Carolina SunRock, LLC, a subsidiary of SunRock Group Holdings Corporation, made formal application to Frankin County, NC for a Special Use Permit in April of 2008 (click here to see the application and related documents). Under the direction of company owner Bryan Pfohl, the Carolina-based firm would like to build a sand and rock quarry and aggregate processing facility on a 480.99 acre tract of land which currently carries an Agricultural/Residential zoning designation.

The land in question is comprised of 6 individual tracts which are owned by:

3820 Merton Drive of Raleigh, LLC (aka Ennis G. Pleasants - 1 tract of 200.46 acres - optioned to Bryan Pfohl ), and
Jack & Charlaine Milani of Raleigh (4 tracts totalling 157.53 acres - optioned to Bryan Pfohl), and
William & Mary O'Neil of Louisburg (1 tract of 123 acres - optioned to Bryan Pfohl).

A Special Use Permit is required because the planned use is not agricultural or rural residential in nature.

Bounding the proposed quarry property are 51 rural-residential land parcels, most of which already have homes and/or outbuildings on them.

The Special Use Permit application was brought before the Planning Board at a public hearing on July 8, 2008. Community homeowners turned out in force for the hearing, so much so that the meeting had to be moved to a larger facility to accomodate everyone and satisfy the fire marshal's maximum occupancy requirements. Per Planning Board By-Laws, community members were allowed a maximum of 5 minutes per person to voice their opinions to the Board,though this allowance was overlooked one time when the Board allowed one audience member to give up their five minutes to someone who had previously spoken so that they could complete their presentation. The applicant, on the other hand, was allowed as much time as they required to present their proposal and to provide their responses to the community's concerns, questions, and allegations.

The community started things off with a bang by explaining that SunRock's application failed to meet a single one of the Unified Development Ordinance defined requirements for issuance of a Special Use Permit and that their application was, itself, incomplete as it lacked a number of evidenciary items that the ordinances require. Specifically, the application and addendum contained insufficient internal traffic pattern plans, insufficient parking lot plans, no lighting plan or light style information, and no information on the specific locations or orientations of semi-permanent equipment.

Other high points of the meeting included the following:

~ SunRock was either unable or unwilling to provide details on 8 citations issued by the NC Dept of Mine Safety & Health between March-October of 2007.

~ SunRock's response to the presentation of an Army Corps of Engineers document indicating that they had adversely impacted 1.52 acres of wetlands and 62 linear feet of stream without seeking prior authorization from the Corps was that the Corps and the referenced document were incorrect.

~ Asked whether frequency levels of sound generated by quarry operations had been measured, the firm's spokesman (a geologist) indicated that they'd conducted decibel-level studies and measurements and that these were the same as frequency. His response to documented evidence to the contrary which also indicated that certain frequencies or ranges of noise can cause as much damage to hearing as high decibel levels, he continued to insist that decibels and frequency were simply two different ways of measuring the loudness of sound.

~ The Director of Planning had to publicly correct factual misrepresentations made by SunRock's rep during a discussion of other residential properties surrounding industrial mining projects.

~ SunRock's reps vigorously denied that silica dust (which comes from quartz) could be among the harmful substances which could become airborne during mining and/or processing activities and travel to nearby residential properties despite the fact that the NC Mine & Quarry Bureau has clearly warned members of the mining industry of the hazards of this material. The same agency produces a pocket-card for laborers in fields under the department's jurisdiction and this card indicates that silica dust is generated in and around most quarries, crushing plants, mines, mills, and processing plants during drilling, blasting, crushing, and grinding operations. The card warns of the potential to contract silicosis, a lung disease which can be deadly. According to the department, only proper dust control & containment can minimize or eliminate the health risks posed by silica dust.

These issues, combined with a myriad of other concerns and factual data which community-members presented to the Planning Board, made for a very quick and easy vote by the Board members who unanimously decided to recommend that the County Commissioners deny the Special Use Permit application.