Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Oh, R. Thank you. I'll start over. The Code of Virginia requires local governments to have a planning commission, the purpose of which is to advise the board of supervisors on land use and planning issues affecting the county. The responsibility is exercised through recommendations conveyed by resolutions or other official means and all are matters of public record. The commission is comprised of seven citizen volunteers appointed by the board with one representative from each voting district and two at large members. Roll call, please. Mr. Chamberlain here. Mr. Titus here. Mr. Brooks, yes. Mr. King here. Mr. Kryiner here. Mr. Smith here. Mr. Rothman

here. Mr. Chairman, you have a quorum. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Indivisible, liberty, and justice. uh look at approving the minutes. Anybody have any comments on the minutes?

If not, I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Chairman, I recommend we accept Mr. Chairman, I recommend we accept the minutes. Roll call, please. The motion by Mr. Titus is to adopt the minutes of the regular meeting on November 12th, 2025. Mr. Titus, yes. Mr. Brookke, yes. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Kleiner, yes. Mr. Was abstain. I wasn't present. Mr. Smith, abstain. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes.

All right. At this time is our citizen comment period and this is a time for citizens who wish to um speak to the commission on matters that are not on the agenda tonight. So I don't have any cards. Anybody wish to speak in the citizens comment? Seeing none, we'll move on to the first uh public hearing. Genie, that is you. Okay. Good evening.

This application submitted by the Lafayette Gun Club is a request for a special use permit to establish an indoor firing range at 331 Dare Road. Subject property is 26.3 acres in size. Majority of the subject parcel is zoned resource conservation or RC with a tenth of an acre portion located at the entrance of the property zoned medium density single family residential or R20. The entire parcel is designated medium density residential in the comprehensive plan. The subject parcel is bounded to the east by Brandy Wine Housing subdivision and a portion of the lake owned by the Brandy Wine Lake Owners Association which are zoned R20. To the south is Koh's Horse Autism Therapy Station, otherwise known as Chats, and Peninsula Hardwood Mulch, both zoned RC. To the west is a single family dwelling, Jacob Springs Housing Subdivision and Lakeside Baptist Church, which are all zoned R20. To the north are three single family dwellings, which are also zoned R20. Hey, existing development on on this parcel includes a clubhouse, an indoor firing range, outdoor firing ranges, and an outdoor shotgun range. The applicant is seeking authorization to establish a new approximately 12,600 ft indoor firing range on their property. According to section 24.1-306 category 9 number seven, indoor firing ranges are permitted in the RC zoning district by special use permit. As stated in the applicant's narrative, the new building will be located where the current shotgun ranges and the shotgun range will sh will shift approximately 150 ft south. So section 24.1-457 establishes performance standards for fire for firing ranges. Section

24.1-457A states, "With the exception of paintball ranges, only completely enclosed indoor firing ranges are permitted. The applicant proposes establishing a new completely enclosed indoor firing range which meets this standard. The subject parcel contains several outdoor firing ranges which were built in 1950. York County's first zoning ordinance was adopted in 1957. Therefore, the existing outdoor firing ranges on the subject parcel are considered a legally non-conforming use and are allowed to continue. Any new land use established on the subject parcel must comply with the regulations of the zoning ordinance. Section 24.1-457B states, "No structure except screening fences and identification signs used for firing ranges shall be located closer than 100 ft to any residential lot line. The new indoor range would be approximately 134 feet from the nearest property line on Pearly Court and approximately 240 ft from the Holden Lane area. The application uh meets this requirement. The section 24.1-456 457C of the zoning ordinance states that the protection of adjacent property shall be assured by proper design, location, and orientation of structures, back stops, and firing lines. While this standard cannot be applied to the existing legally non-conforming outdoor shooting ranges, the applicant has taken steps to mitigate the impact of the outdoor ranges using physical features like the proposed additional landscaping and existing earth and BMS as stated in the applicant's narrative. Uh we plan to install additional landscape buffering, arborvite and legustrum for Holden Lane, the primary line of sight for the new indoor range building. This would provide a visual block running laterally from the east side of the Lafayette Gun Club's main gate to the northwest corner of the current indoor range. Along the Pearly Court line of sight, the majority of the building will be blocked by the existing western Burm and

