Visitors from the east

 

Green border is CUP site

Visitors from the east attended the September 3 Goochland Board of Supervisors’ meeting. They did not come bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh, just a TV news crew. Four sitting supervisors from Henrico, in an unprecedented action, attended a public hearing about a conditional use permit application filed by Luck Stone for land adjacent to its Ashland Road quarry. The property in question sits on the Henrico/Goochland line. Three Chopt District Supervisor Misty D. Whitehead, whose district borders the subject property, spoke to concerns of Henrico residents about the CUP during the public hearing.

Before yielding their time to Whitehead, other Henrico supervisors whined about sitting through three hours of public hearings and weighed in on the CUP, ignoring the Goochland rule that you either speak or yield your time.

Luck Stone, which has been in business for more than a century—98 years in Goochland—has operated its Rockville quarry for 59 years, before these homes just east of the county line, most assessed in the high six and low seven figures, were built.

The CUP would allow Luck to use the subject 70-acre site for “overburden”, to place dirt removed in the quarry process there. The CUP application includes a landscaped berm no more than 150 feet high.  Elevations included in the application indicate that the 350-foot-wide berm would have a 2/1 westward slope and will be essentially a landscaped hill between the homes and the quarry property. Luck contended that the berm would provide better sound mitigation between quarrying operations and homes to the east of the property than the existing tree buffer.

The CUP application also includes emergency only access from Kain Road and Axe Handle Lane in Henrico. It has specific language requiring adherence to Goochland’s dark sky lighting regulations, which will remain in force should the county repeal the policy.

The stone quarry business, explained Luck representative Linwood Thomas, is highly regulated by federal and state agencies. These include the Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which recognizes Luck Stone as an exceptional environmental enterprise.

The CUP application, said both Thomas and Goochland Deputy County Administrator Josh Gillespie, who made the staff presentation, is “not an easy case.” A community meeting was held by Luck in May, attended mostly by Henrico neighbors of the site, who raised concerns about dust created during berm construction; noise at the LeeHy Paving plant, which is not related to the CUP application; disturbance of “indigenous” animals; stormwater management; wetland impact; and viewshed analysis from existing homes. They also object to the change in buffers including reduction of their width.

Thomas said that Luck has and will continue to meet with neighboring homeowners to address their concerns and work to mitigate concerns. He said that securing the CUP is critical for Luck to continue to operations at the Rockville facility for decades into the future. There will be no mining or other removal of aggregates on the subject property.

Using the site for overburden will keep heavy truck traffic off Ashland Road as the dirt will be trundled from one part of the quarry site to another. Thomas pointed out that the Rockville quarry will continue to operate, but the dirt removed from the ground during mining operations must go somewhere.

District 5 Supervisor Jonathan Lyle reported that he personally visited the residential area east of the Goochland line and wanted to assure those homeowners that Luck will keep lines of communication with adjoining homeowners open. He also clarified that none of the homes in Westridge Estates to the north of the site existed when the 2012 CUP was approved. Homes in Westin Estates have been there since the 70’s.

Board Chair Charlie Vaughters, District 4, opened the public hearing asking Goochlanders to speak first. Testimonials about the valuable role that Luck Stones plays in our community followed.

Carol Taylor, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce said that Luck’s support of programs like women in business; shop small, shop local; Goochland Chamber leadership, scholarships; and the chamber expo that highlights local businesses. "They are exceptional and amazing corporate partners,” Taylor said, asking the board to support the Luck application.

Ben Slone, chair of the Goochland Economic Development Authority said that Luck has the respect of every citizen for its community outreach and urged approval of the CUP.

Ben Johnson has lived near active quarries for his entire life and been a neighbor of Luck for more than 60 years. The berm built near his home, said Johnson, has reduced sound and light pollution and, when landscaped and sculpted, looks natural and attractive. He too referenced Luck’s excellent reputation and said that he has found the company to be receptive to his concerns and easy to work with.

Speakers from Henrico were not so positive. They expressed dissatisfaction with Luck’s response to their concerns. Some contended that the proposed CUP activities are far too close to their property lines and would have a negative impact on thousands of children. One contended that she “was told” when purchasing property that there would be a “forever” 350-foot treed buffer between her property line and quarry property, which the CUP would shrink to 50 feet. They said the “road show” Luck held in May was replete with elevations meant to comfort Henrico homeowners was a “premeditated con job” to approve the equivalent of a 15-story building behind their homes.

