Correction: This article incorrectly refers to Anson County’s Planning Director as “Zack Almond” when speaker is Nick Addison who is the planning director for Anson County. The Anson Record regrets the mistake. Article has been updated to reflect Addison, and not Almond, as the correct speaker.

ANSON COUNTY — During an open public hearing session of the Anson County Commissioner board, Planning Director Nick Addison discussed the proposed class A special use permit identified as SUP25-00005 to allow an extraction of earth materials facility in Lilesville, which was submitted by Anson County Stone, LLC.

“This is a development for an extraction of earth materials facility on two separate parcels, approximately 488 assessed acres currently zoned as rural agriculture 3, or RA3. Approximately it is near the intersection of Hollywood and Diggs Roads, which is approximately one mile north of the town of Morven’s jurisdictional boundary. The project is completely within jurisdiction of unincorporated sections of Anson County,” said Addison.

He also assured the board the proposed facility would not interfere with the town of Morven or its extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ.

While the proposed project will affect only two parcels of land, Addison clarified one of the parcels in question is split by the road and has a parcel hook, or a portion of the parcel is physically separated from its remainder by a highway or another parcel.

“The area is predominantly zoned as RA3 or light industrial. Looking at site conditions, this is pretty indicative of how the site exists today. It is currently in timber, so it is a managed timber track. Some of it has been harvested in the last several years, but a lot of it is still in timber,” said Addison. He added most of the property is currently all pines and is not enrolled in present use value or what Addison says he would call “PUV.”

Addison explained, “In terms of standards, we will look to the zoning ordinance for extraction of earth materials, which provides the standards that the applicant has to meet. This area does have wetlands. These are 100-year flood zones, or a 1% annual flood area. This is designated by FEMA so any development that occurs there may need additional approvals or insurance standards. I just want to point out some features that are in [that] environmental flood zone.”

Addison reiterated the presence of wetlands might result in more required permits being needed for the project but confirmed no such additional permits were currently required.

“When we look at the NWI layer, which is national wetlands inventory, we can see this parcel either abuts or contains approximately 97 acres of wetlands. That does not mean that is what will be impacted or anything, that is just showing what is in the vicinity of the project,” said Addison, who added that any project that will affect wetlands may require a 401 or 404 permit. Such a permit would be handled by the state or federal agencies.

Addison next turned to addressing transportation issues that could be potentially associated with the project.

He said, “The parcels in question do abut Diggs Road, which is a bi-directional road. It is a minor collector and secondary route as classified by DOT, which just means it is a feeder road.”

Feeding into bigger roads, the land has 60-foot right-of-way, and as of 2023, Addison said he believed it had a traffic of approximately 300. According to Addison, Anson County Stone has conducted a traffic impact analysis, though Addison said he would allow representatives from the company to update the board on its findings. He did mention, however, the study did look at truck routes. On Diggs Road in particular, there is a 17-ton weight limit for the Digg’s Road bridge over Jone’s Creek. The DOT has scheduled the bridge to be replaced in 2028.

According to the traffic study, 100% of traffic pre-bridge replacements are slated to go north along Diggs Road. Post-bridge replacement, traffic is expected to be split 60% to the north and 40% to the south along Diggs Road.

“In the vicinity, but not abutting the project, is Hollywood Road, which is a slightly smaller road in terms of function class. But it is essentially the same, a 60-foot road, very seldomly traveled,” he added.

According to DOT, the pavement on Diggs Road is rated highly and deemed sufficient to accommodate the increased traffic flow and heavy trucks. The company agrees that it will work with and do whatever is necessary to ensure the continued favorability of the pavement on Hollywood Road.

Addison went on to confirm that most of the extraction activities, crushing, screening, and storage structures will occur in the southwestern portion, with overburden stored across the road and to the northern portions of the parcel.

“Once the company has left the site, they are required to rehabilitate it. Most of that will be reclaimed to a pond, or lake, however you want to term it. Then the rest would be re-sloped and revegetated to ensure there is no erosion issues,” said Addison.

He went on to say that if all permits and approvals are granted, they would begin operations in approximately September 2026. Based on the granite in the area, Addison says the company expects resources to last for well over 50 years.

“In terms of extraction, it would focus on granite with approximately 500,000 to a million tons being extracted per year, dependent on market conditions,” shared Addison. He further explained that the facility will not be shining lights on any neighboring properties and noise levels will be contained to 70 decibels from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and 60 decibels from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., as required by the ordinance.

Addison said, “Blasting activities will be Monday through Friday and will happen between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If anyone in the area wishes to be notified, the applicant can provide them with notification of that blasting before it occurs.”

He added that in terms of methods, the facility would focus on removing the overburden by setting up spoil piles, which will act as an additional screening method and form of sound buffering.

Addison said, “It would be vegetated, [and] the granite once exposed, will be blasted through controlled measures, collected and then crushed, washed, sorted and stockpiled.”

According to Addison, the facility will take steps to reduce dust from the site through wet suppression systems, and spray bars implemented on trucks. The company will also have wet sweeper trucks that will clear the roads should any material get tracked on roadways. Addison confirmed portions would be paved to further prevent tracking of materials on roadways from occurring. There will also be a vegetative buffer as required. In fact, the ordinance only requires a 75-foot buffer, but the facility is committed to pursuing a 150 -foot buffer, which includes a 20-foot berm around the property, he said.

Turning to water needs, Addison said the operation would be serviced via rainwater stored in ponds to be reused at the facility. When it comes to domestic water needs, Addison said they would either put in a domestic well or municipal connection, the requirements of which Addison said would be very minimal and regulated to office use.

