By Jesse Wood
The Watauga County Board of Adjustment will hear an appeal regarding the denial of Maymead’s asphalt plant permit for property off of U.S. 421 outside of Boone on Monday, Nov. 16, at 4 p.m. in the Watauga County Administration Building.
If necessary, the hearing will also be held on Wednesday, beginning at 4 p.m. as well.
This appeal takes place a month after the adjustment board heard 17 hours of testimony and eventually upheld the denial of another asphalt plant permit for Radford Quarries off of Rainbow Trail Road just shy of Boone. That permit was denied because it was within 1,500 feet of an educational facility – Watauga County School’s Gragg Education Center.
As for the Maymead matter, the Watauga County Planning & Inspections department in June revoked a 2011 permit for an asphalt plant to be operated by Maymead Inc. in Deep Gap. The county had originally granted J.W. Hampton Co. the permit, but Maymead applied for a transfer of the permit after it secured a lease from the Hampton family earlier this year (with first refusal purchase rights on 100+ acres in the area.)
In noting that the permit had expired and been revoked, Furman wrote to Maymead President Wiley Roark, “Accordingly, it will not transfer to Maymead Materials, Inc. Watauga County maintains that a vested right has not been established for the erection of an asphalt plant.”
Furman cited other reasons in the letter. Click here for more details on Furman’s letter.
On the other hand, Maymead President Wiley Roark told High Country Press this summer after Furman’s decision that he felt “certain that we are vested from the standpoint of the permit that has been issued to us by Watauga County and we intend to pursue it.”
High Country W.A.T.C.H., a group of concerned citizens opposed to the asphalt plant, posted on Facebook about how it played a part in helping stop the asphalt plant development on Rainbow Trail Road and about the upcoming meeting:
“We need you to BE THERE. Numbers do matter, as evidenced by the response of the county commission in recent months to the large turnout at their meetings. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend this hearing”
For more stories on the issue of asphalt plants in the High Country, click here.