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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 19, 2005 Quarry proposal is worst kind of sprawl Life up Dead Indian Memorial Road has a certain aura about it for most who live there. Most choose very specifically to live there, looking for a certain type of life. They opt to drive the winding road into town for things like groceries or taking kids to school events. They trade convenience for tranquility. Life up Dead Indian Memorial could radically change come Monday. Plans to rezone a significant swath of land - about 5,000 acres - so it can be turned into a rock quarry will be reviewed by Jackson County. The residents of Dead Indian, as to be expected, are organized in their opposition. For good reason. If this quarry is approved, the life they chose will be changed. How much it will be changed is a point of debate. Issues of noise pollution, truck traffic and water contamination have been raised, not to mention the negative impact on property value. How much is part of what will be hammered out at the hearing. But, regardless of how much, it is certain that this lifestyle will change, raising a basic issue of fairness that overshadows all other issues. It is difficult to justify the dramatic shift of this zoning change in any terms. An industrial-use rock quarry amid pastures of horses, towering trees and babbling brooks is about as radical of a change as one can imagine. Trying to envision it is like a picture of a skyscraper in the Greensprings. It is almost surreal. Strip it all down and this is basically sprawl - the exact kind of thing the community has said it doesn't want. It's industry moving outward into the natural areas that need to be protected. This project is more out of place than a 5,000-acre housing development, which would never pass through planning. But ask residents which they would prefer given an ultimatum, a housing development would win by a large margin. Simply, a rock quarry miles up Dead Indian Memorial Road is like a Wal-Mart on the road to Mount Ashland. The problem is there is nothing wrong with a rock quarry. It's a viable and needed business. As the quarry's owner J.G. Dauenhauer has said, the state needs more rocks. It's his business to provide them. Like all businesses, however, he must work within the framework of zoning laws and acceptable land-use planning. But miles up Dead Indian Memorial Road just isn't it. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams