Zoning board recommends denial of Adairsville mining application

Hundreds turn out in opposition.

DWalker@RN-T.com

The Bartow County Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial of a rezoning application that would allow a mining or landfill operation on property between Adairsville and the Barnsley Resort.

Zoning Administrator Richard Osborne said the overflow crowd that came out in opposition to the proposal was one of the largest he’s ever had for a planning commission meeting. “It was in the hundreds,” he said. The crowd in the hearing room was limited by the governor’s COVID-19 emergency order to just 50 individuals at a time. However, the meeting was streamed to an adjacent larger room where a much larger group was socially distanced.

Osborne estimated that close to 50 people went to the podium to speak against the application to rezone more than 400 acres on either side of Rock Fence Road from agricultural to mining use.

“Several spoke for just a minute to say that they were opposed,” Osborne said.

At one point, Planning Commission Chairman Bill Hix gauged the crowd by asking those in favor to stand up and then those in opposition to stand.

“No one stood up for it, and everyone else did rise to oppose the project,” he said

Galen McDaniel is president of Yellowstone LLC, the applicant seeking the rezoning. He spoke for the rezoning, but did not offer any specifics about future use of the tract. His attorney Billy Neel also spoke briefly for the application.

Nothing has come across Osborne’s desk indicating what type of activity is being planned for the site, he said.

“I was thankful to have such a huge response and turnout,” said Sharon Nelson Viktora, a pharmacist who led a grassroots campaign to oppose the rezoning. “I’ve always said there is strength in numbers.”

Leadership of Barnsley Resort and the city of Adairsville were also adamantly opposed to the rezoning for fear of the potential impact on the water table in the area.

Bartow County Sole Commissioner Steve Taylor will conduct a public hearing and final vote on the matter at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the courthouse, 135 W. Cherokee Ave., in Cartersville.

Viktora said she anticipates a large group to turn out for that hearing as well.

Doug Walker Sharon Viktora tells Adairsville residents they can not be lulled into complacency in their battle to stop the rezoning of more than 400 acres on Rock Fence Road.