Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mining Moratorium topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Halifax County imposes 60-day moratorium on mining development approvals
Summary
After a public hearing that included quarry proponents and county staff, the Halifax County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to impose a 60-day moratorium on development approvals for mining while staff drafts supplemental regulations.
The Halifax County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Aug. 4 to impose a 60-day moratorium on development approvals for mining activities while staff drafts development standards and definitions for quarrying and similar operations.
County Attorney Rollins, introducing the legislative hearing, said staff recommended the temporary moratorium "because our current zoning ordinance, actually lacks, nearly no procedures or development standards for mining operations in the county." The moratorium will pause new development approvals tied to mining so staff can prepare supplemental regulations for the planning board and the commission to consider.
The hearing included proponents for a proposed granite quarry who urged the commission not to delay their application. Hans Dawson, representing Synergy Materials, said the company "own and have under contract over 700 acres in Halifax County where we have discovered a very high quality granite deposit" and described expected local benefits: "Our quarry directly will add about 20 jobs in the county" and "the regulars from our quarry will generate about $300,000 a year in tax revenue directly to the county." His partner John Cross said quarries "lower the operating cost and the construction cost for other companies that are trying to build up and grow." Those figures were presented by the company as part of public comment; no formal economic impact study was presented to the board at the hearing.
County Economic Development Director Kathy Scott did not take a position on any specific project but urged the commission to use the moratorium as an opportunity to create "guidelines to help us move forward," citing the potential for noise, dust, blasting, truck traffic and long-term land-use impacts if quarrying is allowed without standards.
Attorney Rollins told commissioners that mining uses currently appear only in the RA (residential-agricultural) district and are handled by conditional-use-type review with little local guidance. "There's no definition of what is mining or what are quarry, activities and no other details about development regulation," he said, adding the supplemental rules would be similar in approach to prior county work on solar regulations.
Vice Chair Chenoa Davis moved to adopt the 60-day moratorium; Commissioner Silva seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously to approve the moratorium and asked staff to return with draft supplemental regulations for review by the planning board and the commission.
The moratorium stops acceptance or final action on county development approvals tied to mining for 60 days; it does not change state permitting requirements. The county attorney and planning staff said they will provide timelines and draft standards to the board as work proceeds.
