Do Mines and Quarries Affect the Price of Land and Real Estate in North Carolina?

Accredited Land Consultant Eric Andrews discusses rock quaries, blasting, digging and mines, and how they could impact the price of nearby homes and real estate. In North Carolina, in early 2021, we have a couple of quarry issues going on. In Snow Camp NC there are some people unhappy with a proposed quarry in Alamance County, and the same thing is happening in Caswell County with an Asphalt quarry. Unfortunately, the quarries have to go somewhere if we want roads to drive on, and they usually end up where the asphalt is. In Chatham County, just south of Pittsboro, we have a 3M quarry. Everyone has gotten used to it, which is good, because it is not going away any time soon. This all said, people should be concerned. Quarries can be noisy, shake your house, screw up your well and devalue your property.

Speaker 1:           … Being near a mine or a quarry devalue your property?

Speaker 2:           Well, it can do devalue your property. I mean, certainly, we have, we have a situation in Snow Camp, Amamance County, and there’s a proposed semi-approved quarry right now. And so some of the land in the properties that I have up there, it concerns people.

I remember when we had the quarry come in south of Pittsbourough and that was concerning a lot of people. I know the guy started the business with Stacy Plumber. He lived across the street, maybe a half-mile away from the mine and he had dishes up on his China cabinet and when they first started blasting, the dishes would fall off. So people don’t want to be next to a quarry or a mine or anything.

Probably one of the worst things is following the trucks and losing, breaking, cracking your windshield is bad, but people need to realize that. First of all, we’re lucky to have that type of stone available in the area. This is an area that’s growing incredibly fast. I mean, I’m not pro-mine or pro-rock quarry, but if you’re going to build roads, if you’re going to do construction, to have an available source for that type of product, does make it less expensive for people, which is a good thing.

We did have a situation, one time, where a client had an acre and a half pond and the facility was about a mile away and they blasted a mile away and the pond dried up in two or three days. You drive by this guy’s house now and he has a big bowl of grass in his front yard.

I mean, so the rocks opened up and sucked up all the water in his pond. And I’ve had some other people with wells that were close to a mine or quarry, after the blasting they get settlement in their water. But, yeah, I mean, I have to admit I’m a not in my backyard kind of guy. I wouldn’t want a mine right next door to me. But the fact of the matter is if we’re going to build new construction, we need quarries in our area.