trees. Additional landscape buffering for Pearly Court will extend from the north end of the existing gravel drive toward the west side of the Lafayette Gun Club's main gate. The proposed location for the new indoor firing range is to be in the same place as the existing outdoor shotgun range. Regarding the Earth and uh BMS, the applicant stated in their narrative that moving the shotgun range south reduces noise for residents on Ply Court. The shift places the shotgun range deeper within the current earth and burm construct. This will further mask sound to Pearly Court as the Burm is higher at the new location with denser forestation. So section 24.1-457D states that the indoor range shall be designed so that no range noise is audible at the property line. Documentation certified by an architect and professional engineer to this effect shall be submitted with site and building plans. If the special use permit is approved, the applicant will be required to submit the necessary documentation for the new indoor firing range during the site plan approval process. However, the applicant has outlined in their narrative some of the measures they've taken to mitigate noise. According to the applicant's narrative, the new indoor range will employ state-of-the-art to standard soundproofing. The applicant goes on to say, "The firing area will be fully enveloped within an at least 8 to 10 inch thick cement structure, employ acoustic panels, be enveloped by a wellinssulated building, and have a much lower lower sound signature than the current indoor range. This documentation is not required for the existing legally non-conforming indoor uh firing range. Nevertheless, the applicant has taken measures to reduce the noise impacts produced by it. The existing indoor firing range is located approximately 83 feet from the property line adjacent to Holden Lane. The applicant stated in their narrative that while they plan to retain the existing indoor range, they would move a majority of the activity from the existing indoor range to the new one. Activity in the existing indoor range

would be curtailed from a multi-caliber facility to a to a 22 rimfire only facility. The establishment of the new indoor firing range would reduce the impact of noise on the citizens of Holden Lane closest to the existing indoor firing range. According to section 24.1-457E, it shall be the property owner or leie's responsibility to ensure the firing range is managed by an individual currently certified to perform each uh such supervision as a range master or range safety officer by a federal, state, local, or nationally recognized certification. This does not need to be submitted during the special use permit process, but will need to be presented during annual inspections. The applicant confirmed verbally that they can meet this requirement and will present the documentation upon request. The Lafayette Gun Club is a private establishment secured by a gate at the entrance of the property. The county's Department of Fire and Life Safety reviewed the application and requested that the applicant install a NOX gate switch on the main gate to allow fire apparatus to enter the site for emergencies. A condition of approval has been proposed that would make this a requirement. The letters were sent to adjacent property owners. Information about the application was posted to the county's website, an email to those who signed up to receive notifications, and a notice sign was posted on the property. Staff received one letter of support and five letters expressing concerns about the application. Several letters asked the planning commission to consider requiring the fortification of existing BMS and the establishment of additional ones. As most of the letters uh were received today, I printed them and placed a copy for each of you on the dis. The proposed indoor firing range meets the performance standards of the York County code and is proposed to move most activity from the existing indoor range to an improved modern and sound attenuated facility. The new indoor range would be uh 134 ft from the nearest property line, reduce existing noise, and provide a betterment to the

surrounding community. Therefore, staff recommends approval of this application subject to the conditions set forth in proposed resolution number PC25-26. Thank you. Happy to answer any questions and the applicants are here to answer your questions as well. All right, questions. We'll start at this end. JP, anything? The only question was brought up by a citizen is the um thought and I don't know how this applies and if you address that I apologize I might have missed it. So this was established in 1950. The standards were established in 57. Yes sir. And any improvements made since then would then have to comply. Is that correct? Yes. And we have no concerns over them complying.

Yes, that's right. Okay. Good. Thank you. with the some of the citizens concerns about the BMS and the baffles. Is that part of this with moving the new shotgun range? You're not really move it per se. You move it further back. It's kind of the same location, but it's moving towards the neighborhoods. Is that being considered in this the the gun club considering in making those baffles and or BMS larger or is that a part of this or? No, they have not proposed to uh fortify any of the existing BMS or add any new ones

or adding new baffles or anything. Uh the baffles on their existing outdoor firing range, but uh they're not proposing any additional Okay, let's go all the way down. Actually, my questions are going to be for um the owner. Anybody I'm good to questions later.

I'll just say that having been the board of supervisor representative in district 4, that's this property has a lot going on. It's got two subdivisions. It's got a church. It's got a commercial. It's got a autism therapy center. It's got a gun club. There's a lot going on here. And so I just as we go through the questions, I think a little bit to Mr. Brooks Brook's point is, you know, what uh would the applicant be willing to do as far as more fortification of the BMS or other things? I know it meets the code, but just with everything going on there, just as we go through the conversation, that'll be on my mind. So, thank you. Yeah. My only question is to

Okay. All right. Thank you. At this point, I'll open the public hearing and I have several speakers. First of which is the applicant, uh, Zev York. And if you would state your name and address once, which you can get up there, and you'll have 10 minutes. Thank you very much. Uh, Zevor, 312 Richter Lane, Yorktown, Virginia. Uh, to the commission and the team, thanks for the opportunity to speak and, uh, the help for us getting here. We're all volunteer organization. We are certainly enthusiastic but a little lacking on experience for this process. So we do appreciate the help. Uh I will move a little bit closer to the microphone. Absolutely. Thanks. Is that better? Yep.

