Comments: Notice Meeting Info: "The meeting of the Legislative Committee will be held at 4 p.m. July 1 at the Capt. Martin Building at 1 Center St. in Chatham."
Pittsylvania County supervisors seek mining say-so
BY JOHN R. CRANE Danville Register & Bee | Posted: Monday, June 24, 2013 12:00 amCHATHAM The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors wants to update the county’s mining ordinance and will hold a meeting July 1 to gather input from board members and residents.
Members of the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in January opposed to lifting Virginia’s 31-year-old moratorium on uranium mining. They are concerned because the board — a publicly elected body — has no say-so if someone wants to bring a large-scale mining operation to an agricultural or conservation district.
The county Planning Commission — with members appointed by supervisors in their respective districts — and the court-appointed Board Of Zoning Appeals are the parties involved in issuing a special-use permit for mining.
“We need to have something to protect us in the county,” said Dan River Supervisor James Snead, who voted for the resolution. “We need to put in some safeguards.”
During a legislative committee meeting Tuesday, Greg Sides, assistant county administrator for planning and development, offered several questions supervisors may want to consider when revisiting the county’s mining ordinance.
Sides said supervisors could consider questions including these: Would mining — of any type of mineral, including uranium — be compatible in the agricultural or conservation district? And, should the county require mining to take place only with a special-use permit in the industrial district/heavy industry area?
The county zoning ordinance does not define mining, said Sides, who asked supervisors whether the county should add a definition.
Board Chairman Marshall Ecker, who opposes Virginia Uranium’s plans to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, brought up the question of milling and wondered if the county could add it to the ordinance.
Sides said the ordinance does not list milling of mined materials.
During an interview Thursday, Ecker said supervisors are revisiting its ordinance to give the board some control over what happens in the county.
If the county had more control, the board could make mining more difficult and protect residents, Ecker said.
The meeting of the Legislative Committee will be held at 4 p.m. July 1 at the Capt. Martin Building at 1 Center St. in Chatham.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/pittsylvania-county-supervisors-seek-mining-say-so/article_d9ad8b3f-dcaa-59a5-96a2-3903f8161d88.html
