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Expanding farm gets extended permit
Expanding farm gets extended permitBy Bill Walsh
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
After their efforts last year failed to derail an enterprise they broadly characterized as agribusiness, and with the board of supervisors now pushing for a shooting range in their neighborhood, folks who live along Green Road in Warrenton might be feeling a little abused.
But when several speakers at a public hearing on Thursday couldn't give specific examples of how Peter Barthelson's Virginia Green Grocer has disrupted their community, the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) extended his special-use permit to operate the business for another three years.
This time last year, the BZA granted Barthelson a one-year special-use permit to operate Virginia Green Grocer, which provides organic produce to wholesale buyers, including restaurants and grocery stores in Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The permit came with a number of conditions, including limits on the small farm's water usage and installation of a vegetative buffer along property boundaries — and instructions for Barthelson to return this year for the BZA's review of how things have progressed in the preceding 12 months.
Neighbor Joanne Duncan complained that Barthelson has added a dairy operation and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) component to the operation, and has announced plans for even more expansion on his Web site.
She asked the BZA to impose tighter water restrictions, reducing his current limit of 7,000 gallons per day to 600 gallons per day, and, should the board renew the special-use permit, to renew it for only one year.
Another neighbor, Jessie Doyle, reiterated those requests, as well as voicing additional, though unsubstantiated, concerns about wildlife and drainfields on the Barthelson property.
"Have you or your neigbors had difficulties with your water supply?" BZA board member Serf Guerra asked.
He hadn't Doyle said.
"How about traffic?" Guerra asked.
He has a job and doesn't "stand out there with a stopwatch," Doyle said.
"Last year, you and...others had a great concern about that, and I just wanted to know whether [growth in traffic] has been the case," Guerra pushed.
No, Doyle said.
The BZA's vote to grant the special-use permit for three years was unanimous.
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