Wake judge reverses clause that allows quarrying next to Umstead park indefinitely
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Judge reverses 2018 permit edits that removed sunset clause allowing indefinite mining
- Court found regulators altered Wake Stone permit by email without public notice
- Ruling also voids buffer reduction and may block Wake Stone expansion onto RDU land
State regulators improperly altered a mining permit for Wake Stone Corp. that allowed it to quarry rock next to Umstead State Park indefinitely, a Wake County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.
The change, made in 2018 without public notice or input, allows the company to expand its quarry operation onto neighboring land owned by Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Judge Sean A. Cole’s order undoing the change could prevent that expansion.
At issue is a clause in the 1981 permit that allowed Wake Stone to open the Triangle Quarry off North Harrison Avenue. Permitting an open pit mine next to the state park was controversial, opposed by then Gov. Jim Hunt and state Attorney General Rufus Edmisten, among others.
After negotiations between the state and the company, the permit included a “sunset clause” that would effectively end mining by 2031. The permit gave the state the right to acquire the quarry site at no cost “at the end of 50 years from the date quarrying commences or 10 years after quarrying operations have ceased without having been resumed, whichever is sooner.”
Wake Stone did not contest the clause at the time, and it remained in the permit for 37 years, through several renewals and modifications.
Then in 2018, Wake Stone asked state mining regulators to change the word “sooner” to “later,” postponing the state’s ability to acquire the property until 10 years after mining is finished. The company made the request by email, calling the change a minor correction to an error that had simply been overlooked.
But in his decision, Cole wrote that Wake Stone was asking for a major change in the permit that allows the company to continue mining indefinitely without filing an application that would be subject to public scrutiny.
“The actions of Wake Stone represent clear, strong, and convincing evidence that the company was attempting to circumvent the correct procedure for requesting changes to their mining permit,” Cole wrote. “To suggest that changing the word ‘sooner’ to ‘later’ in this permit was a minor or ‘ministerial’ change is laughable bordering on fraudulent conduct.”
The Umstead Coalition, a park advocacy group, sued the state in 2022, seeking to have the sunset clause restored. The case was first heard by Judge Donald van der Vaart at the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings, who ruled in favor of the state Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources, the agency within the Department of Environmental Quality that handles mining permits.
The Umstead Coalition appealed to Wake County Superior Court. Jean Spooner, who heads the coalition, hailed Cole’s decision Wednesday.
“After improper removal of those protections from the permit, and years of Wake Stone’s legal resistance and repeated attempts to block review of these issues, the Umstead Coalition ultimately secured a court decision restoring those long-standing protections for William B. Umstead State Park,” Spooner wrote. “Justice has been done.”
A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Quality said it is reviewing the ruling. The department has 30 days to decide whether to appeal.
Wake Stone, which is now owned by Vulcan Materials, has not responded to a request for comment.
The Triangle Quarry is nearing the end of its life. But the state approved a permit modification that allows Wake Stone to extend the operation by establishing a second quarry on adjoining land it leases from RDU. The company plans to truck stone quarried from the RDU land across Crabtree Creek to be processed on the Triangle Quarry site.
Thwarting a reward for ‘backchannel’ changes
Cole criticized van der Vaart’s decision in the case, saying his “findings of fact were not supported by the factual record.” Cole said allowing the administrative law judge’s decision to stand would “reward ‘backchannel’ efforts to make significant changes” to permits and other documents issued by the state.
“It would encourage companies and individuals to work outside the regulatory framework established by the Mining Act and other similar statutes and regulations,” Cole wrote. “Such actions taken out of public view are both injurious to the citizens of North Carolina and run afoul of fair competition in the business community.”
Cole also reversed another change the state made to Wake Stone’s permit in 2018. At the company’s request, regulators redefined the buffer area between the quarry operation and Umstead State Park by changing the boundary from the top of the creek bank closest to the quarry to the middle of the stream.
“The effect of this change was to decrease the width of the buffer between the quarry and the park,” Cole wrote. And like the elimination of the sunset clause, it was done by email “without alerting the public or any interested parties.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2025 at 1:05 PM.