I'll walk you through the uh sort of the context of why we want to do this and actually uh address a couple of the issues that were discussed uh coincidentally um and then really open it up to questions. So I'll walk you through and because we are behind a closed gate, a lot of folks haven't been back there. I've got a couple pictures and I'll explain some of the things we do, talk about who we are, what we do, how we do it, and why we want to build the range opportunities for both the club and the community. So, as mentioned, we're actually incorporated in 1949, 26 acres. It was called cow pasture back then. You're right, there's a lot going on there now. Um, we are member only, swipe card gate access. We are not open to the public. We uh vary in membership, but average about 2,800 members. Um some of those folks come out weekly, some come out once every one or two years. It just depends. Um density is not real high during the day. A little heavier on the weekends obviously, but we're a slice of York County. Doctors, lawyers, uh shipyard, law enforcement, you name it. We do offer courtesy law enforcement cards. They are not actually members, but they can come out uh if they've serviced their weapon, test fire, need to do some practice. Uh they have courtesy access to the ranges needed. And the range is oversaw by a board of directors, nine members of which I am one. I did want to point out in our bylaws, our object, why we have this club. Um not to not to make light of it, but we're not just a bunch of, you know, folks out there shooting tint cans on a dirt burm. Um, we have a lot of purpose and we we approach it with with a with a lens of what are we doing to better the shooting community. Uh, there's a lot of folks that own firearms. Quite frankly, a lot of folks don't have training with firearms. We run a very structured range, a very structured complex out there. And a key point is that safe

handling, particularly around others and um, well on the range. In fact, sometimes we have to reel our RSOs in, our range safety officers in a little bit um because we're on the same team, but at the end of the day, there's no negotiating with safety. So, uh they can run the range with uh with a fairly heavy hand at times, but we're we're members. We're not drill sergeants. So, we we do try to keep that in perspective. But we also try to develop that honesty, fellowship, team play, sportsmanship. We have competitions, we have cookouts, we have campouts with the Cub Scouts, we have family days, we have picnics. Um, building in that that sense of community. Another key point that's brought out in our in our uh bylaws highlighted in green, we are actually chartered and required to sponsor and promote a junior division of the club. That's a junior shooting team. I'll talk more about that a little later, but they've been to the junior Olympics uh on a regular basis. uh full NCAA scholarships to shooting teams. They hold local, regional, state, and national records, most of those set in the past two or three years. And we're proud of what our juniors do and that we can provide a facility for them. So, you also have these pictures, but um again, just to give a little more amplification on our facilities, that 10lane indoor range, that was actually a dance hall back in the 40s. Uh when the club incorporated, they they um acquired that property and built it into the indoor range. Uh going clockwise, building two, the Harris training facility there. We built that in 2015. That's an air gun only facility, our most recent addition to the to the complex. Um 15 lanes, state-of-the-art, and I'll show you some pictures of that in a moment. uh at about the uh 3:00 position, the number three, that's our 50 yard outdoor range. Uh 23 lanes, I'm

sorry, 24 lanes. Um and it's stated 50 yards and targets at 25 yards. Continuing down through the area designated with the fours. I assume you can see this on the other side here. Um uh that's the 100 yard range. So 12 lanes, uh center fire, rifle, and pistol on the 1500 yard range. I'll show some pictures on the next slide, but any place we fire solid projectile firearms, we have a full containment baffle system. In fact, um about six years ago, we put a million4 million.4 dollars into redoing those baffles. I'll show you some pictures. And then uh the uh shotgun trap and ski and the tactical shotgun range that comes down through the center of the property and extends to the south. Uh we are swipe card access as as mentioned we have over a cadre of over 250 uh range safety officers and they are uh certified at the local national and federal level most of them NRA. We have a robust RSO local training program a full day in the classroom a couple days of orientation shifts and those are all overseen by a certified training officer. um in compliance with the county. All our ranges have detailed logs, who is shooting, what time, what caliber, when. Um in compliance, uh the 50 and the 100 yard outdoor range uh are daylight only during the week. We open at 8, Saturdays at 10, noon on Sundays. The indoor range is 247. Uh people can swipe anytime in. And I imagine occasionally during the evening, quiet summer nights, the neighbors might be able to hear that. We're we're looking to address that. The indoor range is by far the most used range. So, this is actually some pictures from our parking lot looking down the 50, but

the 50 and 100 yard range are are very similar. In the top left uh corner, that's what you see as you pull into the shooting bench. The second picture, the bottom left, that's approaching the shooting bench. If you notice the burm in the back, you have a very slight window uh for okay um slight window for uh target placement. And the orange boards you see are actually 5 in thick uh 5,000 PSI concrete. So from the shooting bench, you can't see daylight. So no matter what angle you shoot at, if the the BMS extend about 40 feet high, if you were able to shoot above that window, the projectile will get captured in the concrete baffle. You can't reach blue sky if you shoot straight up through the roof. That's also uh got 4 and a half inches of of gravel and reinforced plywood in there to stop any rounds as well. Um, and as mentioned, those baffles were replaced about six years ago, uh, with fresh concrete panels. One of the big reasons we do want a new facility, this is that air gun training facility I talked about, the Harris training. Uh, youngsters prone on the floor there. It's crowded, the lighting is is minimal, the lanes are narrow. We're limited to 47 feet. the new range uh that you see on the right side, the proposal, it's uh rubbercoated walls. The soundproofing is much better for the shooter. We have state-of-the-art um ventilation, state-of-the-art lighting, target carriers that head in and out and provide a better shooting environment. In addition, we go to 22 only on the old range and um better support our youth, also the scouts that come in the Civil

Air Patrol. So, the new range, modern, better designed, better opportunities for our club members. A lot of members will not only come from the current indoor range to the new range. A lot of people shoot 25 yards on the outdoor range because that's not available on the indoor range. On the new range, it will. So, some of those folks that are shooting outside with no sound attenuation will bring those activities inside. the shotgun range. No, we don't have any uh set anticipation to build up the barriers. Um but they're almost twice as high down where we're moving the shotgun range. On the shotgun range at 7 and 12 and eight shot only uh which is uh you know pepperc corn and smaller than peppercorn uh that comes down with very little energy. Uh visual barriers as mentioned we bring about $4.5 million into the local community. we to reduce our use in the non-conforming facility and we have an approved range called the action shooting range that was approved last year. We would forego that plan and replace it with this plan. That action shooting range plan has significant disruption in the resource protection area, new road bm changes. Uh we wouldn't be doing any of that work. So, quick overview on um the context of this project and any questions. Uh over to you all, please. With that, I'll start down here with uh JP.

With with the addition of the indoor range, do you anticipate a larger clientele, more use, uh increase usage? No sir, we do not. As a matter of fact, we self-limit our club to 3,000 members um because We're comfortable with that number. We don't need to grow uh we don't want to clog up the uh the range use on a Saturday morning. So, we're pretty comfortable with where our membership is now. Okay. Thank you. So, you don't anticipate doing anything with the BMS with the new shotgun range? No, sir. That is not in the plan.

Can it be in the plan? the effectiveness would be limited because the shotgun is typically um in a cone where the trap and ski are already flying. Um so raising those above the current line of flight. I'm not sure what our objective would be. Safety would be your objective. Uh we are in compliance. We we do meet those standards. Um it's not currently in the plan. Yes, sir.

I understand Picosen's going to uh open up a fire indoor firing range as well. Is that going to have any effect on you or is there apparently it's popular these days? Um yeah, and I'm not I'm not aware of the status of the range in Picosen. Um we're membership only. So if our members want to shoot in Picosen, they're certain certainly welcome to, but I don't expect it'll have a significant impact on our membership. If you have you seen the letters that I have in front of me with the concerns of the neighbors? I have not. I'd be happy to take a look at them. Thank you.

Um sir, couple questions. Uh one, I'm curious your range safety officers, these are volunteers or paid members or what? We are an all volunteer club. Uh we have one paid member, our office administrator, but yes, we are all volunteers. Okay. Um and you said the shotgun was seven eight shot only, no slugs. Uh correct. All you can shoot slugs on the pistol and rifle range just like a any other center fire projectile, but absolutely only seven and a half and eight out on the shotgun range. Okay. Um I think I'm good for now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay, no questions. I They've already been asked. So, one question had to do with the shotgun range.

Yes, sir. And uh guess I turn my mic on so you can hear me. On the shotgun range, you do SK and trap. Negative. Uh we used to do ski, but that in uh basically includes higher angle shots and we were getting the shot going off the range. So, probably 10 12 years ago, before my time, we closed the ski range. We do trap in fivestand. Uh we designed the fiveand matter of fact we brought a a gentleman in from North Carolina to make sure all the bird angles and the shot angles kept the shot in that cone down on our property because of the range of trap. Okay. Do you do you put in limits on the choke? No, we do not.

Okay. So, because some of the letters were talking about uh projectiles landing in backyards and in swimming pools, and I got the impression from some of them, they were they were pellets. So, you know, I don't know how they get there, but I know a shotgun with a whole show, they can travel a little ways. Yeah. With the with the seven and a half and eight shot, that's much less much less distance, much less energy. I used to work in a gun dog thing. Got shot mosquite. Very well. Any other questions? And I don't have any questions. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you for your time.

All right. The next person I have is uh Greg Peterson.

Go ahead. I'm sorry. And if you would state your name and address, please. And you have three minutes.

