Citing environmental and transportation concerns, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted this week to defer the proposed Toll Brothers rezoning application to add over 400 new homes to an already 2,800-home Dominion Valley Country Club in Haymarket.
Supervisors and residents said there are potential environmental issues within the Culpeper Stone Co.’s former 73-acre quarry within the Silver Lake property off Antioch Road.
Toll Brothers wants to build 12 homes on the Silver Lake property and donate 155 acres of the property to the county’s Park Authority. The quarry and Silver Lake are included on the 155 acres.
The quarry “has been re-vegetated and stabilized,” said Conrad Spangler, a spokesman for Virginia’s Division of Mineral Mining. The quarry’s buildings have been torn down and erosion controls are in place. Once a fence is built around the pit, the property can be turned over to the new owner, he said.
“There is nothing in that reclamation process that concerns public safety or public health … groundwater contamination or safety issues or any other issue that comes from a quarry that had not operated for years,” said Michael Kieffer, Bull Run Conservancy executive director.
There is also confusion about whether the quarry had underground and aboveground fuel storage tanks.
All fuel tanks were removed and the sites were tested in “numerous ways,” Michael Lubeley, an attorney for Toll Brothers, said before Tuesday night’s vote.
County staff could not verify or find documentation to support his statement.
“We haven’t done a survey to know what is there. Given the liability potential here, we need to confirm there are no environmental hazards and a have a plan to deal with the problems,” Sean Connaughton, Prince William Board of County Supervisors chair.
The developers also agreed to give the county numerous ballfields in addition to the park at Silver Lake. Residents and county officials said the congested traffic would not allow people to get to the new facilities unless road improvements came before additional development, which was not a condition within the proposal.
The issue will come back before the board in July.
Culpeper Stone Quarry
» 1978: Agreed to return the quarry to fields when done mining.
» Early 1990s: Production stopped, most buildings torn down.
» 1997: Permitted to bring in outside materials to grade and stabilize majority of quarry, not the pit.
» 2006: Fencing being constructed around the pit.
