Virginia Paving Company held a public information open house recently at Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School on Ferdinand Day Drive to advise and learn from nearby residents objecting to their operations. Only one thing was missing -- interested residents.
Officials of and consultants to Virginia Paving Company put together a comprehensive public information presentation to assure residents of Alexandria's West End that their application for an amended Special Use Permit is being done as a "good neighbor" and in an environmentally sensitive manner. They were prepared to not only tell their side of the story in detail but also listen to arguments from other side.
"The main thing we want to accomplish today is to answer any community concerns as well as find out if other concerns exist that we don't know about," said Michael M. Cote, vice president mechanical, Virginia Paving.
But, by the second hour of the two-hour outreach session only a handful of West End residents had taken the time to attend. It was a far cry from the packed session in May at Beatley Central Library when residents of Cameron Station and other neighborhoods in proximity of the Courtney Avenue asphalt plant demanded Alexandria Planning Commission not grant the company an amended Special Use Permit.
"I'm very surprised at the small turnout. Don't they [residents of the West End] really care," asked attendee Pat Troy rhetorically as he and only a half dozen other citizens made the rounds of four work stations designed to cover every aspect of both the plant's operations and public objections about those operations.
Those four information areas dealt with: the SUP process; environmental and health issues; asphalt creation and improvements in that process; and neighborhood issues. Each had one or two people knowledgeable on the particular subject with extensive literature for those in attendance.
"The primary concerns our industry deals with are air and water environmental concerns. Both are regulated by federal, state and city government," said Chris Monahan, environmental coordinator, Virginia Paving.
"Under our permits we must do quarterly monitoring. And I can assure you we are definitely not discharging environmentally unsound material into Backlick Run," he said.
MONAHAN, AN ALEXANDRIA NATIVE, noted that the company had invested "over $200,000" in the most sophisticated structures on the market to provide "the highest level of filtration." An example of one of those filtering units was on display at the session.
The neighborhood issues station listed the three primary complaints raised during the May public meeting at Beatley Library. There were and remain: Odor, dust, and noise.
"At one level its impossible to make asphalt completely odorless. They are doing everything they can to get as close as possible. I have focused on the health risk issues," said company consultant, Laura C. Green, Ph.D., senior scientist and president, Cambridge Environmental Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
"The level of City oversight is incredible. I have rarely ever been under this level of scrutiny. The City's watchdog efforts far exceed those of the State," she said.
"But, it's primarily a land use issue. Usually, when I work on issues like this it is usually about something moving into the area. It's not about something that's been located in the area long before it was surrounded by residential development," Green said.
In order to explain the asphalt production process, Mark Schiller, district manager, Virginia Paving, manned the table displaying all the tangible elements that go into the process as well as a graphic display of that process. "We have installed the first ‘Blue Smoke Fugitive Emission Control System’ on the East Coast," he said.
That system was devised for asphalt production plants in California which has some of the strictest environmental regulations in the nation, according to Schiller. "In the heating process of the aggregate stone that goes into the asphalt there will always be dust. But, our process collects it and processes it," he explained.
"I think they are making a good effort to reach out to the community. I really like how they have arranged this open house so you can have a one-on-one discussion on different subjects," said Ernst Artemel, planning director for the City of Alexandria from 1974 to 1984.
VIRGINIA PAVING COMPANY is proposing an amendment to their 1960 SUP which would extend their hours of operation and increase the height of their stacks. However, the primary complaints at the May meeting revolved around noise and odor which nearby residents claimed would be exacerbated by elongated hours of operation.
Formerly known as Newton Asphalt, the company has been operating at its present location for 45 years. It was purchased by Lane Construction Corporation of Meriden, Conn., in 2001. Cameron Station housing development came into being during the 1990's. Prior to that the site was a military base.
Sixty percent of Virginia Paving's operations are devoted to public projects. More than 94 percent of the nation's roadways are paved with asphalt. Much of that work, which requires laying the asphalt hot, is done during night hours so as to have the least impact on traffic flow, according Cole at the May meeting.
Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality have determined Virginia Paving operations "are within acceptable standards," according to Cole. This was substantiated in a memorandum dated June 27, 2005 from City Manager James Hartmann to Alexandria Mayor William Euille and City Council.
One of the points made by area residents is that the Virginia Paving plant is comparable to Mirant Potomac River Generating Station when it comes to alleged air pollution and health hazards. However, that comparison has proven erroneous according to a comparative analysis on "Air Quality Emissions" showing the asphalt plant's emissions are only a small fraction of those generated by Mirant's plant in north Old Town.
Since Virginia Paving’s application was not docketed for the June Planning Commission meeting, it is not anticipated to be heard until September. Prior to that the company is offering tours of the plant. Additional information is available on line at: www.laneconstruction.com/AboutUs/Environmental.aspx or on the City Web site at alexandria.gov/planningandzoning/vapaving_sup.php.