By Hannah Lester
hlester@opelikaobserver.com
The Lee County Commission voted Monday night to approve a special election for rezoning Beat 13 in Lee County.
The land in question is located around where the potential quarry proposed by Creekwood Resources, LLC, would be located.
Danielle Ritch, one of the residents fighting the quarry, turned in a petition on Feb. 3 to Probate Judge Bill English with 633 signatures, English said. The petition calls for zoning the land, which could prevent the quarry from being constructed in the area.
English said there are 2,656 voters in Beat 13. In order to reach the necessary 15% of signatures to call for a special election, the petition needed 399 signatures.
English said he has checked the petition and found that there are at least 445 valid signatures on the petition. Though there are 149 signatures still to look into, English found 39 signatures that were invalid.
For a signature to be considered invalid, the person who signed might have not been a registered voter of Beat 13, they were not listed in the tax map, they signed twice, they live within the Opelika or Auburn city limits, they live within Chambers County or were scratched out, a document from English said.
The special election must be held within 90 days of the petition being turned in, English said, and cannot occur after 120.
The commission voted to hold the special election on May 18.
“This will only be in Beat 13, it will be a special election, be one question on the ballot and this will be 100% county cost,” English said.
For more information on the potential quarry, read more here: www.opelikaobserver.com/shady-grove-quarry-update/ or here: https://opelikaobserver.com/lee-county-citizens-continue-to-fight-potential-quarry/