A public hearing for a landfill in the county that has since closed, but may no longer receive post-closure care from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) despite concerns persisting about the water quality from property owners who live adjacent to the landfill, is set for Thursday, Nov. 15.

The hearing is expected to be held at the Victoria Public Library’s main meeting room from 6-8 p.m.

According to a letter from Phil Peet with Weaver Landfill, formerly located at 576 Shelburn Lane, Weaver Landfill LLC petitioned the DEQ to terminate post-closure care for the landfill. Officials with the landfill held a public comment period for the proposal, where residents could submit comments between Sept. 10 and Oct. 5.

“During the public comment period, several people requested a public informational meeting to further discuss our application,” the letter from Peet sent to adjoining property owners of the landfill and county officials cited. “We agree this would be a worthwhile next step in the process and have arranged to meet with interested parties … ”

Neighbors of the landfill attended a Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors meeting in September to express concern about termination of post closure care following after-effects of the landfill, including reported green water.

Donald Gee, an attorney based in the Richmond area, and whose mother lives in Lunenburg, spoke during the September meeting and said residents began noticing problems within the first year or two after the landfill was installed.

He said if residents adjacent to the landfill allowed the water to sit out for a day or two, it would turn green.

“Everybody wants to do what? They want to make a profit off of our natural resources without paying the consequences of what may come into effect after the fact,” Donald said about the landfill company’s impact on the county.

The landfill, Donald and County Attorney Tracy Gee said, accepted parts of buildings that had been torn down and believed to contain asbestos.

Donald said after the meeting while discoloration of water is not a known effect of asbestos, that it creates concern of what could be in the water, prompting the necessity of having the water tested.

He thanked the board for hearing his concern. He entreated them to get involved and send a clear message to the DEQ to not allow the post-closure monitoring to be terminated.

“Don’t let this happen,” Donald said. “Please, do not let this happen.”

Tracy said during the September meeting that the county became involved with the Weaver Landfill when it was operational because the company could not follow procedures for zoning correctly and violated several zoning ordinances. This eventually led to the landfill closing due to not being in compliance with local zoning laws. At the time, Tracy said the company was applying to expand.

“They went from expanding to closing,” Tracy said.

Tracy said the landfill violated the following sections of the zoning ordinance that led to its eventual closure: Sec. 2-1-28: Operating the use without the required Conditional Use Permit (CUP); Sec. 6-5-1: Extending and enlarging a non-conforming structure in a manner that does not conform with the provisions of the ordinance; Sec. 7-1-1: Failure to obtain a zoning permit and Sec. 7-3-1: Failure to obtain CUP.

Tracy said if post-closure monitoring is eliminated, that means the landowners would have to pay for their own water monitoring, which could be expensive.