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Watauga County Planning Director: Permit for Asphalt Plant at Rainbow Trail Road Denied

By Jesse Wood

Watauga County Planning Director Joe Furman received a thunderous applause from citizens when he told the Watauga County Board of Commissioners on Monday that Radford Quarries’ application for an asphalt plant on Rainbow Trail Road was denied.

The commissioners scheduled a special meeting to discuss potential modifications to the county’s High Impact Land Use Ordinance, which regulates asphalt plants.

Furman updated the board on the application and told the commissioners that it was denied after a thorough review and found it “deficient.” Furman said that the proposed location of the asphalt plant did not meet “spacing requirements.”

On Tuesday morning, Furman expanded on why the permit was denied:

“The current HILU ordinances provides for a 1500 foot for certain protected uses, such as educational facilities. The lot proposed as the site for an asphalt plant lies entirely within the 1,500 foot buffer for the Watauga County Board of Education facilities.”

After listening to a presentation from Furman, the commissioners went into closed session. Chair Jimmy Hodges said that they were going to discuss possible “legal issues” that might arise with modifying the county’s high impact land use ordinance.

For more information about this issue, the proposed plants and more, click here.