Save Castalian Springs is a community group formed to protect the beautiful and historic community of Castalian Springs, Tennessee, from a proposed plan to build a 350+ acre rock quarry – along with asphalt and concrete plants – in a residential area off Highway 25.
This dangerous rock quarry would sit right next to more than 50 homes, lower the property values of our entire community, fill our roads with destructive truck traffic, harm our health with clouds of dust and other toxins, and pollute our waterways.
Our community, once known as Bledsoe’s Lick, is also home to the proud history of Middle Tennessee, and we have several historic sites which would be destroyed by the incessant blasting and rock hauling a quarry this size would create, including Bledsoe’s Fort Historical Park, the Wynnewood State Historic Site, the Castalian Springs Mound Site, and Hawthorne Hill, the home of General William Bate, a former Governor of Tennessee.
Castalian Springs, which sits between Gallatin and Hartsville, was devastated in 2008 by tornado damage. We are still rebuilding our quiet, peaceful community. And now we have to protect our home and community from another threat.
We’re not giving up without a fight! Join us by following this blog, finding our group on Facebook, [log in and search for our group - "Keep Castalian Springs Beautiful"], or email us at: savecastaliansprings@gmail.com.
Let’s crush the quarry and Save Castalian Springs!
29 comments:
What would a Quarry in this area do to Sumner County Tourism? Bet it would do great harm , when we all know we need the tourist dollars
I live in Goodlettsville, but we frequently drive up HWY 25 to eat in Hartsville at Tulley's Bistro. Part of the attraction is the beautiful and historic drive up through Castalian Springs. It would be more than a shame to have quarry dust, noise and huge trucks speeding everywhere.
I've always thought this would be a prime area for showcasing Tennessee's history from Native American settlement through the Civil War. Having Hawthorne Hill included on the TN Civil War driving tour was a good start, but let's not lose it all to this quarry. Our history is our future.
Be aware of tonight's seemingly innocuous town hall meeting. Hoover's attorney will be TAKING NOTE of all of your objections and concerns. In the formal hearing he will be poised with rebuttals. Don't show your poker hand more than you need to tonight. Ask pointed and meaningful questions for answers that WE can use!
Hey residents of Castalian Springs, this Hoover bunch tried to do the same thing in Nolensville in the 90's. We beat 'em then and you can beat 'em now. Don't let them push you around. They'll promise you the world and say anything to get you to back down. Stand up for your community. Property is zoned for a reason. You don't owe them nothing. They don't have a right to use your property for quarrying when it's not zoned for it. Remind your Planning people who they work for. Make sure Hoover hasn't cozied to some of them. That's their style. Scream loud. Protest. Put up signs. Call the newspaper. Make sure your neighbors know what's at stake. Talk to Tom Alexander in Nolensville. We couldn't have beat them without Tom. You can do it. Good luck. Nolensville is behind you.
Job Creation! Has anyone thought about that? I live in the surrounding area and beieve we need more companies like this one willing to try to help our economy. When most companies are laying people off, here we have a company that wants to expand and actually create some job. We elect politians to work for us to help attract new businesses to the area. For this reason alone I can't see why they would vote this one down.
In the political world many times we see when an incumbent is challenged they tend spread negative propaganda about the challenger to keep that challenger from becoming a threat to them. Perhaps we have some of this happening in this case. More than any nearby resident, the one that wants this rock quarry voted down is the one that doesnt want the competition...the other quarry(s) in the area.
The bottom line is that we need JOBS NOW! We can worry about finding a piece of a broken sord or a cannon ball at another time.
Dear Reasonable Person, please feel free to post your name and address. We will be more than happy to encourage Western Farm Products/Hoover to bring a rock quarry to your neighborhood. As for me and mine, we are not interested. Thanks.
This quarry will employ 10 people, not 100. We all know it. Real, long term growth that helps our community instead of shaking it to its foundations is NOT what we need.
I love the job creation argument. That's like saying we'll create new firefighting jobs by setting the town on fire. Jobs and profit made on the destruction of our community are not the jobs we want. EVER.
