Vulcan Materials Co., the nation's largest producer of crushed stone, mines about 4 million tons of hard, black rock each year from a mile-long swath of land in Prince William County.
The Manassas Quarry, which opened in 1963, has become a manmade, mini-Grand Canyon, plunging 435 feet from top to bottom. The life of the quarry is expected to end in about 20 years.
Vulcan Materials wants to build a quarry south of Route 28 in Nokesville and north of the Prince William County Public Safety Academy. It would abut the Fauquier County line and be adjacent to Norfolk Southern Railroad to the north.
(Courtesy Of Vulcan Materials Co.)
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Vulcan recently applied for a special-use permit to tap another site off Route 28 in Nokesville to develop the Prince William Quarry, which could produce the same crushed diabase stone, a rock formed by volcanic intrusions, that is now culled from the Manassas Quarry, which is near Stonewall Jackson High School.
Local residents, several of them farmers who successfully fought previous applications to turn the Nokesville land into a quarry, are fighting Vulcan. They cite noise, air pollution and truck traffic as the problems that a quarry could produce.
"This is prime land you are talking about. People have come in and built these expensive houses," said Nancy Hickerson, 70, who has lived in the community for 45 years. "It would be a detriment to the growth of the area."
Vulcan is going on the offensive, promising the community little noise and little traffic and promoting the fact that 65 percent of the rock mined from the Manassas Quarry goes to local vendors to build houses, schools and roads.
Vulcan officials say the company cannot just pick another site. "We have to go where the rock is," said Lee Fifer, an attorney representing Vulcan.
"We'd like to make a smooth transition from this quarry to that one," said Paul Miklich, area sales manager for Vulcan's Mideast Division.
The Nokesville property is 537 acres on the Fauquier County line off Route 28. It's adjacent to the Norfolk Southern Railroad line, which is instrumental to Vulcan because the company ships 35 percent of the rock it mines by rail, Fifer said.
The area was once zoned heavy industrial. The property abuts the Prince William County Public Safety Academy and a planned off-road motorcycle riding facility.
"You've got industrial zoning, you've got the rock, and you've got the rail," Fifer said.
The community does not have a proper road, Vulcan officials and opponents of the proposed quarry said.
At the Manassas Quarry, an average 150 trucks go in and out of the property six days a week.
At the proposed site, there are plans to expand the two-lane Route 28, also known as Nokesville Road, to four lanes. Miklich said Vulcan is willing to contribute to the improvements to Route 28, including donating rock that could be used to build roads. It takes 20,000 to 38,000 tons of crushed stone to construct one mile of road, according to Vulcan.