My name is Greg Peterson. and I live at 138 Brandy Wine Drive in Yorktown. Good evening. Like I said, my name is Greg Peterson. I live at 138 Brandy Wine Drive, directly adjacent to the Lafayette Gun Club. I'm a retired Air Force veteran with 30 years experience around military gun ranges, and I'm also an ARM Air Force small arms expert marksman, a lifelong hunter, a graduate of multiple hunter safety courses, and was trained as a scout master to ensure the safe operations of firearms. I understand firearm safety and range operations. The question before you is whether this provision in or proposal improves safety and protect safety or public safety or welfare. It does not. Since 2024, multiple police reports have been filed documenting bullets and shrapnel escape in the Lafayette gun club. I personally have filed police reports after the discovery of buckshot in my pool and two 9mm projectiles in my backyard. My neighbor has filed reports after shrapnel was landed on his deck twice. In response, the club temporarily shut down the metal target range but resumed use again in two weeks with more shrapnel appearing. Only after the second incident did they stop using that lane. When I met with the club after the first instrument, they denied responsibility and declined to examine their safety procedures. The repeated projectile escapes corrected only after police reports show a reactive safety culture at the Lafayette Gun Club that relies on citizen reporting as opposed to a proactive approach. The proposal only curtails the use of the existing indoor range which was not the source of the escapes. At the same time, it adds an additional indoor range and relocates the shotgun range which is closer to residential neighborhoods. This means more shooters, more dischargers discharges and greater intensity of use, all while the outdoor ranges that have already produced the police documented escapes remain unchanged. In short, this plan actually increases risk rather than

reduces it. York County Code section 24.1-457 requires protection of adjacent properties and section 24.1-115 makes clear that a special use permit is a privilege, not a right, and must protect public welfare. With over 7,100 residents now residing in Yorktown, more than double the population when these ranges were first built, intensifying operations is now much in a much denser residential area is incompatible with safety. I respectfully urge the commission to recommend denial of this application or at a minimum impose strict codes including independent engineering audits of all ranges, permanent prohibition of target lanes that risk projectile escape, continuous monitoring and reporting of safety incidents, the revocation of the permit if any further projectile escapes occurs. As proposed, this plan fails the zoning test because it increases risk to residents instead of reducing it. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next I have Sandra Colum. Did I say that right?

Hi. And please state your name and address for the record. Uh, Sandra Culver, 136 Brandy Wine Drive. Thank you. And you have three minutes.

Yes. Um, I'm here to object to the plan the Lafayette Gun Club is doing trying to use for the special use permit. Um, I don't have a problem with indoor range. I'm not trying to shut them down. However, I am one of the houses that had shrapnel and a hole in my sighting this year. I had to call York County twice. Called them on the 19th. They did not respond. Took them over a week after multiple phone calls. Finally, I got them out there. Um, got a business card on my door on the 24th while I was at work. called again. No response. Finally, on the 27th, I contacted Mr. Ran, who I know is on the board of supervisors, lives in Brandy Wine. He came over. He looked at the shrapnel, said he would discuss it with the gun club board and talked to him about the issues. Uh, finally on April 29th, a deputy finally did come out, take a report, and show them the shrapnel and the hole in the siding, and on the it's on the deck and and the patio attached to my house. Um on May 18th again more shrapnel on my patio and in the deck called the sheriff's department. This time a deputy did respond and took a report. I also contacted Mr. Ran again gave left him a voicemail and sent him an email. He stopped by on the 19th said he had spoke with the Lafayette Gun Club president about the previous issue and he would talk to him again about the second issue. Um, now the Afia Gun Club is proposing changes to the plans they originally submitted in 2022 to include hiring updating the BMS, making them higher. They're saying that's not going to change. They're not doing that. I'm getting shrapnel. Built house in 95 had a problem about 12 years ago. That was taken care of immediately. Now I've had two incidents. I live right next door to 138. They've actually got bullets. And I have a third house that's my next door neighbor three houses down.

House sold had holes in the roof and that's in the housing inspector report when they sold this house. The Lafayette Gun Club claims their safety concerned. They are not or they are not responsive to the neighborhood. So I'm asking the board to take serious consideration of any plans submitted by the gun club. You need minimum a site visit to see just how close our houses are. Maybe because I'm up against the water, I don't technically touch their land, but I'm one of the I could probably throw a rock and hit their hit their wall. That's how close I am. I'm on the canal. Um the board, you as the planning commission have an ethical, not just a legal obligation to all county residents. The rights at the Lafayette Gun Club even is listed as special non-conforming use doesn't supersede the residents rights to live safely in their house and use their yards. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, Aaron Topina. Well, you gave me you gave me a hint here. So, and if you'd state your name and address, please, for the record, and you have three minutes.

Sure. Uh, Aaron Tina, 204 Henry Lee Lane. Um, I'm the president, the volunteer president of the Brandy Wine Lake Owners Association. I've lived in Brandy Wine for 22 years. um when things are changed with the gun club like a lot of it has to well I shouldn't say that when we start reporting things like there's something there's clay pigeon pieces and parts coming over the tree line it's because the neighbors can see it hitting the lake that's those trees are really tall and what's happening now on Brandy Wine Drive is those households are not dead center in the middle of their properties. They have short driveways. They want those big yards. So, the bullets as well as the shrapnel are coming over this huge tree line and hitting their decks. And these properties are closer to the street than most other houses in Brandy Wine. Um, I have some real confusion with this whole process. Um, we monitor what's happening with the gun club. We want to be informed. We put in foyas. So when this plan, this action gun range with its road and its parking lot and its building and its expansion of what had been an action pistol range, which was not very large. They were incorporating a burm into it. The way it sounds to me is that Susan Castle signed off on this plan and there was no SUP that would have been associated with this. But in 2013, they expanded a driveway, put in an educational building and you know where they're social, they can have outdoor picnics and whatnot. And they were required to have an SU for that. So I'm

really confused as to why that plan was a go and never needed an SUP. Um, and really staff is only telling me that Susan signed off on it. Well, she doesn't work for your county anymore. Um, so but now they're calling it an action rifle range. So, and they've put a roof on it. Are they looking to expand that? But I'm really confused as to what's going on. The way this gentleman just explained it is they're giving up the whole plan back there, which would affect uh Dr. McGavern's property as well as Brandy Wine Drive. Um, communication is key. I have Donald Strader's cell phone in my phone because the open communication was for a decade. I could call him with a concern or, hey, we're treating weeds in the lake. What's a really good day that our contractor won't get hit by whatever possibility? And he he always took care of us. I don't even know the new president's name. I've left three messages with the very nice receptionist. It's like crickets and that's over two years I've left messages. Um, so they need to start communicating with the neighborhood around them in order to keep the peace. All right. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Uh, Dr. Megan McGavvern.

And again, state your name and address for the record, please.

Okay. Dr. Dr. Megan McGavvern, 100 Old Pond Road in Yorktown. Um I run a nonprofit called Cooh's Horse Autism Therapy Station. It would be great if you could put that map back up, but um at the bottom, this the southern part, I'm the big rectangle. It's about 17 and a half acres. Uh that entire property has children, special needs children, their families, therapy horses, uh and my staff, uh roaming the property Monday. Well, every day of the week, really. There you go. Thank you. The bottom bat. And where the property comes right up next to mine in the left part there's a big burm literally right behind there we have an outdoor sensory classroom where we have an outdoor chalkboard sensory pond observatory stations swings uh a mailbox that the kids ride up to on a hill another big hill that has a swing on it and the waters there so um I'm not a anti-gun person I'm prior Navy sharpshooter there been shooting since I was a child with my father. Uh my only uh urge here is that you have that entire property, the entire thing is um five miles of trails to the part that comes up next to Peninsula Hardwood Mulch and Lafayette Gun Club. There's five miles of trails back there. Outdoor sensory classroom, a bridge that the life new new trail new life which is a boy scout group built. Uh, I'm just saying that there are children, special needs children and horses there all day long, every day, seven days a week. Uh, so I would like to see that there's more burm or whatever needs to be put up, especially because the range is being put closer to my property and that I just want a little more protection so that I'm not

worried about, I don't know, kid being shot on the horse. So that that's all. Thank you. Thank you. And I have Kane Jefferson. I can't read your first name very well. Good evening, sir. I'm Kar Jefferson at 114 Holden Lane. Thank you.

And um I I am an Air Force. I'm currently stationed at Langley Air Force Base. And I have like a lot of the previous speakers, I have um a lot of uh experience with guns and and shooting. Um but I believe that York County has allowed the Lafayette Gun Club to grade their own homework. And I think that's a problem. Um they've allowed them to grade their own homework in terms of safety. They've allowed them to grade their own homework in terms of the impact on the community. And again, I echo some of my uh uh neighbors and finding, you know, uh various debris. They have not been held accountable by this planning board or York County in general. So, uh in the military, we always have this saying, at what cost are we trying to uh allow things to be done? At what cost to the residents and to the quality of life? Are we going to allow Lafayette Gun Range, who continues to change the narrative, by the way, they continue to change the narrative, and I think that that's important. They can't keep us a consistent story, and they can't they do not have accountability. So, at this point, I think your county needs to um make sure that they're putting their residents first and not the needs of a of a uh gun club. You know, they're decreasing our home property values. And so I would also ask this planning board in York County in add in in general to consider reducing our property taxes because we are not able to enjoy our homes the way that we plan to the way that we would like to and enjoy having our kids in the wonderful school jurisdiction that is York County. Um because of the deterioration that Lafayette Gun Club brings to the community, they've only increased it. So, I think a lot of us may um have went into buying our homes with certain understandings about Lafayette Gun Club, but they have

certainly increased over the years and they have no strategic messaging, no narrative, no plan, and no outside accountability, and again, they're grading their homework. So, I respectfully ask this board to consider York County. York County is a great place to live. We want to be able to continue to recruit the best talent and we will not be able to do that by expanding uh the hot mess to be frank that is Lafayette Gun Club. Thank you very much. Thank you. That's all of the sheets I have. Does anybody else willing wishing to speak on this topic?

Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. Sorry. Sorry. We'll start down here. Um, not a problem. Happy to get you started.

Um, I I'm viewing this as two different problems. Uh, one is a yes, I'd like to build a new facility and the new facility, no one really has problems with that building and the way that's being constructed. The concerns which are seem to be very valid and seem to be many are the existing operation and how to rectify that which quite frankly isn't before the board tonight but it could certainly be a place to get the ball rolling to try to rectify some of those things. the um as as I'm viewing it right now, I don't have a problem with the new facility and I think it's a good opportunity to listen to the citizens who have valid concerns over the current operation. Uh I concur um Commissioner Kryer about the communication standpoint. Uh as some background, I grew up hunting. I'm an Army veteran. I fired every weapon and round from handguns to howitzers. Uh I'm very familiar with weapons. Um I too believe that this the new indoor facility don't have any issues uh with it. However, there appears to be some uh valid concerns by our residents. Um this is about safety. I don't think there's um I'm proposing this. I I think that the Lafayette Gun Club needs to meet with the community if nothing else from a education standpoint, awareness. There seems to be a lot moving parts going on as my fellow commissioner said, so the community that that is surrounding uh this operation uh can get a better understanding what's being proposed here and if there are any fixes or opportunities to enhance this effort, uh it would be a great time to do so. Uh now that we're reviewing this, I look at

it if it's safety another 30 days. Uh I don't think it's going to hurt if we're considering uh the safety of our residents and for the integrity and continued operation of the gun club. So uh that's where I stand, Mr. Chairman, and thank you. That's all I have. It's always good to follow Commissioner King because he does a great job answering anything. And I'm he's an Army vet and uh I'm an Air Force vet so I've not fired every weapon but I know where the good golf courses and Marriotts are. But um and the carpet and the barracks.

Don't be jealous. But I uh I think like uh most of the folks here um you know again there's so much going on in that in that uh that uh that um small area and you know there are here folks here that do development in the county and anytime that we've put in a new development. The best chances for success is when the developer the people requesting the change meet with the community, bring them in, show them what they're doing, hear their feedback and change their plans as need be. And so, uh, again, you know, I too think the indoor facility is great. I think it is a great addition. When I ran for office, I spent time out at Lafayette Gun Club just to see what was going on there. Uh, again, I mean, you you safety is paramount to you. And I think I think just a step back and and taking 30 days and just listening and and can you improve the BMS, can you take some of those safeties things into consideration because it definitely is a concern when people are finding shrapnel in their yard. Uh and and again, we have, you know, children and and and a great facility very close by. So, uh those are my concerns.

Remember to turn that on. Okay. Yeah, the the new indoor range, I didn't have a problem with that. moving the outdoor shotgun range uh down closer to the uh bottom land down there becomes a little bit of a problem especially if there I don't know the the 7.5 to 8 whatever that pellet is how far that actually goes but I do know if you move down farther and you have a full choke it's going to go pretty far so a recommendation for me at least for a while would be to limit the type of choke to no choke which means the shot the the firing range is a lot shorter. It may be from 50 yards back to 25 or 30 yards, something like that. So that would help eliminate some of the shrapnel if you would fall in other places from a shotgun gun range. And I I agree. I don't know if 30 days uh would do any good or not, but uh it's worth a shot. No pun intended.

That's all I got. JB.

Well, the beauty of coming at this end after you guys, you've covered most everything I was going to, but I I well said. I think there are two different issues here and one is the it's an improvement of an of a facility and it's a it's a good organization. Uh I don't have any problem with the indoor firing range being added uh as an improvement to the property. However, it's not just an improvement. It's also an expansion. I mean, we're not stopping something and replacing it with something new. We're adding another feature, which to me increases operations potentially, uh, which then could potentially increase the concerns of the citizens. The second part of that is that we have citizens concerned and they're bringing those to us. I'm concerned about the lack of engagement uh or knowledge that the u owner or the the applicant did not provide for us. Um police reports were provided to us. Those were not addressed which I think they should have been. um just there's no proactive approach and I think your suggestion of potentially uh delaying this and allowing that engagement uh for our citizens would be a good move uh for both Lafayette Gun Club and for our citizens. Uh so that I endorse that recommendation and give back to you sir.

Yeah, I I agree. Uh safety is the huge issue of anything in life really and this one is huge. Uh we need to be considerate of our citizens. Uh and again I I agree too with the with the expansion of the uh indoor range but we are missing a concept of when you're moving another range closer. I'm sorry you I'm not buying that you've done all you can do and it's not going to make any difference if you put more BMS up or take other safety issues. There's always a way to do that and that that is necessary. Um and I I wouldn't support this based on what we're talking about right now because of the safety issue. I do support recommending I mean I don't know 30 days maybe 60 days they may need more time than 30 days to do this but uh that's that's all I got to say m all right um my comments and I'm not a veteran like all most of my peers up here but I am a police officer um and so I am familiar with guns and ranges and and I did visit the site on uh a rainy Monday morning last Monday morning um and went through there and and I guess I've got a question for our attorney. What's before us is the indoor range and moving the shotgun ranges can be allowed regardless or what's before us is both of those. The special use is before you. Um the movement is considered by staff simply to be an adjustment of the existing plan and so that's not part of the special

use permit. Okay. Thanks. Um, so let's uh open for a motion on PC 25-26.

