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Chesterfield County planners tonight unanimously recommended denial of zoning changes that would allow a Chester landfill to use a neighboring quarry to store waste.

With existing capacity dwindling, Shoosmith Brothers Inc. wants to use a section of the adjoining Vulcan Material Co. quarry — on land that Shoosmith Brothers owns and leases to Vulcan — for storage of out-of-state waste.

Ultimately, the Board of Supervisors will decide on the request, which comes before the board next month. Even if approved there, storage in the quarry area would require approval from state and federal agencies.

Several area residents voiced concerns tonight about new traffic, ongoing odor problems and possible groundwater contamination from quarry blasting near landfill liners.

The landfill — at state Route 10 and Lewis Road — is near the Arbor Landing and Highlands subdivisions. It was approved in 1976 and expanded through a conditional-use process in 1997, which was opposed by many in the community for the 200 acres it added and the out-of-state trash it brought.

For more information, see tomorrow’s Richmond Times-Dispatch. — Wesley P. Hester