Quarry owner says plan could close his business
By Melissa Caron
Some residents who are opposed to the expansion of the Barger Quarry say they are willing to cope with the quarry if more land is left between it and their families.
Neighbors say quarry owner Chuck Barger’s current plan to expand on 54 acres on Old Farm Road would leave some homes within 100 feet of the quarry.
After hearing the presentations last week, members of the county Planning Commission agreed to set a working session between Barger and neighbors to come up with a plan of action.
Opponents of the expansion are worried about flyrock. Virginia’s Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy defines flyrock as material created by a mining blast that could harm people outside the mine.
Mike Dorsey, associate pastor of Lexington Baptist Church on Old Farm Road, presented to the county Planning Commission last week a plan compiled by neighbors that would limit the expansion to 5.5 acres. It would create a 600-foot buffer between neighbors and the proposed expansion.
“It sets us back far enough to preserve us from flyrock,” Dorsey said. “It allows the rock that could come out of the quarry to stay maybe on quarry property. That would be a good thing.”
But Barger says that the neighbors’ plan is a “going out of business plan” for him, because the current quarry has only five acres left. In August, Barger filed to rezone the land he owns on Old Farm Road from agricultural and residential to industrial.
Ironically, the land was zoned residential by the Planning Commission when Barger’s father, Charles Barger, served on it. The elder Barger, who was on the commission for many years, is no long alive.
The current quarry mines about one acre a year, according to Barger. The quarry, which mines limestone, is one of two in the county.
Barger and several of his company’s employees spoke in favor of the rezoning at the Oct. 10 meeting, saying that without expansion the company’s 50 employees would lose their jobs. Neighbors counter that their compromise allowing the quarry to expand 5.5 acres gives the company time to move the quarry somewhere else in the county.
Neighbors say the setback will protect them from the quarry’s flyrock.
John Gunner and his wife, Leslie Ayers, have lived on their 15 acres off Old Farm Road for almost 20 years. With the proposed quarry expansion, their home would stand slightly more than 100 feet from the quarry wall, which Ayers says makes her uncomfortable.
Last year, a piece of flyrock the size of a flattened football flew out of the quarry and through the roof of a neighbor’s home 600 feet away.
Vicki Kruse, whose family once owned the land Barger is looking to expand on, says several other larger rocks flew out of the quarry that day, including one that landed on the hood of a car at a dealership along Route 60 East. Many people nearby saw the rocks rain down, Kruse said.
While Barger acknowledged that such incidents occur, he called them normal risks.
“If there is an accident on the interstate, do we never drive over 35 miles an hour again?” Barger asked at the meeting. “If a football player is injured during a game, do we forbid athletes from playing?
“We all know the common sense answer to these questions is ‘no,’ because we all live our lives taking acceptable risks, whether it is walking across the street, driving I-81, or playing football.”
But Gunner says that flyrock is not a necessity that residents should have to live with and that incidents of flyrock occur more often than Barger made clear at the meeting.
Ayers says that, according to the Virginia Division of Mineral Mining, a quarry is supposed to report all incidents of flyrock, but there is no penalty if it does not.
Gunner says that even though the Barger Quarry uses one of the best blasting firms in the country, there will always be risks. A blasting technician that Barger brought in acknowledged that even with precautions accidents will happen because they are unpredictable, Gunner said.
Bill Blatter, Lexington’s planning and development director, also asked the Planning Commission to consider the view of the quarry from the city. He said that Barger has yet to create the visual buffer he agreed to with the last quarry expansion more than a decade ago.
The current quarry is visible from outside Kroger and other stores along East Nelson Street. The expansion, without a buffer, would be even more visible, Blatter pointed out in his presentation
Gunner says he hopes to use the chance to address concerns over safety and to help set a precedent for future quarry zoning. Currently, a quarry can be only 25 feet from adjoining property.
The two sides will meet Oct. 30 to try again to work out a compromise. The working session will be held in the Extension Office of the County Administration Building at 6 p.m. Gunner says he appreciates the Planning Commission’s willingness to work with the parties to create a plan that everyone finds acceptable.
But for him, this is a battle he wishes he never had to pick up in the first place.
“What I really want now is the quiet enjoyment of my property,” Gunner said.
Residents voice concerns about quarry expansion
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Brian Richardson
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd