Asphalt Plant Comes Before Stafford Board - Again
An appeal to rezone an asphalt plant to heavy industrial was deferred on February 5. The Board will address it again tonight with concerns over odor top-of-mind.
by Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A debate around an asphalt plant along King’s Highway at the February 6 Stafford Board of Supervisors’ meeting comes before the Board again this evening.
The asphalt plant sits on top of a site that has operated as both a sand and gravel mining operation and an asphalt plant since the early 1960s. Originally operated by the P.C. Goodloe and Son company, it was acquired in 2019 by Allan Myer which wishes to rezone the facility from A-1 and B-2 to heavy industrial.
The county stands to benefit in terms of both tax revenues - estimated to be about $12,000 a year in real estate taxes and more than $100,000 a year in business personal property taxes - and jobs. Allan Myer is also offering proffers to deal with issues around lighting and noise.
However, a number of citizens have expressed concerns about the renovations that the site has undergone since being bought in 2019, and the strong odors that the asphalt plant emits.
In an email sent to the Board on February 5, Andrew Craig, who lives near the plant, argues that it underwent significant expansions and did so without the proper permitting during the 2020-2021 timeframe.
Pointing to GIS imagery from 2022, he says there has been “considerable physical plant augmentation with 2 RAP bins, 8 new raw material bins, yet another conveying system, 3 brand new enormous finished asphalt product storage silos and 3 large binder (raw tar) storage silos.”
At the Board meeting on February 6, Amy Taylor with the Department of Planning and Zoning said that two permits filed on the project had indeed expired. However, she also said that they had since been reinstated and passed the inspections that were missing from the original permits, which caused them to expire.
As for the expansion, Taylor said that the Deputy Zoning Administrator in August 2019 ruled that the equipment Myer brought in to replace the original ones on-site did not qualify as an expansion, but rather as a modernization of equipment.
The other concern is with the odors that are created by the production of asphalt that can be smelled for several kilometers beyond the boundaries of the plant. Board member Pamela Yeung noted in her comments on this issue is that the company do something to mitigate this.
The Board meeting (read the agenda) begins at 3:00 PM in the George L. Gordon Jr. Government Center.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit our website at the link that follows.
Weather and Traffic
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
In less than a year, FXBG Advance has become the news leader in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford through its innovative mix of:
Twice-daily newsletter - At 6 AM and 5 PM every Monday through Friday, the Advance brings the most important news directly to your inbox.
Education Reporting - Adele Uphaus has won multiple awards for her coverage of education issues locally and across the state. Now, she brings her experience, insights, and expertise to the Advance, providing our citizens some of the finest education writing and reporting in the commonwealth.
Political Reporting - From council meetings to campaigns, and fundraising to finance, the Advance is returning the Fourth Estate to its rightful place as a government watch dog.
Breaking News - From court cases to high-profile government moves, the Advance is the first to inform residents.
Investigative Journalism - Last year, the Advance broke major stories around improperly filed election documents, misleading sample ballots, disenfranchising Spotsylvania Count School parents, and book bans.
Election Coverage - The Advance offered the most complete coverage of the 2023 election, with in-depth candidate profiles, daily tracking of events, leading debates, and pre-dawn to post-midnight Election Day coverage. And 2024 brings even greater coverage.
Spotlights - From local businesses to nonprofit organizations and regional leaders, the Advance brings the people who make things happen to your attention.
Multi-partisan Commentary - Martin Davis is a 20-plus-year journalist recognized for superior commentary and political writing; Shaun Kenney has his hands on the pulse of political leaders across the Commonwealth. Together, they bring an unparalleled level of analysis and insight into the issues that drive debate in our region.
Political Cartoons - Clay Jones is a nationally recognized talent who draws weekly for CNN. He has returned to Fredericksburg to level his critical eye and razor-sharp drawing at the topics which make us both laugh, and look closer at ourselves.
New Dominion Podcast - Each week, Martin Davis and Shaun Kenney interview guests from across the region and the state. Growing to over 1,000 listeners in just six months, NDP has become a leading force in political, cultural, and social discussion.
We thank each and every one of you who have made the Advance a part of your day, and we’re excited to say that more-exciting announcements are just around the corner as we continue to innovate and expand our coverage of the region.
The donations of individual readers have made this year possible. Please join the hundreds who are supporting excellence in journalism by subscribing for just $8 a month.
Where does your money go?
It goes to support the great journalists we have - like Adele Uphaus - and the ones we look to hire in the year ahead.
If you can spare $8 a month, we’ll be both grateful, and reward your trust in us with more journalism, more stories, and more connections to organizations and people who make our region a great place to live.
If you can’t, thank you for reading the FXBG Advance!, and consider sharing us with your friends.
In 2024, let’s build an even better Advance - together!
Thank you for reading and supporting FXBG Advance.
-Martin Davis, Editor-in-Chief
BTW - for those of us not in the know, it would be useful to learn the location of the plant. A google search does not reveal it, since it is not active.
Did the new equipment installed do anything to improve air quality, reduce noise, or energy use? Or was it just an increase in capacity? If it did, how?