By Sarah Vogelsong
CP Reporter
Caroline County has added another sand and gravel mine to its portfolio.
Although most of the attention surrounding sand and gravel mining this summer has been directed toward the Chaney Enterprises application on the Moss Neck Manor Plantation site south of Route 17, the Board of Supervisors at their Sept. 23 meeting greenlit a special exception request from Aggregate Industries Land Co. to expand their existing mining operations on an adjoining parcel of land in King William County across the county line into Caroline.
According to the Planning Department’s staff report, the expansion of the Aggregate Industries mine, which has been operating in King William for over 20 years, will not “move the existing facility or increase production, only … increase the amount of area from which they can gather material.” That area will now include 200.2 acres of land north of Route 600, Frog Level Road.
The current mine entrance, located in King William on Route 600, will continue to be used, with the only other permitted entrance being a gated farm road that will be available for access only under emergency conditions.
The Board of Supervisors previously heard Aggregate’s request at its May 27 meeting but deferred a decision until July. The decision was then again deferred to the Aug. 26 meeting “at the request of the applicant” at the Board’s July 8 meeting, and subsequently deferred to the Sept. 23 meeting.
The May 27 meeting also included a public hearing on the issue, during which one resident, a neighboring property owner named Brad Ashley, spoke to object to the application on the grounds that it would significantly harm his quality of life and drive down his property values.
There was some confusion at both the May 27 and the Sept. 23 meetings about what county Ashley’s property resides in.
“There are boundaries between Caroline and other jurisdictions that are not clearly defined, and I think this is one of those situations,” Director of Planning and Community Development Mike Finchum told the Board Sept. 23. “But between the two localities it appears it is in King William, and it is taxed in King William.”
Other conditions to the special exception request forwarded by the Planning Commission to the Board of Supervisors prohibit the use of blasting and explosives on the mine site, identify berms and buffers that must be constructed and maintained along property lines, and specify that “noise shall be minimized using acceptable industry practices.”
A letter from John Lain, an attorney from the Richmond-based law firm McGuire Woods, on behalf of Aggregate Industries, notes that as a result of meetings with Ashley, Aggregate agreed to replace the back-up beepers on machinery used onsite with warning indicators that do not beep.
The same letter further noted that in response to Ashley’s concerns, mine operations will be “phased so that mining operations will be working away from him,” and that Saturday hours will be reduced.
The mine’s hours of operation will be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on no more than 26 Saturdays a year. The mine will also be forbidden to operate on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
“We haven’t reached agreement (with Ashley) on everything, but … we have tried as best we can, and we don’t think we’ll have an adverse impact on his property,” Lain told the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 23.
The main condition on which Aggregate and Ashley were unable to agree concerned a cap on the period of time the mine will be permitted to operate. Ashley had requested that a seven-year cap be placed on the site, but the applicant characterized that request as “a condition that we cannot live with.”
According to Aggregate, there are roughly 5.6 million tons of sand and gravel on the site. Mining at an average rate of 400,000 tons a year, it would take a minimum of 14 years to exhaust the available resources, assuming no slowdowns of any kind.
As part of its application, Aggregate also submitted a study conducted by Chmura Economics and Analytics assessing the economic and fiscal impacts of the mine expansion. In his letter to the Planning Department, Lain summed up the findings of this study, stating that the project would produce for the county $6,000 more in real estate taxes annually, a $7,000 rollback tax payment, and $52,000 in machinery and tools tax in 2015. The study also estimates combined direct and indirect economic benefits to the county in the amount of roughly $1.3 million over the course of the mine’s expected life.
Notably, although not discussed at the Board’s Sept. 23 meeting, the Aggregate mine, like the proposed Chaney mine, is in conformance with the county zoning ordinance but not the county comprehensive plan. County ordinance identifies the site as rural preservation, a designation that permits sand and gravel mining by special exception. The comprehensive plan, in contrast, designates the site as agricultural preservation, under which such mining is not permitted.
Aggregate will be required to reclaim the land at the conclusion of its mining operations, and the Board of Supervisors will be required to review the project every five years.
CMS presentation
In other news from the Sept. 23 meeting, Caroline Middle School History Club sponsors Sara Gibson and Ruth Judd announced the group’s focus for the year as Vietnam veterans and asked for the Board’s help in reaching out to county veterans.
“The Vietnam War … was a very tense time, and the warriors that came home were heroes, but we didn’t welcome them,” said Judd. “(We need) to remember that it’s about the warrior, not the war, and that no matter how you felt about the war, we need to do something for our veterans that fought in that war.”
On Oct. 22 at 3 p.m., the History Club will hold a special meeting and missing man ceremony at CMS during which students will interview veterans and write down their stories, which will eventually be included in a book on county veterans.
All citizens who are veterans or know veterans are encouraged to get in touch with the History Club.