Madison County OKs Hemphill Construction conditional-use permit for pond expansion with road and dust controls

The Madison County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 15 approved a conditional-use permit for Hemphill Construction to expand a pond and operate an associated dirt-mining operation off Pisgah Bottom Road, with conditions meant to limit truck traffic, dust and road damage.

The permit covers activity on a 16.62-acre parcel; the applicants said the actual excavation footprint will be smaller and that the finished pond will be roughly 8 acres, expanded from an existing 2.5-acre lake. County staff told the board the applicants had filed materials in proper form for the public hearing.

The permit application was presented by county staff and Hemphill representatives. County staff said the site is located on Pisgah Bottom Road between Highway 55 and Highway 16. Brandon Brown spoke on behalf of Hemphill Construction; landowner Sam Hodges described the project as a repair to an aging, leaky pond dam using onsite soils rather than a commercial purchase. Hodges said, “in exchange for repairing my leg, I wanted to exchange the dirt for the work. That's all it is. No money exchanged.” He added that tests showed the clay onsite would be suitable for road work elsewhere and that contractors would reuse the materials to seal the pond.

Neighbors spoke during the hearing. Bob Tompkins said he is a nearby resident and artist and told the board, “I don't think I think Sam and Hemphill have been wronged. It's what they did what y'all did did to them, to me, it was an un American thing.” Another neighbor, Bernard Johnson, who said he lives across the street, told the board he had no complaints.

Board members questioned permits and the permitting route. One board member said the applicants had obtained a mining permit that should have been routed through planning and zoning, not the office where the applicants initially applied; a county official acknowledged the applicants had been fast-tracked to avoid an additional six-week delay. The board required specific conditions before approving the permit: a flagger at the driveway intersection to control truck movements, measures to keep dust and mud off county roads, a road repair obligation at the project's end and an insurance/road bond. A supervisor who moved approval told the applicants the board typically issues these permits for one year and said, “I'm not gonna be interested in renewing this. So make sure you get your pond dug within 1 year.”

The board voted to approve the permit; the motion was made by Supervisor Griffin and seconded by Supervisor Banks. The county attorney/staff present confirmed the application materials were in order before the hearing.

The approval follows a contested timeline described by Hodges: environmental testing and permitting in early 2025, stop-work checks by county personnel on June 30 and July 22, a formal request for the hearing on July 30, and scheduling delays that pushed the matter to the Sept. 15 meeting. The board discussed and accepted the applicants' plan for traffic control, dust suppression and a post-project road repair obligation as conditions of the permit.

The board did not specify any additional monitoring or reporting deadlines in its motion beyond the one-year permit term. County staff indicated the applicants had obtained environmental, state and road permits and said the county had requested the proper permit routing going forward.