Text of a letter sent by Preservation Piedmont:
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Presesrvation Piedmont
P.O. Box 2803
Charlottesville, Virginia 22902

December 30, 2001

Orange County Planning Commission
Orange County Department of Planning & Zoning
112 West Main Street
P.O. Box 111
Orange, Virginia  22960

To: Orange County Planning Commission

Preservation Piedmont is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the
preservation of historic buildings, sites, and neighborhoods, as well
as the natural and created landscapes, traditional routes, and open
spaces. We are based in Charlottesville and we serve Albemarle County
and bordering counties.

Preservation Piedmont recently learned of an application requesting
special use of land currently zoned agricultural for the purpose of
extracting clay. Since the acreage proposed for mining is in the
Barboursville area of Orange County, Preservation Piedmont is very
concerned that the strength of the local historic resources will be
markedly diluted. Montpelier and Barboursville are well-known
resources that benefit the county through tourism, as well as wine
making. The income that is produced by these kinds of activities
enhances the beauty of the associated land and historic structures.

A mining project in the same area can only detract from the
Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District. Even strict adherence to the
county's conditions will do little to reduce the traffic of trucks and
the noise of heavy loading and excavation machinery. There are two
residential communities close by, one of which will be unbuffered and
only twenty-five feet from the ultimate excavation boundary. Who among
us would choose to live in either community?

If mining operations are allowed to begin in this historic area, what
will be left when they end? Former fields will be devastated and
double rows of pine trees will be left to guard acres of deep
devastation that in the long view will add little to Orange County's
future.

Preservation Piedmont strongly urges this Planning Commission to deny
the application for a Special Use Permit by General Shale LLC. It is
better to follow the county's Comprehensive Plan and respect earlier,
well-thought-out reasons for designating this area for Agricultural
Conservation.

Respectfully,




Ashlin Wyatt Smith
Vice-President
Preservation Piedmont