REZONING FOR QUARRY APPROVED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 1993                   TAG: 9302230157
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: JAY TAYLOR CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
REZONING FOR QUARRY APPROVED
Finally acting on a controversial issue that has festered in Rockbridge County for four months, the county Board of Supervisors Monday night voted to rezone 20 acres of land to allow the expansion of a limestone quarry near the town.
Chuck Barger, president of Charles W. Barger & Son, a quarry construction and concrete operation, had asked the board to rezone 112 acres of farmland for industrial use and to allow him to mine 48 acres of it. Barger had hoped to use the new site to consolidate all his operations, which are split between the north and south sides of U.S. 60.
But the quarry has become surrounded by residential and commercial development in recent years, and Barger's request prompted a firestorm among city and county residents. Many contended that blasting from the existing quarry had damaged their homes and businesses.
Hundreds of residents banded together in recent weeks to pass out petitions and arrive en masse at two public hearings.
On a 3-2 vote, the board approved the revised 20-acre rezoning, which was submitted by Supervisor Robert Berkstresser. The new site is at a hill along U.S. 60 and will give Barger about 30 years of stone to mine, Berkstresser said.
Next, Barger must submit a conditional-use plan to the county. The Planning Commission will have 60 days to make a decision on the plan and pass it on to the board. The board then will hold a public hearing and make its decision.
Supervisor Ben Nicely said in an interview that the county will be tough on Barger in issuing the conditional-use permit. Barger probably will have to build numerous berms and plant many trees to obscure the quarry from view, he said. "He is looking at a tough conditional-use permit, and he may walk away from it, " Nicely said.
Neither Barger nor his opponents seemed pleased. "It's a little too early for me to tell," Barger said. "It's really going to depend on the conditional-use permit as to whether we can move our operation onto the other side of the road."
Dick Nuckols, a quarry opponent who owns a home on a hill close to Barger's original 112-acre site, said, "I'd rather have a half-loaf, than no loaf at all." Nuckols, who has sued Barger for mining too close to his land, believes he will not be able to see the quarry from his home.
But one Lexington official who asked to remain anonymous believes everybody lost. Because the quarry will be located atop a tall hill close to a four-lane highway near the city, the quarry will be visible from many roads and homes, he said.
However, Nicely said that with proper screening, the quarry "would literally be a sight that you would not see."
The adopted plan will steer the quarry operation away from homes on Lexington's Houston Street, Nicely said, where numerous complaints of blasting damage have surfaced.
The 20-acre plan was adopted after the supervisors shot down a 33-acre zoning plan proposed by Supervisor Maynard Reynolds.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB