Stop The South Jackson Rock Quarry

05/17/2025

Superior Court Judge Ben Green denied Vulcan's appeal which closes the door further on their quarry plans. It looks like they still are not willing to take no for an answer and might take the case up to Supreme Court of Georgia. Vulcan brought in a new lawyer - Clay Massey -from Atlanta firm Alston and Bird to argue that their experts provided more and better evidence for their side. Judge Green decided that the community had brought enough evidence to deny their special use permit. He also noted that we do live in a democracy.
Our community doesn't have the resources of some but more than many, many in the state. Companies like Vulcan have the resources to hire PR, Lawyers, 'expert testimony', lobyists, etc. After our experience it seems hard to believe that working families with young children or poorer communities would have any chance under Vulcan rules. We were lucky to have volunteer testimony from UGA experts and local conservation groups and development professionals and we are so grateful.
Thanks as well to Attorney Chip Ferguson who did a great job for the county.

05/09/2025

After losing at the Board of Commissioners meeting , Vulcan is trying to use the courts as a backdoor to seizing land for their quarry. As their lawyer says "this isn't about democracy". They have little chance under current law because it would mean that local communities and government have no say in how development occurs where they live and work. They can tie up the courts and waste county money defending lawsuits. There will be a hearing on May 14 at 9:00 AM at Jackson County Courthouse. The public is invited but we have been reminded that there will be "order in the court"

01/01/2025

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Cicada Rhythm for backing the StopSJRQ movement with two concerts ands guess what? They are producing a new album!

11/19/2024

Denied!
Commisioners voted 5-1 (Tom Crowe outstanding) to deny the Vulcan permit. We had some really fantastic experts from UGA and some heartfelt local testimony plus 1500 signatures and over 100 yellow shirts in the room that overcame Vulcans legal threats.

11/18/2024

The Missing 60 Percent
It's a funny thing about the Vulcan site plan for SJRQ. It's not very detailed. It's got some pits, some berms, future plant site. The 'conservation area'. Not much else. Vulcan claims that's it. They say '2/3 of the project will remain agricultural'. See what they are really up to at:
https://stopsouthjacksonrockquarry.net/2024/11/the-missing-60-percent/

11/18/2024

Vulcan has filed an updated Letter of Intent. After the recommendation of denial by the Planning Commission , Vulcan has sent in a new Letter of Intent. This has been a repeated pattern of botched surveys, traffic plans etc. This time Vulcan doubles down on their legal claims citing the irrelevant Rathkopf's The Law of Zoning and Planning five times in the first three pages. They basically claim that the county has no power to restrict their activity whatsoever. They also realized that their presentations on water and traffic were insufficient, so they have come up with some new theories on those. Again they have had two years and are scrambling like a school kid in the last two weeks. Please come to the BOC meeting at 6 on Monday night.

11/17/2024

How to stop a quarry. Paulding county is the latest community to stop a rock quarry coming in. No one in their right mind wants that.

There's been an explosive pushback from people near Highway 101 on the Carroll-Paulding County line over plans to build a rock quarry there.

11/17/2024

Vulcan Will Sue? Vulcan will lose.
David Ellison, Vulcan's attorney through out many legal threats at the Planning Commission meeting. Their overall position is basically extreme. There would be no need for a planning department or BOC if they were true. Still we felt compelled to get legal advice and it is clear - this a political decision not a legal one.

More info at: https://stopsouthjacksonrockquarry.net/2024/11/vulcan-will-sue-the-county/

11/15/2024

Thanks to everyone for a successful event Saturday, particularly to our musical lineup led by Cicada Rhythm and our food vendor Farm Cart who donated proceeds from the event to Stop The Quarry. Along with donations we made nearly $3000 from the event to help drive the quarry trucks off the road at the BOC meeting Monday.

11/13/2024

WUGA Talked with Elyse Giles, Sarah Sutherland, Laura Hall and Todd Rasmussen about the ecological damage of the proposed quarry.

On November 18th, Jackson County’s Board of Commissioners will decide whether an Alabama-based company can move forward with a controversial mining project.

11/08/2024

Tomorrow is the benefit show! Hope to see you there, bring a blanket or chair to sit down, relax and watch the show. Farm cart will be doing food and drinks. Great line up. Tix and directions at cicadarhythm.com
1pm Doors
2pm Lighthearted
2:45 North Georgia All Stars
3:45 Don Chambers
4:45 Cicada Rhythm