Chesterfield County: Group plans to appeal court ruling on gas plant

Three Chesterfield County residents will appeal a circuit court’s dismissal of their challenge of the county’s refusal to require Dominion Energy to obtain a conditional use permit for a proposed gas plant.

The court case comes amid public backlash that forced Dominion to change the proposed location of its gas plant project to the existing Chesterfield Power Station site. Dominion is claiming it can proceed with construction and operation of the new project under a prior conditional use permit granted in 2010 for the existing CPS project.

Despite repeated requests from the community, no hearing or vote on the proposed gas plant has taken place at the county level.

Earlier this year, the three Chesterfield residents filed a legal petition asking the Chesterfield County Circuit Court to declare that a conditional use permit is required under county zoning ordinance or to compel the Chesterfield County Board of Zoning Appeals to consider the question and make a determination.

“Our petition laid out detailed allegations identifying and quantifying the air pollutants the plant would emit, based on Dominion’s own permit application and public records. We believe the court erred by dismissing the case without accepting those facts as true, as required at this stage,” said Glen Besa, the chair of the nonprofit Friends of Chesterfield and one of the three petitioners

“We are disappointed by this decision, but not deterred,” Besa said. “We believe that Dominion cannot legally build this gas plant without a conditional use permit from the County Board of Supervisors. That permitting process requires public notice and a hearing before a vote, so that Chesterfield residents can participate and voice their concerns to the Supervisors. So far the county has stood in the way of public participation, despite strong community opposition to the proposed plant.”