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Topic Description:
On November 4, 2003,
Fauquier County received official notice of Dominion
Transmission, Inc.’s (DTI) intention to acquire a 30.63 acre
portion of the 282.5 acre property owned by Lewis J. and
Martha M. Bender, which is located in the Southern Fauquier
Agricultural and Forestal District. DTI has indicated it
has a contract with the Benders to purchase the property for
the development of a gas compressor station adjacent to its
existing measuring and regulating station and gas
transmission facilities. Because the property is located
within an Agricultural and Forestal District, pursuant to
the Code of Virginia, Section 15.2-4313, the proposal
requires review and approval by the Board of Supervisors.
Ultimately, the project would also require Special Exception
approval, a finding of compliance with the comprehensive
plan, and a boundary line adjustment.
Property
The 282.5 acre Bender
property is one of 253 properties included within the 19,212
acre Southern Fauquier Agricultural and Forestal District,
which expires on February 16, 2006. The property has been
in the Agricultural and Forestal District since 1996.
An existing 240 foot
Virginia Power Transmission Easement and existing electric
transmission facilities are located on the east side of the
property, along with a Virginia Natural Gas transmission
easement and pipeline and a separate 1.37 acre property
already owned by Dominion Transmission, Inc. and utilized
for a measuring and regulating facility.
Procedure
The Code of Virginia,
Section 15.2-4313, sets forth a specific procedure which
must be followed by a public service corporation proposing
to acquire more than one acre of land within an Agricultural
and Forestal District. This procedure requires that notice
be given to the County, and that the Board of Supervisors
determine the following, in consultation with the Planning
Commission and the Agricultural and Forestal District
Advisory Committee:
(i) The effect the
action would have upon the preservation and enhancement of
agriculture and forestry and agricultural and forestal
resources within the district and the policies set forth in
the state code;
(ii)
The necessity of the proposed action to provide
service to the public in the most economical and practicable
manner; and
(iii)
Whether reasonable alternatives to the proposed
action are available that would minimize or avoid any
adverse impacts on agricultural and forestal resources
within the district.
The Board of Supervisors has 90 days
to determine whether the proposed action might have an
unreasonable effect upon either state or local policy, and
may issue an order within the 90 days directing the public
utility to not proceed with action for an additional period
of 60 days so that the County may hold a public hearing and
further review the proposal. At the end of the 150 day
period, the Board of Supervisors must render a final
decision as to whether or not the proposal is approved.
Under the State Code provision, Dominion could appeal any
decision of the Board of Supervisors to the Circuit Court.
Proposal
The proposed compressor
facility is one of two new gas compressor facilities DTI is
proposing to build as part of a regional expansion project.
The applicant indicates that the additional compressor is
needed to fulfill requests for service by DTI’s Mid-Atlantic
customers, such as Virginia Natural Gas. The Federal Energy
and Regulatory Commission (FERC) has reviewed the proposed
application and, on September 11, 2003, issued an order to
construct the facility, finding the project was in the
public interest and posed a minimal impact to the
environment.
The compressor station will
involve the installation of a 6,000 hp gas-fired turbine,
1,600 feet of 24-inch diameter suction pipe, a 20-inch
diameter discharge pipe, and support buildings and ancillary
equipment necessary for the station’s operation. The
proposed area of disturbance is 4.5 acres. The facility
will be completely fenced and screened. The facility may be
intermittently manned with at least one employee as much as
eight hours per day, but also will be designed for remote
operations from DTI’s headquarters in West Virginia.
Impact on Agriculture
The property is zoned Rural
Agriculture, and is utilized for agricultural purposes,
planted with soybeans, barley and corn. According to the
applicant, no wetlands or other environmentally sensitive
areas, cemeteries, floodplains, etc. have been identified on
the portion of the property being acquired.
The Environmental Assessment
prepared for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for
the project notes:
The site for the station
has soil limitations which include a seasonal high
watertable. About 4.1 acres of cropland would be disturbed
by construction of this facility. About 2.2 acres of
farmland would be taken out of production permanently. The
remaining 1.9 acres would be located along the ROW for the
suction and discharge lines associated with this station and
this land could be returned to agricultural use. About 0.8
acre of prime farmland soil would be permanently disturbed
since it would be within the fenced area of the compressor
station.
The applicant further notes
that they have not applied to remove the property from the
Agricultural and Forestal District because, under the terms
of its agreement with the Benders, all but a 4.5 acre
portion of the property will be leased back to the Benders
to be farmed.
Alternatives
The proposed compressor
station is part of a larger Mid-Atlantic project aimed at
improving the delivery of natural gas in the area. The
applicant states that upon completion of the project, DTI
will be able to provide an additional 223 million cubic feet
per day of incremental gas flow to end users in the northern
and central Virginia areas. DTI has indicated that a
location in this general area is necessary, as it is near
the end of DTI’s existing gas transmission facilities.
This site was selected largely because it has an existing
DTI facility (the M&R station). Dominion indicates that any
other location would be significantly more expensive and
create substantially more impacts, because in addition to
constructing the compressor station, pipeline would also
have to be constructed.
Planning Commission and Agricultural and Forestal Advisory
Board Review
The Agricultural and
Forestal Advisory Board met to review the proposal on
November 5, 2003, and the Planning Commision reviewed the
proposal on November 20, 2003. Both bodies are charged with
advising the Board of Supervisors regarding potential
impacts of the proposal.
The Agricultural and
Forestal Advisory Board recommended that the Board extend
the period of review to accommodate a full review and public
hearing for the proposal. The Agricultural and Forestal
Advisory Board expressed specific concerns about potential
environmental impacts and noise impacts; recommending that
the Board of Supervisors examine these issues further. In
addition, the Agricultural and Forestal Advisory Committee
recommended that the Board of Supervisors, as part of any
approval, require that the majority of the land be made
available to the Benders for farming as long as the parcel
remained in the Southern Fauquier Agricultural and Forestal
District.
The Planning Commission also
recommended that the Board extend the review period in order
to hold a public hearing and more thoroughly review
potential impacts, including all those raised by the
Agricultural and Forestal Advisory Committee.
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