Huger residents take a stand against DonMar Sand Mines

The expansion of the DonMar Sand Mine was a non-negotiable issue for a group of residents of the Huger community. At a sometimes heated community forum on December 5, the residents told DonMar officials directly that they did not want the proposed sand mine expansion to occur under any circumstances - and they didn’t budge.

“I would love to understand how we can be a good neighbor and how we can help build value into the community,” said Reg Christopher, a DonMar consultant, as he addressed the group.

“A good neighbor denotes the movement for a community, not the destruction of it,” resident Sybil Mitchell said in response. “What you can do, if you want me to be very honest, is shut down the mine.”

And their tenacity appeared to pay off in a victory that came two days later, when Berkeley County officials announced that DonMar pulled their application to expand the mine.

“We’re not really sure why they withdrew,” said Berkeley County Public Information Officer Carli Drayton. “The application was for expansion, so as of right now, they’re not pursuing the expansion they were going to do.”

Those who attended the Wednesday meeting may have an idea why the application was pulled. It was an occasionally hectic exchange between two sides that could not see eye-to-eye.

The gathering was originally slated for LowCo Cafe, but the forum was moved to the Keith School Museum. The owner of the Clements Ferry Road coffee house did not want to be embroiled in the potential ensuing controversy, so he elected to not allow the meeting to be held at his restaurant. In the first heated exchanges of the night, the community and DonMar representatives met in the LowCo parking lot before being asked to leave by the owner.

“I did not want to be a part of any kind of divisive thing with the neighborhood,” he told the crowd.

One of the first public comments came from Mitchell, who told the room that the community’s problem with the mine is not its effect on traffic, but the hazards it provides to clean drinking water, air, and quality of life.

“Those things matter to a community that’s small, cohesive, and dynamic,” she said.

Mitchell added, “It’s a given that traffic and some development are going to come. What is the matter to us is if our community is going to be destroyed?”

“This community is like a shoebox,” said Edward Beaufort Cutner, another resident in attendance. “There are families, there are people that have been here forever.” He referenced the community’s growth over the last seven years and that he’s been able to cultivate wealth because of the natural expansion the area is seeing.

“What wealth can be grown here with mines every few miles?” he asked. The crowd responded, “none.”

“We’re talking about an impact upon the lives of people going generationally,” Cutner added. “We own this. We own this, not just because we’ve got the deed to it, but we own this because our great grandparents were slaves.”

“My mom lived to be 101, and she lived that long because she was able to get up in the mornings, go outside, and breathe fresh, pure, clean air,” said local resident Vernelle Dickerson. “We’re not breathing that. We go out in the mornings on our porch to have coffee—there’s a fog. Dust, we’re breathing.”

Reg Christopher told the crowd that his Awendaw residence is near sand mines, but it is of no concern to him because “it is well maintained and it is well buffered, so I don’t see it.” Awendaw had similar discussions and fears in 2016 when other sand mines were under review.

Rapid change in the community brought on by the mine is another point of contention for the residents.

“I’m not suggesting that it’s restricted to you, but, what I’m saying is there was a time when this community was spotless,” said Mitchell. “But, with each development that was approved, and each traffic that came into the community, it began to change the look and beauty of the community.”

Speaking on behalf of DonMar Mines, Jim Rozier said, “People are going to move here.”

“They’re going to build houses, they’re going to build roads, they just passed a gas tax so they could build more roads, and they have to have dirt to do it,” he stated. “And the dirt comes out of rural areas.”

Huger resident Paula Forbes reacted by claiming that the dirt will be used for subdivisions, not roads.

Several audience members hinted that the mine was happening to Huger because it is “our community,” without explicitly stating what community they were referencing. DonMar officials took it as an allusion to the predominantly African-American population in Huger.

“This is a dune,” said Christopher. “That’s why you have wetlands on one side, wetlands on the other, high in the middle. It’s got nothing to do with your community. It does have a lot to do with the quality of soil that is contained in what years ago was a dune.”

Rozier bit back harder, stating that sand mines happen to white communities, as well.

“Don’t tell me we came because of the black community,” he added. “That insults me.”

“This community representatively does not have any political power,” a resident in the front row said. “That’s part of the problem. The other thing is this is a humble community. They have allowed encroachment, encroachment, encroachment. It has to stop.”

And, while there has been a consistent theme among Huger residents that they have not been given the proper platform to discuss the DonMar mines, the announcement that the company pulled their application for expansion proved that their voice is loud, when they are heard.

Although DonMar’s application for expansion was pulled, sand mines in the Huger area are set to be discussed at the Berkeley County Planning Commission Meeting on December 13. The Planning Commission will make recommendations to County Council based on the details deliberated. This will be the first of three readings before County Council decides the course of action.