Reasonable Person, 300 people showed up to say no. There will be 500 at the BZA. Are you saying all those are actors hired by someone?
I agree. The people of Castalian Springs need to find an attorney that has fought a quarry battle like this one before and won---a really good attorney---Harvard Law School---not some "Bubba" from Vanderbilt Law School, UT Law School, or the Nashville YMCA Law School.
I know some of you Sumner County area millionaires could pull together and easily pay his fees, although I hope other folks would pitch in too. From growing up in Gallatin, I know that you "money bags" folks are the ones who have most supported historic preservation in the county for many decades. This is a full-fledged HISTORICAL EMERGENCY the likes of which have never been seen in Sumner County. You need to open those money bags wide now and ask questions later.
You have to get the Zoning Board on your side. These are public officials who are supposed to be responsible to the local people they serve and for the welfare of local communities. The whole purpose of zoning is to ensure proper land use, manage growth for the benefit of the community, and avoid stupid decisions that can devastate a community.
I will start by saying that I am a resident of Castalian Springs and I am 150% against this quarry coming here. I will fight it to the very end. There are so many reasons it should not come to this community and most of those reasons have been discussed - historical sites, damage to homes, the health effects, environmental pollution, on and on. I have been on an emotional roller coaster since I first heard of this quarry. It breaks my heart to think that someone would want to destroy this community just to line their pockets with more money. It makes me so very angry that I am ready for battle. This is our HOME. Not just the individual homes but our home community, our sanctuary. Once it is destroyed - it is gone - gone forever.
To the "Reasonable Person" commentator, I understand that you or someone close to you has struggled during our economic situation in this country. We all have. But, even if this quarry did create a few jobs, it is not worth the destruction they would cause - to the land, historical sites, our homes, our health, our environment. They just want to TAKE and after they have taken all they can get, they leave to go destroy another area. They have no regard for anything or anyone.
I can tell you that I have not talked to anybody that could be in competition with Hoover and have no desire to. Everything I know about a quarry and asphalt plants and their other operations I know from experience and personal research through reputable organizations. I am not interested in anything Hoover or their competition may have to say except that they are not coming to this community. I am concerned that Hoover has tried to "do some talking" of their own though.
I came across this comment and thought it so true: "You can plant another tree, but you can't grow another mountain."
There are things you have to prevent from happening because if they do, they can't be fixed.
SAVE CASTALIAN SPRINGS!
Amy D. What a beautiful message you posted. You put into words what I am feeling, especially about the jobs. I love the quote at the end. I would like to use that.
Thank you. Absolutely use the quote. I feel very passionately about saving our community from this destruction. I also understand that people have been struggling the past few years with our economy the way it has been. By destroying an area that is so very important to our county, state and nation is not the way to fix the economy though.
SAVE CASTALIAN SPRINGS!
Can someone explain to me the potential legal ramifications with regard to zoning and the county zoning board. For example, if the property is zoned for residential use only, how does Hoover put a quarry there? Do the zoning people have no legal authority with regard to how they zone land? If the zoning board says no to Hoover, why are they able to take it to chancery court and get the "no" overturned?
Put another way, murder is against the law. If I were to kill a resident of Castalian Springs, I would be breaking that law and they would send me to prison or worse. How then am I able to go to some judge, get him to rule that murder is legal for Tracy Brown ONLY, and get that ruling declared to be retroactive so I can get out of jail and do whatever I wish.
Now, I am not talking about an appeals process here. I feel sure that the zoning board itself has an appeals process. What are the details here?
My thoughts are with you folks. I've been on the side of saving Nashville's Fairgrounds and Raceway.
Dean wanting to tear down our fairgrounds and raceway is nothing but greed and political favoritism.
And I'll say the same about the quarry folks wanting to destroy your land in the name of "jobs." They'll hire the least amount of people they can for the lowest wage they can.
And these folks will be working for dirt, digging dirt, in a huge pit under what once was your beautiful and productive farm land.
Keep up the good fight!