Whitehead pointed out that 50 feet is approximately the length of the board room. She also said that the 150-foot berm height proposed by the CUP is about half the height of the Statue of Liberty and asked if Goochland supervisors would like to have a pile of dirt that high in their back yards. Buildings go straight up; the proposed berm would rise gradually over the 350-foot width, like a hill.

Whitehead contended that Luck had not adequately responded to community concerns about air quality, noise, stream protection, and general quality of life. She contended that insufficient modifications, if any, were made to the initial plan and asked why there was “such a rush” to approve the CUP. She repeated a request she made at the July Goochland Planning Commission meeting, where the CUP was recommended for approval 5-0, to defer a final vote to allow Luck and neighbors to hold further discussions in search of a mutually acceptable solution.

Another speaker explained that Axe Handle Lane is dangerous, barely two lanes wide, has no shoulders, and is a school bus route. She said that heavy truck traffic on this road would be deadly. She also said that the constant quarry blasting shakes the foundation of her home. If the road is that bad, why hasn’t Henrico County, which “does” its own roads, made it safer?

In rebuttal Thomas said that Axe Handle Road would be used for emergency purposes only. There will be no construction or other “regular” truck traffic associated with the quarry on this road.

He pointed out that most of the four opposition speakers do not share a boundary with Luck, but are closer to Lee Hy Paving, which was in operation long before their homes were built and not part of the CUP.

The berm, he explained, will begin at the end of the 50-foot buffer and rise gradually to the west, not go straight up.

Lyle said he understands the concerns of homeowners who feel that their sanctuaries are being threatened. He also noted the anger that they expressed that conditions had been misrepresented when they purchased their property and were “told” that they were going to live in the country. “They didn’t get the full story, they got the Pied Pipers, and I can’t fix that,” said Lyle.

Tom Winfree, District 3 pointed out that well-built, landscaped berms provide site protection. He discounted the contentions that the CUP was hurried as it has been on his “radar” for at least a year. He commended his Henrico counterparts for standing up for their citizens. “We have to stand up for our citizens as well, and Luck is a great citizen.” Winfree reiterated that there will be no blasting on the subject site and that approving the overburden area will keep many large trucks off Ashland Road.

Vaughters pointed out that Luck is not just a company that crushes rocks. He “geeks out” at Luck’s engineering at all their facilities. Their berms, said Vaughters, are not just piles of dirt, but rather “heavily engineered structures.” The company has built similar berms in Culpeper, Burkeville, and Fredericksburg as examples.

“You have to see the company for what it is,” said Vaughters. Luck is a very technical engineering company with operations throughout the southeast. “Their engineering is awesome; we can’t say enough about the Luck family’s indelible footprints on so many programs that are critically important to Goochland.”

These include Goochland Cares; creation of the Goochland YMCA; bringing Sheltering Arms to the county; and even donating the first ambulance to Goochland Fire-Rescue volunteers. “This is a model corporate citizen for any jurisdiction,” said Vaughters. “I would hope that any city or county would drool to have a Luck Stone in their boundaries. Being critical  of Luck in many ways is like calling Santa fat and ugly.”

He pushed back against negative comments made earlier in the meeting. “People need to watch their words and measure them because you have to realize that you’re talking about someone with a sterling reputation and they’re not going to be taken down with stones thrown and misinformation. There is reason that Goochland representatives are heavily supportive. We want to do everything we can to see Luck flourishing in Goochland for another hundred years.”

Vaughters said that he understands that some will be unhappy with the decision, but that Luck presented its case, and the board is firmly in support of the CUP, which was unanimously approved.

The Ashland Road corridor has been an industrial area for decades. Why people build homes nearby is a mystery. Also, if the environmental conditions near quarries and paving plants are so bad why did Henrico recently build an elementary school nearby?

None of the elected officials in the room were in office when the homes were built near the quarry. This is a cautionary tale for all of them going forward. When people buy homes, they tend to believe whatever developers tell them about the property and do little, if any, independent research. After they move into those homes and learn all the facts, they want local government to make it better. Supervisors need to look long and hard at all aspects of residential rezoning requests to avoid unintended consequences.

It seemed like there was something else going on beneath the surface here. Were the Henrico supervisors really supporting a citizen concern about a zoning issue or was their presence an attempt at intimidation?

Goochland’s board stood its ground.