Rincon city council members have asked for more information from a group wanting to begin a surface mine.

But nearby residents, including Rincon Mayor Ken Lee, are opposed to the surface mine.

Wilson Burns, representing the North Effingham Company, asked to have 52 acres on the northern side of their two parcels rezoned to general industrial from general agricultural.

Council members voted 4-2 to table the matter until their next council meeting, with Ken Baxley and Reese Browher voting no. Browher had offered a motion to deny the rezoning request.

The original request was to have all 136.56 acres rezoned, but Burns amended his request for just the northern tract. The parcels are divided by a railroad spur.

Burns said the property will revert to its original zoning once the sand pit is mined out.

“On a long-term basis, we see the use as a recreational area,” he said, adding the company would give Rincon the right of first refusal for the property.”

It wasn’t the long-term future nearby residents along Hardy Road were worried about, though. They had concerns about the potential use of the land as a sand pit.

Lee recused himself from his seat, with Levi Scott taking over presiding over the meeting, and addressed the council members on his concerns.

“We want to maintain the integrity of our area,” Lee said. “They have an option on a piece of property that is quite unique. I think they are having a difficult time finding a suitable use for it. And I don’t know that this is the most reasonable option for the people surrounding them and the most reasonable option for the city of Rincon.”

Hardy Road resident Jack McEleveen said he hadn’t heard anything about the rezoning request until three hours before the council meeting.

“We feel city council should table this to give neighbors more time to discuss this with city council,” he said. “You ought to have clear guidelines on what they are going to do on the south side before you rezone the north side.

“It is inappropriate for someone to ask for something to make money that could hurt your neighbors.”

Residents also wondered how the surface mining activity would affect the water level in a neighborhood pond and the effect it would have on property values.

“The city council and the planning commission and each one of us share the responsibility of protecting our private property,” said Bruce Savage, “especially land development that would diminish the value of land and its usefulness.

We also share the responsibility of protecting the environment. Surface mining in the city limits of Rincon is not consistent with protecting the environment.”

City planner LaMeisha Hunter also said the zoning request would be spot zoning, but a zoning decision can be made conditionally.

Burns said borings on the land that have been done show there is usable fill dirt as deep as 17 feet. Turning the land into a sand pit would give them a more accessible and closer repository of fill dirt. Several tracts nearby are expected to be developed.

“There will be a lot of fill dirt needed,” he said. “A lot of our pits are south of Rincon.”

Another point of contention was the size of the buffer and berm Burns’ group planned to put in for the northern tract.

“We would like to not put a berm in,” Burns said. “If we get to the point where the developments are moving faster than we can mine it, then we would extend the buffer to 50 feet and put in a 12-foot berm.”

Residents of Hardy Road, adjacent to the south side, asked for North Effingham Company to provide a hydrology analysis and an access plan to the northern tract. Burns said the access to the northern parcel would be through a power company easement.

Burns also said the neighbors on the northern side, the Zipperer property, don’t have a problem with the buffer.

He also asked council members not to table the rezoning request but rather vote on it. A no vote would have meant waiting another six months to bring it back before the council.

“I share many of the same concerns of the people on Hardy Road,” Browher said. “I hate to rush to judgment. If we pass this, it may have ramifications.”

Said council member Scott Morgan: “I share some of the concerns of the citizens. I see both sides. If I lived on Hardy Road, it’s something I would want to be discussed.”

Margie Attaway said she lives the closest of those on Hardy Road the northern half. She also asked how far the dust and noise would travel from the sand mine.

“We moved up here from Savannah for the serenity,” she said, noting that deer and wild turkey used to come into her yard. “You’re really not preserving the residential area. There’s got to be something better than putting a big hole in back of my house.”

Burns said the state Department of Transportation could address the access issue.

“If we can get an answer on Dec. 10, I think that will work for us,” he said.