county government wished it could step in and stop this quarry by adopting zoning or other regulatory measures before SRM submits its application. Once submitted the quarry will only be subject to oversights in place on that date. Most would agree property owners should be free to use and enjoy their property as they wish up to the point where what they do impinges on the rights and the ability of neighboring landowners to enjoy theirs. Our water, air, serenity and quality of life are all threatened by Smyrna Ready Mix’s planned quarry. If county government doesn’t yet have the will to embrace zoning, I urge you to reconsider the County Powers Act as a means of establishing and enforcing standards to protect residents in this county and against exploitation and nuisances in the future. In my discussions with officials from Tennessee and the Sierra Club all stressed the critical importance of counties taking the proactive stance and implementing protections today against what could happen tomorrow or as is the case now we are left vulnerable and forced to react without local powers to defend our homes, way of living, and county. Again, I believe adopting the County Powers Act would be a good and necessary first step and I urge you on behalf of all my neighbors to revisit this,” said Antoniak.
Michael’s son Lucas Antoniak, who also lives on Snow Hill Road, asked the commission to take some action.
“I felt the blast and it was extremely violent and came out of nowhere. We had no warning, and we saw rocks in the road from the blast,” said Lucas. “Quarries are very destructive to the environment and very detrimental to the quality of life for the people who live in the vicinity of the quarry. Water, land, and air pollution are a threat to the people who live nearby and no one in the Snow Hill community knew about this quarry going in and I wonder why? This carpet bagging company is only here to exploit our community and enrich themselves and their business partners and their interests. In my research I discovered that SRM has a history of inaccurate reporting and noncompliance with government inspectors and regulations. Is this who we want in our community? Why were we citizens not informed and given a chance to speak out? This county owes it to us to protect the interest and environment of this county and its citizens who have dedicated their lives and families to this area,” said Antoniak.
VE Garner of South Driver Road, Dowelltown said she is having to close her goat farm business because of the quarry. “I have a goat farm directly across the highway from the SRM quarry that announced itself with an explosion,” said Garner. “My animals ran and the ground shook and I heard a huge rockslide in the distance. We found out from our neighbors that our new neighbors (SRM) were a quarry on a 110-acre farm right across from us. We were forced to research on our own how to protect our farm and our water from an extractive and destructive billion-dollar mining industry,” Garner explained. “We didn’t find much support from legal, TDEC, all the places that we sought support and now we are being forced to close our goat services business which provides goat landscaping, and we do painting with goats and goat cuddles. The business is called Shenanigoats. We are being forced into closure because we can no longer raise our animals on the farm directly across from a quarry with the carcinogenic dust and threat to our water supply. We don’t have any other source of water other than our springs and those are directly across from this mine. SRM will or already has drilled a new well for its mining operation. We are seeking protection from our local government rather than having to do this as citizens to find out how to protect ourselves from a billion-dollar mining industry,” said Garner.
Max Knudsen then addressed the commission. “I live on South Driver Road which is being poisoned right now by the small silica dust particles. If you were living in a space that had carcinogens potentially poisoning your land, water, and animals would you stay there? These toxins that can never be removed again and are being released. You can make the decision to stop that,” said Knudsen.
“I live 1,500 feet from the quarry,” said Doug Walter of Nashville Highway, Dowelltown in his remarks to the commission. “The blast shook everything with dusty flying. Did anybody here know this before it opened? Has anybody yet contacted the state other than citizens who contacted the state with the state saying there’s no permit that’s been issued? I don’t know how something like a quarry could open in the county without somebody on the county commission having some knowledge of it. I challenge the commission to look at zoning regulations for the county,” said Walter. “This wave is coming from Nashville. I have lived in several other areas of the country and I have never seen a county that I have lived in that you could just go in and open a business without some kind of minimal regulations put in by the county commission. Right now, its pretty much open to anything you want it seems like. I’d like to see that addressed. I’d like to see the quarry issue addressed. If it ends up going forward there’s a lot of things they (SRM) need to do to control the dust. Right now its just blowing up rock and sending dust up into the air. You are talking about floating a bond for a prison and a school. How about floating $100,000 for a zoning regulator to come into the county as a job and set up something to protect the citizens of the county and their property values”.
Nora Harvey of Dry Creek Road, Dowelltown added “I’m a nurse at Vanderbilt for 24 years and silica is a big deal. It is very dangerous. It will definitely cause cancer. My daughter is an advanced nurse practitioner, and she works in lung transplants. Its no joke,” she said.
Pam Charles of Dowelltown said “Although I am not directly affected by the blast because I live a little bit further away, I don’t like allowing something like this to come into our county without anyone knowing. Thank God the state shut them down and has kept them from moving forward. Now I think its time for you as our elected officials to come together and help these citizens that are affected and preclude something like this from happening in the future”.
Curtis Bevins of Dale Ridge Road, Dowelltown then spoke to the commission. “We can’t put the milk back into the cow. I think our opportunity is going forward because big money will keep coming. This board has to be able to protect our property values. The County Powers Act needs to be fully reconsidered by this board or this is going to keep happening. I don’t think that’s what you want your county to look like”.
Later in the meeting, County Commissioner Tony Luna made a motion to have the Health, Education and Public Welfare Committee revisit the County Powers Act for discussion. Commissioner Myron Rhody offered a second to the motion. Although the vote was 13-0 a few commissioners raised concerns.
“I have talked to people in Crossville and it’s a total mess there (County Powers Act enforcement). I don’t know what to do about it (here) but it’s a total mess in Crossville,” said Commissioner Glynn Merriman.
“I remember when we had the discussion about this before, the issue was that once you passed the County Powers Act you have opened the door and once you have opened the door then anything is fair game from determining how tall somebody’s grass should be, what they can have parked in their front yard, etc.” said Commissioner Tom Chandler.
“That’s part of it but you could draft it however you like. It could be as specific or vague as you would like it to be,” replied County Mayor Matt Adcock.
“We really need to write something that fits our county,” said Commissioner Luna.
“This might be something related to zoning that we could discuss with the county planning commission,” added Commissioner Beth Pafford.