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Wake Stone, the company that operates the quarry NE of the I-40/Harrison Ave intersection, wants to lease another piece of land adjacent to Umstead in order to create a second quarry.
Citizens groups are trying to block the move, and are petitioning to have the land purchased from the airport and absorbed into Umstead Park.
I don't think the land can be purchased from the airport. As part of RDU operations and development, that area and others must remain without obstructions to aircraft operations per FAA. If the Umstead Coalition wishes it to be part of the park, then they should come up with the $ to possibly purchase a perpetual conservation easement for the property in question.
Wake Stone doesn't propose to buy the land. They want to lease it for 35 years while they dig out the rock. I doubt they'll need equipment that extends farther above ground level than the tree canopy already does.
Opponents say that a lease for quarrying is tantamount to a sale because at the end of 35 years, the big hole in the ground wouldn't be good for much.
Meanwhile the status of the RDU land on the south side of I-40 remains unsettled, doesn't it?
I will say this: quarries are a fact of life. The area needs concrete to grow, and concrete needs rock -- which is heavy and expensive to haul long distances. The farther away the quarries are, the more CO2 is emitted by trucks taking the rock to concrete mixing plants. The quarries themselves are environmentally disruptive no matter where they are built.
Last edited by wizard-xyzzy; 01-13-2019 at 06:13 PM..
I don't get the fuss about the quarry. It's right next to I-40, so it's not exactly a quiet and tranquil spot. And we already have 5000+ acres of Umstead Park and 500+ acres of Lake Crabtree Park surrounding it. I've read petitions about this being "public" land, but is that really true? I thought the airport owns it...
I love how nearly everyone wants granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and new or nearly new cell phones/smartphones, but then so many are against having the mining activities required for those types of demands anywhere near them and some protest them based on environmental grounds altogether. You can't have it all ways, folks. (Yes, I realize the quarry in Raleigh is not providing those exact types of materials, but still, the principle is the same.)
I used to live near the quarry off of Duraleigh and it was no big deal.
Seems extremely short sighted to ravage valuable land for a quarry right in the middle of a major urban area.
Seems even more shortsighted to stop using it for a quarry when it's likely already been permitted as such and likely can't be built on extensively anyway, and contains valuable natural resources that can be used, are needed, and are giving people jobs.
Seems extremely short sighted to ravage valuable land for a quarry right in the middle of a major urban area.
There's a quarry just north of RDU between US 70 and Westgate. Another just east of RDU on Duraleigh. Like I said, a fact of life - and for good reason.
That area hasn't already been permitted as a quarry. It's airport land.
The area south of I-40 that is currently Crabtree Park was largely RDU property the last time I checked. RDU had earmarked large portions of the park for future development, though that might have changed by now.
The Wake Stone quarry adjacent to Umstead will be tapped out eventually. Wake Stone would like to pay to start new operations in close proximity to the existing quarry on public land. It's very low hanging fruit from a business perspective.
This one quarry probably isn't going to make a dent in the price of stone for granite countertops.
I believe Wake County has counter offered to lease the property in question. If Wake County leased the property then this land could possibly be used for RDU development in the future if needed. If this land is quarried it will have limited future uses.
RDU could lease the land for recreation now, and then when the lease expires in the future, if the price of gravel is a lot higher, then they could always lease it to a stone corp in the future. The granite isn't going anywhere. If they put the site on the open market it could generate more than currently offered.
The quarry is offering $24M for 105 acres that will largely be unusable once the quarry is done with it. Even if quarries are needed for development, this sale is going to primarily benefit Wake Stone and their shareholders. There is little public benefit to leasing the quarry site.
The quarry lease proposal comes out to $685,000/year for 105 acres of land. That seems like a small amount to me for land inside I-540.
LMAO are people really saying there is a such an urgent need for cement we need to turn forest land in the middle of like a 3 million metro into a big hole
Sad! Cement is made from dirt not diamonds dig elsewhere
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