By Matthew Harris
MASC 684
SHORT PUMP, Va. – Finding a quiet place to live in Henrico’s West End seems nearly impossible today. The growth in the Short Pump area doesn’t seem to stop. But tucked away behind Short Pump Town Center is a small neighborhood where the sounds of birds fill the air, children walk the streets and neighbors come outside just to say hi.
“Everybody moved here for country life, prior to Short Pump becoming Short Pump,” said Steve Matthews, a contractor and 18-year resident of West Ridge.
“We bought out here because of the location, the tranquility,” said Jay Rovniak, a 10-year resident of neighborhood. “It’s all about location, and of course it’s in Henrico County.”
Hear more from Jay in this extended interview
They don’t want anything to change, however most residents in the 26-home neighborhood are afraid their world is about to be turned upside down. The 24-year-old landfill, just across the county border in Goochand, wants to expand.
Henrico's West Ridge neighborhood fights landfill expansion. Click on the photo for an audio slideshow about how the residents feel about the plans.
“We knew there was a dump there and we knew there was a quarry there,” said Matthews. “What we didn’t expect was the dump or quarry buying additional lands on top of us to expand their businesses. “
The landfill is managed by Republic Services, Inc. It’s mostly filled with building debris, not your typical household trash. It creates a mountain, and can be seen through the trees, almost a mile away from West Ridge. But now there are plans to expand and West Ridge residents don’t trust Republic’s intentions.
“We’re afraid we’re going to lose some of our quality of life,” said Brian Walinski who’s been raising his family in West Ridge for nearly 30 years.
He and his neighbors are doing everything they can to keep a dump out of their backyards. They’ve formed a group and Walinski was the first president. Now he helps with several of the group’s committees, including the law committee, a government committee and environmental committee. Their goal is to keep Republic from rezoning the land it owns, from agricultural to heavy industrial.
“I don’t want to interfere with development of their property, I just think they could do something else,” said Walinski. “The most important thing, although we have a 20-percent decrease in our property value because of the economy, you’re looking at another substantial decrease in your property values.”
Republic says it wants to use the land as a “barrow pit” where crews would take the dirt from the new location and use it to cover debris in the existing landfill. West Ridge residents say they don’t believe it. They say they’re afraid it will turn into a dump within 10 years.
“If this becomes a new expansion of the dump, it will be a mega dump, this will be to nobody’s realization,” said Matthews.
And that’s where they disagree.
“As for uses, at this time, we have decided not to seek approval to build a landfill on this property,” said Peg Mulloy, spokeswoman for Republic Services, Inc.
Republic says it needs the zoning change to do the work it needs to do. West Ridge residents don’t think Republic needs to change the zoning.
The battle really started a few years ago. The neighborhood was divided by the Henrico-Goochland county line. Henrico offered all of the residents the option to live in Henrico. They accepted and the line dividing them was pushed back behind everyone’s property.
“It was a planned effort by both counties to get the residents out, so that they could develop this land anyway they wanted,” said Matthews.
Development on the land has started. A fence divides West Ridge from Republic’s property and a pathway has already been cut. In some places it’s as wide as a two-lane highway. The trees lie right where they fell. Crews have even started taking soil from the area and moved it to the dump. To get there, a creek had to be altered.
“They changed their approach,” said Elizabeth Woodward, whose family moved to West Ridge less than two years ago. “’We’re not going to make a landfill now we’re just going to make a dirt barrow area.’ So at this point we’re fighting heavy industrial zoning because once it’s zoned heavy industrial, there’s not much we can do.”
Hear more from Elizabeth in this extended interview
Republic has already submitted the zoning application to Goochland County and hopes the planning commission takes it up at their next meeting March 16. It could be approved by June. Until then, West Ridge residents will keep communications open with both counties and with Republic to come up with a compromise.
“Were not trying to shut Republic down, said long-time resident Jay Rovniak. “All we’re trying to do it make sure there’s a cooperative solution out there that works for everybody.”
