Text of a letter sent by Preservation Piedmont: ---------------------------------------------- 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