Pipeline Laydown Yard Coming To

County
By Ed Smith

The closest the 600-mile long Atlantic

Coast Pipeline will be to Rockbridge
County is just north of Deerfield Valley
in Augusta County, north of Goshen.
However, components used in the
construction of the natural gas
pipeline are to be welded together in a
temporary facility in Raphine.

The Rockbridge County Planning

Commission last week approved a site
plan for a laydown yard for the ACP on
43 acres alongside Inter-state 81 that
is part of a former county-owned
industrial tract purchased in 2011 by
Bobby Berkstresser.

ACP Contractor Yard Spread 5, as the

laydown yard is to be known, is to be

A LAYDOWN YARD for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline that is to be developed in used for pipe welding, fuel storage,
Raphine is depicted in this site plan. The property is just east of Interstate 81, seven office trailers, storage of
seen here above and to the left of the planned development. Steeles Fort Road materials and contractor employee
can be seen in the upper right-hand corner of this map, with the current
parking.
access road to Whites Truck Stop from Steeles Fort Road also shown at the
upper edge of the map. The proposed access road to the laydown yard is
When construction on the pipeline is
shown just to south of that road.
underway, equipment is to be moved
between the laydown yard and the
pipeline construction corridor. Such equipment would include a drill rig, cranes, wire-stringing rigs,
tensioners, backhoes and trucks.
Min So, an engineer for Dominion Energy, one of the companies behind the pipeline, told the commission that
crews will gather at the laydown yard primarily in the mornings and evenings, before their work day begins
and after it ends. Office staff will remain on site and refueling activities will be occurring there.

The 43-acre site is being leased by ACP from BJB Properties LLC, Berkstressers company, through 2021 the
anticipated length of time the laydown yard will be needed for construction of the pipeline.

A new access road from Steeles Fort Road, Va. 706, to the laydown yard is to be built in conjunction with the
project. This new road, which would be available in the future for use by permanent industries that locate in
this area, is to be 1,700-feet-long from the property line to Steeles Fort Road.

Discussion among commission members dealt primarily with screening the laydown yard from an adjoining
property to the east. To accomplish this, a double row of staggered pine and cedar trees is to be planted.

Lee Merrill of the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council suggested that consideration be given to planting
trees to the west of the laydown yard to screen the industrial activity from the interstate. Chris Slaydon,
assistant director for the countys office of community development, responded that future industrial tenants
of the property may want to have their business advertised to motorists so screening the property in this
direction wouldnt be advisable.

A motion by Robert Lucas to approve the site plan, as amended with the trees planted to the east, was
approved, 5-0.

The pipeline, which is to stretch from northeastern West Virginia to southeast-ern North Carolina, gained
approval last week from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.