Luck Stone quarry OK’d to expand closer to Wyndham-area homes

A conceptual site plan shows the expansion area between the existing quarry to the west and Henrico homes to the east. (Goochland documents)

Despite pleas for a delay from neighboring homeowners – as well as from four of their Henrico counterparts – Goochland supervisors have approved an expansion of a decades-old rock quarry in the direction of residential neighborhoods across the county line.

The Goochland board voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow Luck Stone Corp. to expand its operations in Rockville to include a 70-acre site between its existing Ashland Road quarry and homes across the border in Henrico, primarily the Westin Estates subdivision near Wyndham.

The hours-long meeting saw four of Henrico’s five supervisors address the Goochland board alongside Westin Estates residents who spoke against the approval, contending a lack of public notice and citing concerns about impacts that they said warranted more time for discussion prior to a deciding vote.

“It has the appearance that this is not on the up and up,” said Misty Whitehead, Henrico’s supervisor for the adjacent Three Chopt District, who was joined by fellow Henrico supervisors Tyrone Nelson, Dan Schmitt and Jody Rogish.

Henrico Supervisor Misty Whitehead addresses the Goochland board at Tuesday’s meeting. (Screenshot)

Whitehead had similarly addressed Goochland’s Planning Commission in July, when it recommended approving the expansion. She and three residents of Westin Estates maintained at that meeting that posting its agenda two days earlier was not adequate notice about the proposal.

At issue in particular is the expansion’s encroachment on the Henrico neighborhood, which would be separated from activities on the site by a 50-foot buffer and a 300-foot-wide berm that could rise as high as 150 feet. Whitehead said that height would be comparable to a 12- to 15-story building.

“We are a stone’s throw away from each other at any given point,” Whitehead told the Planning Commission in July. Referring to Luck Stone, she added, “I know they want to get this right. I am standing before you guys because I think that we are not there yet.”

Luck Stone’s plans show two viewshed scenarios for homes near the planned berm.

Luck Stone’s Linwood Thomas, formerly an economic development director for Hanover County, stressed that the expansion would not involve blasting or mining activity and said it is needed for the company to continue operating the quarry, which has been active for 60 years. County approvals that set the stage for the expansion were made over a decade ago, Thomas noted at the July meeting.

The expansion would enlarge the quarry’s stone processing area, which would be restricted to 650 feet from the property boundary, and dirt from the quarry would be used to build the berm, which is planned to be topped with vegetation over time, Thomas said.

“For Luck Stone to be able to continue to operate here for the next 70, 80, 90, 100 years, we need to secure this permit,” he told the commission. “We’ve spent considerable time trying to make sure we get this right. We know nobody wants anything in their backyards, we recognize that, but we want to make sure that it’s the best project for the community and we can still operate.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Thomas reiterated that the homes in Westin Estates were built after the rezonings and permit approvals in 2011-12 that set the stage for the expansion. He said Luck Stone has never had any environmental issues at its site and that noise reported by residents could be attributed to the nearby Lee Hy Paving facility, which he noted is closer to the homes.

In the end, the Goochland supervisors supported Luck Stone, which they praised as a proven corporate citizen and noted has been in operation there for decades, long before the Henrico homes were built closer to the county line.

Goochland supervisors were unanimous in their vote to approve the expansion.

Supervisors Neil Spoonhower and Tom Winfree said they commended their Henrico peers for standing up for their citizens. However, Winfree added: “We have to stand up for our citizens as well, and Luck Stone is a wonderful corporate citizen of this community. We can’t just discard that.”

Goochland Chairman Charlie Vaughters echoed those sentiments and said Luck’s track record as a company cannot be discounted by “stones thrown” by some individuals.

“This is a company that is a model corporate citizen for any jurisdiction, not just Goochland,” Vaughters said. “We want to do everything we can to help Luck flourish in Goochland for another 100 years.”

The expansion area is northwest of another residential development in the works in Henrico: the 1,600-home Avenlea development that Henrico supervisors approved in 2022.

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