ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602280064
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
The president of Holston River Quarry says he had no idea so many people along Pulaski County's Wilderness Road were upset with him.
"One thing I've always tried to do is be a neighbor out there and live by the Golden Rule," said Leonard Hill.
More than 100 residents of the Wilderness Road area along Virginia 611 have signed petitions asking the county Board of Supervisors to deny a conditional-use permit that would let the 42-acre quarry expand its operations by some 50 acres.
"I have a nice home. I worked all of my life for this home and, to me, it's awfully sickening to see what this man has done to it," said Dudley Grimes, who said explosions from quarry operations shook glasses and rooms in his home. "How would you like to live under those circumstances, when you never knew when it was going to happen?"
After hearing from citizens in the area Feb. 13, the county Planning Commission voted 7-0 to recommend that the supervisors deny the permit.
Supervisor Bruce Fariss - who, as the board's representative to the Planning Commission, was one of those casting that vote - moved Monday night that the board delay any decision by 30 to 60 days, until the supervisors can visit the quarry site themselves.
His motion was approved unanimously.
"We didn't know we disturbed anyone. The last meeting [of the Planning Commission] came as a shock to us," Hill told the supervisors Monday.
"I have made complaints," said Thomas E. Walsh, who lives near the quarry. "I have called about blasting, I have called about trucks speeding. I am still waiting for a reply.
"To allow the expansion of that quarry would be devastating to the property owners in the area and a catastrophe for Pulaski County."
Mike Gallimore, of Gallimore Paving & Sealing Corp., said it would cost companies like his $32,000 to $50,000 more per year to haul stone from more distant quarries. "The economic development of Pulaski County depends on this quarry," he said.
Kendall Clay, a Radford lawyer representing the quarry, said the current site could run short of material within a year. He said blasts were set off only on 27 days during the past year, although sometimes there would be more than one blast per day.
Clint Treadway, who works with area hospitals, said he replastered his home two years ago and new cracks already have appeared in the plaster. He said he does not want quarrying operations any closer to his home.
"The argument seems to be, 'Well, we snuck in the back door before you had zoning,'" said Mike Boyer, operator of Tiny Town Trailer Court where 36 families live. Now, he worries that additional quarrying will be grandfathered in.
County Administrator Joe Morgan said the quarry probably does have some expansion rights under existing regulations. Supervisor Jerry White said zoning was not only for the protection of home owners, but commercial enterprises as well. "We have to look at balance between all parts of the community," he said.
"I'm sure rock quarries are needed," said Sylvia Farris, an area resident. "But not in a community where there [are] a lot of people."
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