We're doing it here in Nashville. You will do it too.
you need to start a facebook page to futher sread the word!
See post under "Our Story" tab.
why is my post not being shown?
(PART 1 0f 2)
Well I hope you all feel good about your attempts to shoot down my job creation “post”. I understand that you may not want the quarry to come but you still can’t ignore the glaring truths about the economy and the high number of people unemployed. According to April 2011 unemployment figures Sumner Co has 8.9% unemployed. The counties around us have an even higher percentage (Trousdale Co at 10.6% and Macon Co at 10.7%). This may not matter to you unless you are one of the nearly 7500 people unemployed in Sumner Co. You can fight this all you want, and I’m sure you will, but it is strictly from a selfish “employed-persons” point of view. And if anyone is wondering, yes, I do have a job myself so I’m not approaching this from a selfish motive myself. I’m trying to think of how this could HELP the ENTIRE community. Although I thought the firefighter comment was cute and clever I don’t think it a time to simply throw out ignorant comments just to feel like, “I told them!”
Someone “anonymously” posted that this quarry would only create 10 jobs yet on the other hand some of the propaganda that has been circulating says that there will be 300 dump trucks a day. That seems like a lot more jobs than just 10. You may not think that a truck driving job is worth counting but I would disagree. In addition to supporting that driver’s household it also stimulates the economy through the purchase of fuel which in turn adds to the State’s Road Fund to allow new roads to be built and maintained……which creates even more jobs. Again, I think the company is doing the community and surrounding areas a favor by expanding to the area.
(PART 2 of 2)
Someone “anonymously” brought up the political issue. I, for one, don’t want nor need the government to support me. Bigger government is not the answer. The answer is for companies, like this one, to be willing to step up and invest new capital and be willing to help stimulate growth. I’m sure selfish people don’t care but the County will benefit from additional sales tax and additional severance taxes being collected. I would also like to point out that 100% of this additional County revenue will remain the County’s and not have to be split with the City like other area quarry(s) have to do.
Finally, I saw many of you at the June 30th meeting and understand your point of view if you live right next to this site. I also saw several others there that night that was there on behalf of the competition. Yes, you can deny that all you want but the one fueling the fire here is the other quarry(s) in the area. That the one that REALLY doesn’t want this to get approved. Competition would be a good thing to help control pricing. If you only had 1 gas station in the entire county what do you think you would pay for gas? I can tell you it would be a lot higher than what it is now…..although that’s hard to imagine!)
I’m sure several residence (and competing quarry members) will take shots at this post but I just feel like this is getting blown out of proportion. It’s not a toxic waste dump come in here where the future generations are going to have birth defects from radiation or something. The competition wants you to think that’s what it like though. It’s simply a hole in the ground that will create jobs!
Well I agree we need jobs. I'm still against the quarry going in but I if 1 out of every 10 people is unemployed then I guess creting jobs is a good thing.
The argument for bringing jobs to the area could also be made for developing the area as a historical destination. Responsible historical and "eco-tourism" can also bring jobs and money into a community, with a lot less destruction than a quarry.
O.K. Mr. Reasonable Person.Castalian Springs is not just a home for humans. We also have large cattle, horse, sheep, goat,llamas, pig farms and more.That employ many farm hands.The pollution from the quarry will make humans and animals sick.Thus making them have to leave the area.
I was told it was a dump site
It has been my experience that people who major in business, particularly accounting, in college tend to see their whole world through that prism. If its is 33 A.D. and Jesus is being crucified on a cross, this guy's sole interest is whether the Romans paid too much for the wood in the cross. Nuff said!!!
I have Payne ancestors from Castalian Springs and would really hate to see the quarry put there.
Has there been any word since the hearing? I live right down the road from the site and things have been very quiet since the 14th. Just wondering if there have been any new developments. No Quarry!
To jendavis please read the posts under the tab "Our Story". Scroll down to "Update........" That is the latest information that we have. The last article by Mike Towle has some interesting information. It does seem quiet but there are things going on in the background I am sure.
Actually Hoover did have a rock quarry there
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