Please oppose the Wake Stone Quarry Expansion for the following reasons:
- The existing Wake Stone Quarry on Harrison Avenue is within the Town of Cary official town limits according to the following map. https://www.townofcary.org/home/showdocument?id=1799
2. The proposed expansion of the Wake Stone quarry was within the Town of Cary as of 2006, although current land use maps show that it is only surrounded by land that is governed by the Town of Cary Land Use Ordinance. When was the Town of Cary Boundary changed to exclude the Odd Fellows Tract? Was the process to exclude the parcel from the Town of Cary limits open to a public hearing? If this parcel is within the Town of Cary, developing it as a quarry would violate the following general provisions of the Town of Cary, NC Code of Ordinances and Land Development Ordinances, as the parcel is not zoned for industrial uses.
JURISDICTION AND APPLICABILITY
1.6.1 General
The provisions of this Ordinance shall apply to all land, buildings, structures, and uses thereof located within the corporate limits of the Town of Cary and within the Town’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, as identified on the Zoning Map, including land owned by local agencies.
1.6.2 Applicability to County and Federal Property
To the extent allowed by law, the provisions of this Ordinance shall apply to all land, buildings, structures, and uses owned by county or federal agencies within the corporate limits of the Town of Cary. Where the provisions of this Ordinance do not apply to such structures and land, such agencies are encouraged to meet the provisions of this Ordinance.
1.6.3 Applicability to State Property
The provisions of this Ordinance are applicable to the erection, construction, and use of buildings owned by the State of North Carolina under G.S. 160A-392; however, no land owned by the State may be included within an overlay district or a special use or conditional use district without approval of the Council of State.. To the extent allowed by law, the provisions of this Ordinance shall apply to all land, structures, and uses owned or used by the State of North Carolina. Where the provisions of this Ordinance do not apply to such land, structures, and uses, the State is encouraged to meet the provisions of this Ordinance.
3. The location of the proposed expansion was within the Town of Cary according to the following map: Municipal Annexation Agreement Boundaries Inventory Status April, 2006 obtained from the following Wake County Planning Website (see image above).
4. Extending the life of this quarry by allowing the expansion onto the Odd Fellow’s tract will create negative environmental and health impacts to residents of the Town of Cary and visitors to Umstead State Park. High PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations have been measured outside of the entrance to the existing Wake Stone Quarry on Harrison Avenue, during a 6 month period from May to Dec. 2019. Allowing this quarry to continue to operate will result in harmful exposure to fine particulate matter of size less than 2.5 um in diameter that contains > 65% of silica. Exposure to dust containing silica is known to cause silicosis, a disabling and often fatal lung disease. Exposure to PM2.5 without silica in it is also hazardous to your health see today’s: NY Times interactive article. Note, the nearest monitoring station is 3 miles away on I-40 near the airport. The PM2.5 values that I have measured at Wake Stone’s Entrance have been larger than 200 ug/m3, extremely hazardous to health.
5. The Town of Cary should invest in low-cost PM2.5 and PM10 sensors such as Purple Air or Clarity to help it identify pollution hot spots within the town, and find solutions to reduce these industrial emissions.
6. If the quarry is allowed to expand to the proposed tract, it will likely continue to expand across Old Reedy Creek Road and will result in the closure of the East Coast Greenway through Umstead State Park.
7. The Crabtree Quarry was determined to be a non-conforming use by the City of Raleigh, and a settlement agreement allowed it to continue expansion under certain conditions. What were the terms of conditions for Wake Stone to operate it’s quarry in the Town of Cary, and have they violated any of their terms? https://cityofraleigh0drupal.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/drupal-prod/COR22/UI-01-14.pdf
8. The 1981 Mining Permit for the Wake Stone Quarry contained a sunset agreement that the mine would close in 50 years, which would have it close in 2031 (12 years from now). Extending the life of the existing quarry by allowing Wake Stone to expand is not in the interest of the Town of Cary or it’s residents. The proposed quarry expansion of Wake Stone Quarry would keep the existing quarry in operation an additional 50–100 years.
9. The RDU Airport Authority obtained the parcel using eminent domain according to this deed to provide for the airport purposes. Leasing the land to expand Wake Stone Quarry is not consistent with providing Airport services to the public. If the land is no longer to be used for aeronautical purposes, then the RDUAA should allow the land to be purchased by the Conservation Fund and donated to Umstead State Park. http://services.wakegov.com/booksweb/PDFView.aspx?DocID=713302&RecordDate=09/26/1985
10. Expansion of the quarry may interfere with DOT plans to reduce congestion along I-40, and will continue to create visibility hazards and dangerous truck traffic along I-40, on Harrison Avenue, and on Old Reedy Creek Road which is currently a major East/West pedestrian, cycling, hiking corridor on the East Coast Greenway.
11. Clear-cutting and mining this land would remove 100 acres of forest and canopy from land that has been identified as a critical land acquisition target by the Umstead State Park System. Clear cutting this land would be harmful to wildlife, streams, wetlands and will harm Crabtree Creek.
12. An environmental impact statement and alternatives analysis and public hearings should be held jointly by the Town of Cary, RDUAA, City of Raleigh, Wake County, City of Durham, and Durham County, prior to moving forward with any plans to expand Wake Stone Quarry.
13. Deforestation and quarrying is inconsistent with the Town of Cary’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as can be simulated using the ENROADS climate simulator.
As a former member of the Environmental Advisory Board for the Town of Cary, I am asking you to recommend that the Town of Cary oppose the proposed use of the Odd Fellows Tract for an expansion to the existing Wake Stone Quarry and to ask the RDUAA not to log the property which is in their name without the permission of the local governments who are on the deed for the parcel and the Town of Cary due to the impact to our land use plan.
Sincerely,
Liz Adams
Vice Chair of the Capital Group Sierra Club
Former Town of Cary Environmental Advisory Board Member
To learn more:
Join the RDU Forest Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RDUForest
Watch the movie 400 Feet Down available on the RDU Forest Website: https://www.rduforest.com/
