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Stafford neighbors seeking relief from auto salvage yard

December 5, 2009 12:36 am

BY JONAS BEALS

Tucked into a residential neighborhood off Norman Road in North Stafford, the Pick-A-Part auto salvage yard has gotten busier, louder and harder for adjacent property owners to ignore.

But the salvage yard has been there for 31 years, long before most of the nearby homes on Norman Road and Aquia Harbour were built.

Pick-A-Part has intensified the use of the property since 2005, but it is still operating within the county's zoning ordinance.

Aerial photos show a stark contrast between the business today and the one run by a different owner 10 years ago.

In 2000, most of the 18-acre parcel was covered with trees. In 2009, nearly every available square foot is occupied by a junked vehicle. A business success story is causing literal and figurative headaches for neighbors.

"There were a few cars, but it was all trees and deer and animals, said Aquia Harbour resident Laura Zink, who has lived next to the salvage yard for 12 years. "It's just dirty, nasty and filthy now. The view is terrible."

She claims the increase in activity--and the resulting fumes and dust--gave her asthma.

The Stafford Board of Zoning Appeals recently voted 4-3 to require Pick-A-Part to put its car crusher in a building, citing a special regulation stating that all uses within 500 feet of a residentially zoned property be enclosed.

Owner John Fields has appealed the decision to the Circuit Court, and the Board of Supervisors recently voted 4-3, mainly along party lines, for the county attorney to intervene in the appeal on behalf of the BZA.

RECYCLER RECAP

On Nov. 21, 1978, the Stafford Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning and a special use permit for Douglas O. Boswell Jr.'s agriculturally zoned property. The special use permit (now referred to as a conditional use permit) allowed an automobile salvage and recycling operation.

The permit was an effort to get Boswell to consolidate his "junk car" yards in the county to a single location. Conditions included that consolidation, a 50-foot buffer of trees on the perimeter of the property and a clause stating the permit would apply only to Boswell himself and could not be transferred to a new owner. That final condition was later found to be unenforceable, and the permit has since conveyed with the property through four owners.

When the special use permit was issued, the neighboring third phase of Aquia Harbour was planned and approved, but it had not yet been developed. The rezoning made the salvage yard the only industrial property in the area--it is surrounded by lots zoned for residential and agricultural uses.

From 1978 to 2005, the auto salvage operation was relatively benign, according to neighbors and county officials. There have been zoning violations in the past, but county officials said that complaints about traffic, dust, noise, sight pollution and runoff increased dramatically in the past two years.

John Fields purchased the business in 2005, and has operated it under the names DGF Auto Recycling LLC and DGF Land Co. LLC. It is now known as Pick-A-Part. He also owns a second location in the Massaponax area of Spotsylvania County.

"There have been ups and downs in the operation of the business," said Clark Leming, an attorney who represents Fields and the DGF Land Co. "Mr. Fields has cleaned up the yard and is doing a thriving business there."

"There's a lot of demand for auto parts," Fields said. "We do a pretty good job of having the inventory that people want."

Scott Allwein, who moved into his Norman Road house next door to the salvage yard in 2005, is worried about the growth of the operation.

"It seemed like it happened overnight," he said. "We wouldn't have bought the house had we known. We weren't ever concerned about it."

Now, he says, the tow trucks that enter and exit the yard make for dangerous driving on the narrow, winding roads that lead to his home.

"The two of us can't co-mingle," he said. "It's been 31 years of bad decisions by the county."

DON'T FENCE THEM IN

Earlier this year, the county zoning administrator responded to complaints by enforcing the 50-foot property line buffer.

Fields complied, moving vehicles that were too close to or, in some cases, over the property line. He also installed a board fence to screen neighbors from the view of the salvage yard.

None of the business's critics have been satisfied by the effort.

Looking out from the backyard of Steve and Judy Taylor's house, there's the family's slatted chain-link fence, the salvage yard's wooden fence and then a field of derelict cars. Cars are still visible from the Taylor's yard and their back deck.

The Taylors live with noise from forklifts, dump trucks and stereos. They hear people yelling and once saw a man jump the fence and run into their neighbor's yard.

They also have complaints about the compactor that crushes the junk cars.

Steve Taylor is not convinced that the auto recycler is properly disposing of hazardous waste such as mercury switches, gas, fuel, oil and antifreeze.

"I don't know what the impact to the ecosystem is here," he said. "There's runoff everywhere."

He said his family has been unable to use their swimming pool due to a persistent oily film on the surface of the water. He said that during the summer, fumes from the crusher can be oppressive.

"You'd be scared to strike a match out here some days," he said.

Auto-recycling facilities are licensed for two-year periods by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Counties must verify that the facilities meet local zoning regulations. Stafford has signed off on that portion of the salvage yard's application for years.

"I understand this is a necessary operation in the state," Steve Taylor said. "But what is the state going to do to regulate things like this?"

COURT TO WEIGH IN

The state may have very little to do with what happens at the Norman Road Pick-A-Part. The Board of Supervisors can revoke a conditional use permit, but only if the property owner makes no effort to comply with the conditions.

The best neighbors can hope for now is that the Circuit Court upholds the BZA decision to enclose the crushing operation.

"We're seeking the Circuit Court to overrule the BZA," Leming said. "And the board needs to clarify the ordinance."

Fields said that if the BZA decision is upheld, his will be the only auto recycler in the state with an enclosed crusher. The DMV could not verify that statement because it does not keep such records.

"No one else is under the scrutiny I'm under," Fields said.

down the road

If the Circuit Court upholds the BZA's decision and Fields puts his crusher in an enclosure, it won't rectify all of the neighbor's complaints. Traffic, noise and viewshed issues would remain.

Leming said Fields has gone above and beyond in responding to those concerns by putting up fencing, installing an entrance gate and operating within the guidelines of the use permit.

Allwein, Taylor and other neighbors said that in addition to health concerns, property values are a significant consideration.

"A real estate agent told us we can just subtract $50,000 from the value of our house," Steve Taylor said.

Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com