BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

Nobody wants a big pile of processed poop in his backyard—or even in a remote section of woods more than a half mile away.
Almost two dozen speakers echoed those sentiments at a marathon public hearing for a special-use permit Wednesday night at the
Culpeper County Planning Commission meeting.
Recyc Systems Inc., which removes about 51 percent of the biosolids produced by Washington’s Blue Plains sewage-treatment plant, is requesting the permit to build a holding facility on 221 acres at the northern end of the county just across the Rappahannock River from Remington.
Although a few farmers, who use the biosolids as free fertilizer, spoke in favor of the holding facility, the Planning Commission voted 7–1 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors deny Recyc’s request. The supervisors have final say; they will take up the matter at their Feb. 7 meeting.
“The right place for this facility is out there somewhere,” commission Chairman Sanford Reaves assured company officials. He did not speculate, however, on where that site might be.
Nor did any of the other commissioners, all of whom agreed that Recyc, which also removes and distributes biosolids from the Culpeper wastewater plant, does a professional and efficient job.
It was the possibility of neighborhood stench and traffic-safety concerns that caused the Planning Commission to recommend denial. The traffic concerns, echoed by a number of neighbors who spoke, were primarily about an extremely short deceleration lane off U.S. 29.
In his opening presentation, Recyc President Steve Fouche told the commission that while most days there would be only a few tractor–trailers hauling biosolids to the facility (most go straight to farms), there might be rainy days with as many as 40 loads.
Those loads would be held in the large Quonset-hut-like facility until the ground dried up enough to spread the biosolids on the fields of the 100 Culpeper County farms (20,000 acres) the company serves.
The commissioners agreed that that many trucks turning off the major highway would constitute a serious safety issue.
Jimmy Bowen, who manages Beauregard Farms at Brandy Station, said that during grain season he has as many or more trucks going in and out of his operation on U.S. 29 as Recyc will have. Bowen also said that his farm, which is part of the Brandy Station battlefield, “is in an historic area and we use biosolids.”
That battlefield, along with three others in the area, also figured into the argument against Recyc’s permit request.
Joseph McKinney, president of the Brandy Station Foundation, said that his objection was “not with the use of biosolids but with historic preservation.” McKinney cited numerous instances in which preservationists had clashed with development—including over a proposed Walmart in the Wilderness battlefield area—and always won.
“Those who preserve will prevail,” he declared.
Both Fouche and Butch Davies, Recyc’s attorney, said that only about 5 acres of the 221 acres the company proposed to buy would actually be used for storage.
Recyc’s Susan Trumbo explained that new Department of Environmental Quality rules that are about to be put into place will prohibit the company from piling biosolids at one farm and then spreading them on another when the weather clears, as occurs now.
She also added that it would be hard to find a 5- or 10-acre industrially zoned site that would accommodate such a storage facility.
Only Planning Commission Vice Chairman Dave Lowery voted against denial. He said he did so only because he did not like the wording of Commissioner Laura Rogers’ motion.

Donnie Johnston:
djohnston@freelancestar.com