The new Metro Council begins its work tonight after an election that produced historic turnover in the chamber. One of the first orders of business is a lingering controversy about whether to allow quarry operations in Nashville.
The proposed rules would limit quarries across Davidson County, but there’s a specific proposal in Old Hickory that spurred council action this summer.
Residents worry about the impact of rock blasting on the environment, their quality of life, and on the aging Old Hickory Dam nearby. Councilman Larry Hagar
wrote a rule that limits how close a quarry can be to homes and parks. But he
failed to get his bill to a final vote in August.
He has to start over, but the idea is mostly the same —
expanded slightly to also limit asphalt and concrete plants.
The new council, including 27 of 40 first-time members, will hear the bill’s first reading. State inspectors, meanwhile, have
asked the quarry company for a better environmental impact study.
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