Close vote by planning commission sends favorable recommendation for mining operation in Charles City

A decision to grant use of a special use permit (SUP) to bring a mining operation to a busy intersection in Charles City County will now head to county leaders after a narrow favorable recommendation passed at Charles City’s Planning Commission meeting on Dec. 9.

Commissioners voted 4-3 in favor to support Bardon Inc., Aggregate Industries plans for a mining operation near the intersection of John Tyler Memorial Highway (Route 5) and Roxbury Road (Route 106).

At the November planning commission’s meeting, citizens voiced opposition to the project as questions asked were not answered to their satisfaction. At the Dec. 9 meeting, company spokesman Robert Benaicha spoke about the project and its intended purpose.

Benaicha said that the goal for Bardon Inc. was to develop a sand and gravel mine pit at the aforementioned site. The company, who has been in Charles City for 20 years, commented that the location is currently zoned by Gillman and Timber LLC whose permit only allows for extraction from the property, not processing.

Benaicha continued, saying that 20 jobs would result of the project and benefit the local economy over the next five years. Among the conditions proposed CUP includes no blasting, a number of buffers at least 200 feet from Route 5 and 100 feet from Old Ferry Road. The current vegetative state will remain in place so that the operation cannot be seen from the road. The site would only be used as a digging operation.

More proposed conditions include a 500-foot buffer from every homeowner within the vicinity along with a 25-foot buffer to the west. The 26 acres on the southside of the property will go untouched and there will be no access through Old Ferry Road. Proposed hours of operation are slated for 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with hours of 7 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday. According to a study through VDOT, approximately 150 trips would be added per day on that section of Route 5 and Route 106. Those two roads currently see an average of 14,4000 vehicles per day through that area. Noise restrictions and decibels would be capped at 65, as well as water issues being resolved.

Assistant County Administrator Rhonda Russell caught some of the planning commissioners off guard as the presentation continued, saying that the location is incompatible with surface mining operations. She also said that noise and traffic impacts conflict with the land use recommendations for the Comprehensive Plan. Onsite Chesapeake Bay Preservation District features warrant proactive wetlands delineation of development impacts, leading to county staff’s recommendation to deny the special use permit.

But planning commission member William Bailey remained puzzled, asking about the staff’s original agreement to support the SUP back in November. Bailey followed that up by commenting that nothing had changed from the original proposal except the stance of the staff.

The public hearing yielded several speakers on the issue, with input coming from both sides about the request.

“I served in the Air Force for 25 years and I’ve been all over the world,” said Frank Hart. “I decided to settle here and found my forever home in Charles City.
“It’s a beautiful place and I told everybody back home you can’t believe the place we found to live in,” he continued. “But then Bardon Inc. comes along and is surprising us with a sand mine. I can guarantee if I was driving by looking for a house and it was a sand mine there, I would have never bought that house.”

“All the neighbors on Old Ferry and East Berry Roads have valid concerns about the wetlands and eagles,” chimed in Peggy Ford. “My main thing is the traffic. Route 106 and Route 5 are already the busiest intersection in this county. We have the Benjamin Harrison Bridge going up and going down and getting stuck, and then you’ve got traffic backing up from Route 10 to Route 5 which is only a three-mile corridor.

“You have two driveways where they are posing as their turn lanes by Shirley Plantation,” she continued. “The proposed exit even with a turning lane and trucks being able to merge are going only 20-25 miles per hour. Trucks coming south trying to turn left into the proposed area still have to cross freaking traffic on [Route] 106 with log trucks going 60 miles per hour. It’s just not a good, safe scenario.”

Johnathan Randolph, a long-time Charles City resident and Bardon Inc., said the SUP is a good idea and should pass.

“As the board asked the staff earlier and it was stated that they were okay with the SUP on Nov. 18 and everything is the same except the date, I kind of wonder what was the difference,” he said. “The trucks are really not the cause of the traffic backup. That’s due to the constant work on the Benjamin Harrison Bridge.

“The land is not Bardon Inc. and it is being leased,” Randolph continued. “It’s already been sold to a solar plant, and I don’t know if anybody has come over and checked decibels of the plan. I’ve been with the company for five years and it helped me get to a better state in my life and I understand the part about living, but at the same time I have been in Charles City all my life and that is what Charles City has always been known for; knocking down all the trees and yet you are still without trees. I just want to see the company do something with the land.”

After further discussion, Gilbert Smith made a motion to deny approval of the SUP. That motion, however, failed 3-4. A subsequent motion to approve the SUP with the conditions passed 4-3. The favorable recommendation will head to county leaders at its Jan. 25, 2022 meeting.