Augusta BZA approves D.M. Conner, Acre request to reclaim land they quarried without permit approval

VERONA – D.M. Conner’s neighbors promised they would be back, and they followed through.

Last month, Stuarts Draft rock quarry D.M. Conner owners Benny Conner and Debbie Henderson asked the Augusta Board of Zoning Appeals to expand. The board did not approve or deny the request, instead pushing consideration back to July.

The reason for the delay was a violation of a previous special use permit. In the May meeting, several of Conner’s neighbors pointed to Conner quarrying what was supposed to be a buffer between the quarry and untouched land.

The quarried buffer, rather than the expansion, came back to the board on June 6. Conner and Henderson asked the board to modify their previous permit so they could reclaim the quarried 100-foot buffer.

“In the old days I used to always deliver the product or load the highway trucks. I never prepared the permits,” Conner told the board. “The state mining board forgave me and didn't fine me. I'm hoping that y'all can forgive me for a mistake I made that I didn't know it was a mistake at the time.”

Derek Hutchinson, one of Conner's neighbors, pushed back during the public hearing, “The special use permits matter because they are our protection. It truly blows my mind that we would simply say oops. If you break a rule for OSHA, do they simply say oops?”

He felt the “consequence” of violating the permit should be restoring the property “as close as possible back to what it originally was – flat, trees planted, grass planted. I don't think that's too much to ask for our community.”

Melissa Golladay, another neighbor, felt the application was “vague” and wanted a time limit for reclamation in writing. Clifford Knous pointed to other sections of the property that lacked “400 trees and shrubs per acre” as not being reclaimed and expressed safety concern with "walls," where the lower-elevation quarried land butts up against higher, unquarried land.

“I think it all should be shut down until at least 25% of that is put back,” Knous said.

The board asked Conner to reply to the concerns. According to Conner, the company has reclaimed some land, having made “a lake and two ponds,” then hydroseeding and planting trees around them. The application's reclamation includes hydroseeding for plants, but this wouldn’t happen until late September or early October to maximize the chances of the seed taking root.

Boardmember Thomas Bailey moved to approve the request, “especially since this being overseen by the department of mining. I'm thinking the applicant will, you know, do all he can to reclaim it properly.”

BZA Chair George Coyner noted D.M. Conner has been “a mining operation for 60-some years,” then added “a needed operation too.” The board traveled to the property earlier on June 6 to see the buffer in person.

A public relations manager for the Virginia Department of Energy told The News Leader the Mineral Mining program oversees quarry inspections. According to the most recent inspection report, conducted in April, the quarry has had "backfilling and grading operations being performed along a section of the southwestern and southeastern permit boundaries. These operations have already been performed along the entire southern permit boundary."

The request was unanimously approved.

This was not the end of the discussion, however. The next item on the BZA’s agenda was a request from Acre Sand and Stone President Charles Barger.

According to the application included in the BZA agenda packet, Acre Sand and Stone was granted a permit to mine land previously quarried by D.M. Conner in 1999. This permit put a 100-foot buffer around operations. In 2008, the board approved a permit to remove a portion of the buffer adjacent to D.M. Conner.

When D.M. Conner purchased more land in 2017, they gave Acre Sand and Stone permission to mine up to the property line. Thinking the 2008 permit and D.M. Conner’s permission were enough, Acre quarried into their 100-foot buffer along the new D.M. Conner property line, “not aware this would be a violation of the current operating conditions” of the permits.

“We very much apologize for that,” Barger told the board. “We didn't mean to do it, but that's what happened, and now we want to go back as a safety issue to stair step and bench this high wall and get it to be safer. We do that with all of our operations, and this is no exception.”

The reclamation would include work on a steep wall Barger said had been on the property since Acre acquired it in 2000.

Hutchinson, Melissa Golladay, and John Golladay each pushed for the board to enforce their permits but focused their comments on D.M. Conner’s operations rather than Acre.

Hutchinson emphasized the BZA is responsible for enforcing its permits, not the state operation. According to the Virginia Department of Energy representative, D.M. Conner has "never been issued a violation from Virginia Energy in association with the mentioned buffer," but the organization does "not enforce or inspect for local restrictions or setbacks. That responsibility falls to the county."

Boardmember Thomas Thacker moved to approve Acre’s request, saying, “To me, it looks like, yes, mistakes have been made, but if we don't approve them, they're going to stay like they are. At least we're moving in the right direction to reclaim them and make them safe. I don't see any other alternative than to go this route and start the reclamation project.”

The board unanimously approved Acre’s request as well.

D.M. Conner's expansion request is expected to come before the board in July.

Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It’s welcome through email to lbordelon@gannett.com. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

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This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Augusta BZA allows quarries to reclaim land they dug without approval