Petition created against proposed Walker County rock quarry

WALKER COUNTY, Ga. (WDEF) – Areas of far southern Walker County along Ridgeway Road have been historically quiet. However, neighbors are saying that this will all soon change.

One resident, Betsy Hibbett, said the peace and quiet vanished, “When we heard drilling a year ago.”

That drilling was the beginning of a rock quarry.

The area of the proposed rock quarry in southern Walker County (Courtesy: Stop that Quarry)

The proposed rock quarry would sit on 700 acres surrounded by Ridgeway, Oakton and Lee Wilson Roads.

The area is roughly a five-minute drive from U.S. Highway 27 and Georgia State Highway 337, as it is in a fairly remote location south of Lafayette.

Right now, the proposed rock quarry is 700 acres of woods, however, there are various concerns.

Hibbett said, “These are narrow, windy, country roads, and having dump trucks travel on them, there’s no support for that… I don’t want a mine in my backyard, and where we are located, we are going to be looking directly at this mine, and hearing it, and our elevation is such that there’s no sound mitigation that’s going to be able to block that.”

She also mentioned potential pollution to the nearby Cane Creek and Chattooga Creek as another concern.

Owner of the proposed quarry, John Cross says they have met all requirements presented to them so far.

He says that the quarry will take many years to fully use the 700 acres and believes the road infrastructure is sufficient for truck traffic.

Cross said, “Our plan is to operate this facility without causing any damage to the creeks, or the neighbors.”

Hibbett has begun a petition that has already gained over 600 signatures, and says she hopes this changes how business is conducted in Walker County.

She said, “It’s just disappointing that we live in a county where the news seemed like it was hindered and wasn’t able to get out to residents. Now that I’ve created this petition and people are talking about it, they are calling me.”

We did reach out to members of the Walker County Commission and Planning Commission but have yet to hear back.