Although Vulcan Materials, under the moniker Vulcan Land Development, formerly withdrew a request on Saturday to rezone hundreds of acres of property in the Greystone community for industrial use, members of the Greystone community and beyond still attended Tuesday’s Greene County Planning Commission meeting to voice their opposition to the pulled request or any future requests that could come from the mining company.
There was no action taken on the matter during the meeting, as it was only presented as an “informational item.” The commission allowed members of the public to speak about the matter since it was too late to formally inform interested parties of the change when the item was withdrawn. About a dozen people spoke during the meeting in opposition to the pulled rezoning request that was seeking to see 800 acres rezoned for industrial use.
Hope Drummonds of 410 W I Bowman Road said she lived about a mile and a half from Vulcan’s current mining facility, and was vehemently opposed to the operation’s expansion. She noted that she was raised on the property and still lives there.
Hope Drummonds
Around 40 people attended the meeting as a show of support for those speaking.
Todd Jenkins said he was a Greeneville resident that frequents the natural beauty of southern Greene County and the Appalachian Trail, and grew emotional when talking about the need for everyone in Greene County to come together to protect the land and those that inhabit it.
Todd Jenkins
Planning Commission Chair Gwen Lilley thanked the members of the public for their comments.
Request Pulled For Second Time
In a statement provided to Radio Greeneville News, Vulcan said they pulled the request for additional time to “continue dialogue” and make their application “stronger.”
“We are pulling our application from its scheduled June vote before the Planning Commission. We have spent the last several months having discussions with the community and would like additional time to continue dialogue, answer questions, and consider ways to make our rezoning application stronger,” a statement from Vulcan said.
Since the item was pulled from the Planning Commission agenda, it will no longer appear on the July agenda of the Greene County Commission for consideration.
Vulcan, which has mined gravel and sand out of its roughly 500 acre property on Greystone, Tabor Lane, and Shelton Mission Road for decades, was looking to expand and rezone its mine and about 300 additional acres nearby from an A-1 General Agriculture designation to an M-1 Industrial designation. That includes eight parcels of land.
The withdrawal of the request marks the second time Vulcan has withdrawn a rezoning request dating back to late 2025.
In November 2025, the company was set to request about 680 acres for rezoning in the form of 15 parcels, however, Vulcan withdrew the request after facing fierce backlash in the community. Over 100 people attended a community meeting held at that time.
Staunch opposition to the rezoning request from those in the Greystone, Rock Batter, Bethany, and Camp Creek communities and from others in the wider Greene County community has persisted.
Concerns listed by citizens during a recent community meeting with over 60 people in attendance included safety hazards from increased heavy truck traffic, air pollution from dust generated at the current site, impacts to nearby wells, inadequate buffering, noise and light pollution issues, water quality issues, the impact to livestock and wildlife, the impact on tourism at the nearby Margarette Falls trailhead and views from the Appalachian Trail on Viking Mountain, permanent damage to the land, litigation involving other Vulcan sites across the country, and other concerns.
A large local industry, Premium Waters, also expressed concern about the possible expansion of Vulcan’s operation during Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting. Premium Waters draws water out of a spring in Camp Creek, and the local plant’s manager said at the most recent community meeting that the company was worried that Vulcan’s expansion would negatively impact the water quality of the spring, creek, and surrounding area.
Hydrological studies are currently being carried out by the company.
An elderly woman that spoke during Tuesday’s meeting that lives nearby the Vulcan property said she had to dig a second well, and that well now has become contaminated with silt, which she believes was caused by Vulcan’s mining.