Addison added, “In addition to the rehabilitation, state statute requires that they have a bond as a performance guarantee, so they would secure that in accordance with the state statute.”

Following Addison’s remarks, John Cross, founder of Synergy Materials, which is a partner in the project, spoke next. He said, “I pretty much dedicated my entire life to this industry. I have designed, built, and operated many, many quarry operations and we have done a lot of these green field developments. We know what it takes to get it done and get it done right.”

An American-owned company, Cross says they believe in having a good neighbor policy.

“Basically, what we try to do is identify the things that matter to the local people. What I like to do is create like a community council and I like us to employ every best practice that we have learned over the years, use all the latest control technologies to reduce the impacts on the neighbors but we want to include them in the conversation,” said Cross.

He added his company operates seven facilities nationally, but currently none in North Carolina. When asked by Commissioner Lawrence Gatewood which of his company’s operations is the closest to Anson County, Cross answered, “I actually developed a green field operation in Goldston. I started that quarry up, but I don’t know exactly how far it is from here. It’s Chatham County in North Carolina.” Cross clarified he is not currently still operating that quarry and it is under new ownership.

Chatham County is roughly 70 miles from Anson.

In terms of sales, Cross said his company has a profit of close to $100 million annually with a total amount of over 200 employees.

Another member of the project, Hans Dawson of Lannon Stone Products said their primary customers are, “Anyone who is building anything within the region of our quarry. That would be road construction, homes, churches, schools, anybody that is building anything or infrastructure. So, sewer lines, water lines, utilities, dams, erosion control, essentially anybody that is building or maintaining anything in the area of the quarry.”

When asked why Anson County was selected for the company’s newest quarry site, Cross said, “We basically look for areas that have good quality material, good quality stone, and it is underserved from an aggregate perspective. So, if rock has to be imported in, typically you would be paying a higher price for the transportation than for the rock itself. So, we look for areas that are underserved and that we have an opportunity to gain some reasonable amount of market share and lower the overall cost.”

Cross indicated the Anson facility, should it be approved, would require 15 employees for operation. He explained, “What the hierarchy looks like is you got a plant manager that is over the whole thing. Usually, you have a foreman, and then you’ve got plant operators, truck drivers, loader operators, and quality control. Usually there is a scale clerk, procurement, and safety.”

He added that with the exception of the plant foreman, all the other roles he mentioned would be trainable and expected to be filled by local people.

Responding to Commissioner Joshua Ellerbe’s repeated inquiries regarding the quarry’s impact on the county’s struggling water system, Chris Daves, who is a professional wetland scientist and 24-year ecologist, personally conducted a wetland stream study on this property, came to the podium next.

He said, “We do have wetlands and streams on the site. You mentioned Jones creek and another sub -tributary of it. At this point, we have our application called a request for jurisdictional determination and that is before the Army Corps of Engineers. They are the ones that actually certify and verify waters of the United States. We are currently having that looked at right now. Army Corps has not visited the site yet. We do not plan on impacting any jurisdictional waters of the United States.” He added, “As far as impacts to the creek itself, the larger creek, again, there are no impacts planned for that.”

Daves said he felt like the only impact on the creek would be sediment erosion control, but he felt the site plans provide ample protection for the issue of soil erosion to be addressed before it reached the creek itself.

Commissioner Priscilla Little Reid said to Cross, “You and your partner there, I am the commissioner in that area over there, and all we got is your word. If a man can’t keep his word and do whatever he said he gonna do, then I shouldn’t have to deal with him. But I am asking you, you brought all this to your attention, saying what you was going to do, and that you was going to let our people that live over there, if they have any concerns come to you. All I am asking is that you do what you say you are going to do.”

Cross responded with a commitment to the board, saying, “I understand, and I appreciate that. I make that commitment to you all and we will do what we say we are going to do. I am easy to get ahold of, I have had the same phone number for twenty years and I answer that phone. It is the only phone that I have. And if we are not doing a good job, then I have no one to blame but myself, so I have no problem with being called in and making sure that we are doing the right things. We will take care of these folks.”

Agreeing, Dawson added “That is why we wrote it down and submitted it to be a part of our official requirements because it is easy to get up here and talk, but we are submitting ourselves to you guys to oversee us and hold us accountable to every one of those things as well.”

When opening the hearing to the public, concerns brought up related to when the sound buffer will be implemented, the impact the quarry might have on the nearby elementary school, how the holes in the ground left behind by the mining will be addressed, and sound levels.

Cross said he has personally operated larger quarries that were closer to a school with no incidents. According to Cross, the elementary school is 3,900 feet from the quarry.

The sound barrier would begin to be implemented when the land for the facility is cleared, and all brush moved from that location would go to building an immediate sound buffer.

Having land in the area, Brian Tucker and Lynn Clodfelter both approved of the project on the basis that it will provide much needed jobs in the area as well as bring outside revenue to the county.

Weighing in prior to voting, Commissioner Chair James Caudle shared he researched quarries in nearby counties, finding ones operational in Union, Richmond, and Stanly.

“All three counties are operating the mine or the quarry today actively. Union County’s is in the city of Monroe,” said Caudle, adding, “I think this is probably the most all-American company that has, since I have been a commissioner, that has presented a case to Anson County to locate here. They are producing a product in Anson County to sell to the citizens outside of Anson County, which is the only way this county will be successful. We couldn’t support Walmart by the citizens who live in this county. We have got to sell products to the people outside of Anson County.”

Commissioner Jarvis Woodburn made a motion to approve the project, including 15 conditions outlined for the company to abide by, which was seconded by Gatewood.

The motion passed with an unanimous vote.