State board orders Julian quarries to cease operations until conditions are fulfilled

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The Vermont Land Use Review Board, in its administrative order against Julian Materials LLC posted on Monday, June 16, calls on the Julian companies to “stop work” at all three of its quarries in north Chester.  The Land Use Review Board administers the Act 250 program.

Since 2020, residents of the north Chester community of Gassetts have been complaining to the town about constant noise from truck and hydraulic hammering, unsafe blasting and befouled streams caused by operations at the three quarries: the North Quarry above the bridge on Route 103, the Village Quarry and Stone store just south on Route 103 and the Chandler Quarry off Route 10 to the east. In March 2023, they united to bring their complaints to the Select Board.

The quarries have been owned by Jason and Andrew Julian of Connecticut since February 2019.  At one point, they said, they employed 45 people. In December 2023, Jason Julian plead guilty to six misdemeanor charges involving unsafe disposal at parks and a beach of hazardous materials.  He accepted a plea deal and was ordered to serve 18 months in jail and pay a $2.5 million fine.

The Vermont Land Use Review Board order catalogs an exhaustive list of violations of multiple land use permits and gives the Julian companies and members of the Julian families 15 days from the receipt of the order to file a request for a hearing before the Environmental Division of the Vermont Superior Court. You can read a copy of the 28 page order here. 

After 25 pages of background and investigation details, the order gets down to business, telling the Julians what they have to do, namely that the Julian companies:

•  “shall comply”  immediately with all conditions and findings from permits and orders from the past.
•  “shall cease all operations until permit amendments are received from the District 2 Commission that address all material changes and currently unpermitted pursuits. This constitutes a ‘stop work’ order directing Respondents to stop work at all three quarries until all necessary permit amendments are issued and compliance with the existing permitting scheme is achieved.”
• also were ordered — no later than Thursday, July 31 — to “file a complete application for an Act 250 Land Use Permit amendment with the District 2 Environmental Commission. The Respondents shall diligently pursue the application.” The order also lays out what is meant by “diligently pursue” including meeting deadlines set out by the District 2 Environmental Commission or Coordinator.”

In addition to complying with the requirements of their permits and applying for updated permits, the Julian companies were ordered to pay the state $27,500 in penalties for the violations and $2,450 in fees to reimburse the state for the costs of investigating the violations.

State law gives the four Julians and their six limited liability companies — five registered in Connecticut and one in  Delaware — 15 days from receiving the order in which to request a hearing before Vermont’s Environmental Court. Such a request would stop the clock on the demands of the administrative order. If the Julians do not request a hearing within that time, the administrative order will become a judicial order and the state can use enforcement measures such as fines for each violation and additional fines for each day the violations continue.

The Environmental Court told The Telegraph that as of Monday afternoon there had been no request for a hearing in the matter.

Public comment period is open

Posting the order on June 16 started a 30-day public comment period on the administrative order that is related to Act 250. This is not the forum for comments on Town of Chester zoning and building permits. Members of the public can submit a comment on the administrative order here.