The Allen Co. wants to turn a 103-acre farm in Winchester, Ky., into an open-pit limestone quarry, but they are facing public opposition. The Allen Co. recently acquired the farm and filed for a zoning change from agriculture to heavy industry.
According to Kentucky.com, for more than 50 years, the Allen Co. has operated an underground quarry beneath the hillside across the river in Madison County. The quarry sends a steady stream of gravel trucks up and down the steep hills of Highway 627 in both directions. But there hasn’t been a quarry on the Clark County side of the river since the 1940s. That is when the Allen Co. closed what is now an abandoned, fenced-off pit.
The company and its customers said that Clark County needs a plentiful supply of crushed stone for development. Many in the community oppose the development of a new quarry operation.