Thursday, September 6, 2018: Deny Special Use Permit/Zoning Variance for ACP in Augusta County. 1:30 pm, Augusta County Government Center, 18 Government Center Lane, Verona, VA 24482.  Turn out to make your voice heard!

Dominion has once again decided it wants to play by its own rules instead of those put in place by the citizens of Augusta County. On Thursday, Sept. 6 at 1:30 p.m., the Augusta County Board of Zoning Appeals will hear another Special Use Permit request by Dominion and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to put a pipe yard in an inappropriate place in our county. The meeting is at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona.

Yes, that’s right – huge gravel parking lots, 40-ft. light poles, 250 workers’ vehicles and busloads of workers coming and going every day, heavy equipment, portable toilets, piles and piles of pipe and other materials, fuel storage, noise, industrial activities such as pipe fabrication, single, double, and triple-wide trailers, and 26 van trailers and large metal boxes for storage! All in the most rural part of western Augusta County –a place right now that hosts a cornfield.

“Where is it this time?” you ask. Just off Rt. 250 in West Augusta at 717 West Augusta Road. And, in addition to the 55-acre contractor yard with its three construction entrances, this time Dominion also wants food trucks, presumably for its hundreds of workers. 

We could go on about the traffic issues and illogical traffic counts associated with this proposal, about the more than 150 students who will mix with that heavy construction traffic twice a day, and about water issues and erosion and sediment control problems. If you are also worried about this, we are asking that you do one or both of the following:

Mark your calendars and plan to attend the BZA hearing on Thursday, Sept. 6 at 1:30 p.m. at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona. Plan to speak for 3 minutes or come to hear and support those who will be speaking and asking the BZA members to do the right thing and stand up for the county’s citizens and rules.

Take a few minutes in the next few days to review the application in order to understand the magnitude of Dominion’s proposal and send an email message to BZA members through county staff John Wilkinson (jwilkinson@co.augusta.va.us) and Sandy Bunch (sbunch@co.augusta.va.us). You might thank them for having supported the community earlier this year and ask them to again listen to the people of the county.

Remember that there is no harm in sending an email AND attending the meeting. We will be in touch again. Augusta County is a special place. Let’s keep it that way.

Sincerely,

Nancy Sorrells

Co-Chair Augusta County Alliance
info@augustacountyalliance.org