Luck Stone quarry expansion approved to move closer to Wyndham area housing

Despite requests for a delay from neighboring property owners — as well as four of their Henrico counterparts — Goochland supervisors approved an expansion of a decades-old rock quarry into residential neighborhoods across the county line.

The Goochland board voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow Luck Stone Corp. to expand its Rockville operations 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.

During the meeting, which lasted several hours, four of Henrico’s five supervisors addressed the Goochland board along with Westin Estates residents who spoke against approval, alleging a lack of public notice and citing concerns about impacts that they said warranted more time for discussion before a decisive vote.

“It just doesn’t seem right,” said Misty Whitehead, Henrico supervisor for the adjacent Three Chopt district, who was joined by fellow Henrico supervisors Tyrone Nelson, Dan Schmitt and Jody Rogish.

Whitehead had similarly addressed the Goochland Planning Commission in July, when she recommended approving the expansion. She and three Westin Estates residents argued at that meeting that posting the agenda two days early was not adequate notice of the proposal.

The particular problem is the encroachment the expansion would cause on the Henrico neighborhood, which would be separated from the activities taking place there by a 50-foot buffer zone and a 300-foot-wide embankment that could rise as high as 150 feet. Whitehead said that height would be comparable to a 12- to 15-story building.

“We’re within a stone’s throw of each other at any given time,” Whitehead told the Planning Commission in July. Referring to Luck Stone, he added: “I know you want to get this right. I’m standing here before you because I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Linwood Thomas of Luck Stone, a former economic development director for Hanover County, noted that the expansion would not involve blasting or mining activity and said it is necessary for the company to continue operating the quarry, which has been active for 60 years. County approvals paving the way for the expansion were granted more than a decade ago, Thomas said at the July meeting.

The expansion would expand the quarry’s stone processing area, which would be restricted to 650 feet from the property line, and quarry soil would be used to build the embankment, which is planned to be covered with vegetation over time, Thomas said.

“In order for Luck Stone to continue to operate here for the next 70, 80, 90, 100 years, we need to get this permit,” he told the commission. “We’ve spent a lot of time making sure we get it right. We know that nobody wants to have anything in their backyard, we recognize that, but we want to make sure that it’s the best project for the community and that we can continue to operate.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Thomas reiterated that the homes in Westin Estates were built after rezonings and permit approvals in 2011-12 that paved the way for the expansion. He said Luck Stone has never had 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, Goochland supervisors sided with Luck Stone, whom they praised as a proven corporate citizen and noted had been operating there for decades, long before the Henrico homes were built closer to the county line.

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

Goochland President Charlie Vaughters echoed those sentiments, saying Luck’s track record as a company can’t be dismissed because of the “stones thrown” by some people.

“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 thrive 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.