Here’s where a new granite quarry may go in Lancaster County, and what’s needed first
Several hundred acres in Lancaster County could become a new rock quarry.
Landsdown Corporation & Primo Holdings, LLC applied to Lancaster County for changes needed to set up a granite rock quarry.
The plan involves two land parcels at about 370 combined acres. They’re located on the north side of Taxahaw Road, between Overbrook Road and Gold Mine Highway. The mostly wooded site has one home on it. Property there is listed for rural living in the county land use plan, so the quarry would need rezoning and a future land use change.
County planning staff recommends against those changes. There aren’t any “changing trends in land use, housing, transportation or the economy in the area” to warrant the change, according to the staff recommendation to the planning commission.
A letter from Leland, N.C.-based Landsdown Corporation lays out plans to mine part of a rock body that extends from Chesterfield County into southeast Lancaster County. The quarry would produce crushed stone aggregate. The letter notes the same county land use plan that envisions rural living also notes geological resources are important to the county.
“We believe development of mineral resources serving Lancaster County’s local construction industry qualifies as infrastructure investments,” it reads.
County staff recognizes the area has become known for mining. There are two quarries and a mind within five miles of the site. Haile Gold Mine opened in 1827 and is five miles south. Hanson Aggregates (early 1980s) and Buckhorn Materians have opened quarries about three miles outside Lancaster County.
Yet there are other areas of concern. The Forty Acre Rock Heritage Preserve is less than two miles from the proposed quarry site. There are 13 properties surrounding the site, most with homes on them. There are eight houses within 600 feet of the site. There are three churches and about 474 structures within two miles.
The county planning commission will hear the case Feb. 16. Lancaster County Council would then decide on the rezoning and land use change. Changes would take three votes from council and a public hearing.
