Augusta County Board of Zoning Appeals discussion – continued from January 4, 2018 meeting.

News-Leader coverage of the January 4 meeting:  “The Augusta County Board of Zoning Appeals voted to delay making a decision Thursday on whether to issue the Atlantic Coast Pipeline a special use permit for a storage yard in Churchville. …. The marathon meeting lasted nearly four hours and drew over 250 people, nearly all of whom were in opposition to the permit. Over 40 people addressed the board to speak against the project, whereas less than five people spoke in favor of it. The board will take more time to consider the proposal and where to go from here and revisit the request at its meeting in February….”

There was a great turnout for the January 4 meeting – let’s keep up the pressure at the continued discussion on February 1!

Agents for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will be seeking permission to get a special use permit to construct a 34-acre construction materials yard near Churchville at the intersection of Scenic Highway (Rt. 42) and Union Church Road. Dominion’s plan is to clear and level the existing farmland in order to stockpile pipe, fuel tanks, sand bags, silt fencing, equipment parts, etc. and to provide parking for construction equipment, employee trucks, and office trailers. If approved this would be the staging area for a significant area of ACP construction in western Virginia for 2 years!

Here are just a few reasons why we should turn out as a community and ask that the BZA deny this application:

1. Think about this lovely rural setting and imagine the amount of heavy truck and equipment traffic fanning out in every direction along these narrow country roads on a 24/7 basis.
2. Consider how this will affect the area’s water quality with every rain and snow event creating sediment runoff and with the amount of leaking, dripping fuel from vehicles and equipment.
3. Visualize how the farmland will look with stacks of 40-foot long, 42-inch diameter pipe and a row of portable toilets.
4. And, as usual, Dominion has pulled a switcheroo – this is not even the location of the pipe yard that Dominion submitted to FERC for approval.

The above reasons as well as concern from VDOT that the location doesn’t meet site distance (and therefore they don’t recommend approval), the concern from the county that the project doesn’t meet county code for a rural setting because the applicant doesn’t live on site, and that this is legally incompatible with the rural conservation zoning of the area are all sound and logical reasons why this application should not be approved.

Further, there are so many questions that Dominion has not answered about the site. For starters there is no traffic count analysis to know exactly what the increased volume of heavy trucks and equipment that will travel these narrow roads. There is no materials list to know what hazardous products might be stored on site (such as blasting materials), and there is no stormwater management or erosion and sediment control analysis, something that the State Water Control Board is also waiting for in regard to the ENTIRE route in Virginia.

Please come to Verona on Thursday February 1 and express your concern for this application. If you can’t attend (or in addition to attending), please communicate with the BZA board (click here for addresses) or email comments to the BZA secretary Sandy Bunch at sbunch@co.augusta.va.us and Community Development Director John Wilkinson at jwilkinson@co.augusta.va.us. Unlike Dominion, the men and women on the BZA are from our community and care about your comments about our community.

For further information, contact info@augustacountyalliance.org.