Vulcan Materials Company has replied to Jackson County in the company’s petition for review to try and overturn the county’s November 2024 decision to deny its quarry.
The petition was filed in December of last year after the denial of Vulcan’s special use applications to build a roughly 900-acre quarry in the southern part of the county.
In the filing on April 4, Vulcan claims that the county’s argument that it can deny a permit because of public opposition and “unsubstantiated claims” is wrong under Georgia law.
“A zoning authority therefore cannot deprive a landowner of a lawful use of its property without valid objective legal grounds…” the filing reads.
Vulcan also said that the county does not have the right to deny its special use permits for “any” reason, but that evidence must be competent and sufficient to sustain the decision.
"The County's purported evidence consists of the unsupported opinions and claims of opponents to Vulcan's application and the County's planning staff," the filing reads.
Some of those claims by the county and opponents included environmental, noise, property value reductions, and the fact of a potential groundwater recharge area.
The opposition saw 16 speakers at the October 2024 planning commission meeting including a former member of the Jackson County Planning Commission, a University of Georgia Hydrology and Water Resources professor, two members from the Oconee River Land Trust, and a slew of concerned residents near the site.
Vulcan claims that the evidence the county had was not competent or sufficient to justify “depriving” them of the permit to build the quarry.
Vulcan also reiterated claims that the denial violates their right to due process.
The petition in Jackson County Superior Court is potentially Vulcan’s last alley for a reversal of the denial.