Uh, before we do that, Mr. Chairman, I just to propose an idea. Um, our fellow commissioner mentioned I mentioned 30 days. Um, I have a a thought that we table the application and give the applicant, the gun club, uh, adequate time to meet with the surrounding community for educational purposes and to address their concerns and then the gun club can come back and and uh, and we can hear more about how we address these concerns. I'd be willing to do that if we can if we can somehow manage that. I know here here we we're here today to uh vote on whether the new building is a go or no go. I get that.

I think the process though, and correct me if I'm wrong, if we have a motion on the table on if we have a motion, then somebody can motion to table it and that gets us to 30 or 60 days. I would I would like to make that motion that correct or Yeah. Yeah. I would make that motion that we table this application. I need a motion first. So, just a yeah, just a quick um point point of order on this is um if you want to continue to have uh public comments in the future, you would need to continue the public hearing. Yes. Um okay.

Yeah, just keep just open if that's what you want to do. Or you could just say, you know, we're going to table it until this time and then you could have Lafayette come back report and then you could just move forward without public comment. That's completely up to you. Okay. So we can on a motion continue the public hearing until the next or the following. Yes. As long I would open it back up just to be just to be clear. At this point I will reopen the public hearing. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to continue the public hearing to further date till January 14th. Oh, that's your next meeting. I'm sorry.

All right. Motion's on the table to continue the public hearing until January 14th. Roll call, please. Mr. Was. Mr. Wasmer. The motion by Mr. Wasmer is to continue the public hearing to January 14th. Mr. Brooks, yes. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Crryer, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Wasman, yes. Mr. Titus, yes. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes. All right. And with that, we would assume

Yeah. With with that, we would assume we would encourage Lafayette Gun Club to get together with your neighbors and uh and come back in January. you see it for South

and and to consider you know their obviously their concerns but you again they meet code but what are those other things that can be done so yeah thank you all right with that we will move on to the next application and Madison this one is yours righty good evening commissioners all right so this application submitted by Redstone Properties LLC is a request to amend the York County zoning map by reclassifying a total of 1.82 acres collectively taken from each of four existing adjacent parcels totaling 3.88 acres from general business to conditional general business with profers. And it is also to authorize a special use permit both for the purposes of constructing an automobile fuel dispensing establishment and a convenience store at 7900 798 7914 and 7920 George Washington Memorial Highway. The subject's site is located on Route 17 between Mariners's Way and a driveway to 7830 George Washington Memorial Highway. The subject's site is on a 1.82 acre portion of four parcels with one containing a vacant non-conforming single family home with accessory structures and the rest of it being undeveloped. The property is located near the intersection of George Washington Memorial Highway and Fort Eustace Boulevard and is zoned both general business and plan development. The subject site is adjacent to the Yorktown Crescent Mixeduse Development Project located northeast uh east and south. The back portions of the parcels are a part of an amendment from January 2024 to the Yorktown Crescent mixeduse

development which established approximately 1.3 acres collectively from GB to PDMU. Um in anticipation of building an approximately 55 thou,000 square foot grocery store. North of the subject property is an Arby's and a Wendy's both zone GB. And southwest across Route 17 are three parcels all zone GB with one containing a vacant commercial building. Lastly, directly west across Route 17 is Yorktown Arch Apartments zoned PD. So, the applicant is seeking authorization for a sheets convenience store uh with selfs serve fueling stations and to be allowed to have in excess of 50 gallons of fuel storage within the watershed management and protection overlay district by proposing the profers. The conceptual plan shows a 6,132 square foot convenience store and an area showing the eight uh filling stations with a total of 16 gas pumps and an area showing the underground fuel storage tank. The total amount of fuel storage was not indicated in the submitted materials. However, research uh shows that a large high volume gas station can have a total storage capacity anywhere between 30,000 to 60,000 gallons. And the conceptual plan also shows associated parking, landscaped buffers, and the 200 foot WMP buffer. Now, let's move into staff's analysis. The York County comprehensive plan designates the Route 17 corridor as lower county's primary commercial and transportation area. Regarding land use, general business is a predominant zoning designation of property around the route uh 17 corridor with some exceptions such as additional residential development and mixeduse development. The sub area description of the intersection of route

17 and route 105 and chapter 11 for land use provides guidance for future development near these two major arterial highways. Based on this guidance, the sheets proposal is compatible with surrounding uses, character of adjacent properties, and the overall targeted use of the area. The proposed location of the sheets is within the Harwoods Mill Reservoir wershed management and protection overlay and partially within the 200 foot and fully within the 500 foot buffer strips. According to section 24.1-37E of the zoning ordinance, it states that fuel storage in excess of 50 gallons shall not be permitted within the buffer strips, therefore not allowing fuel dispensing establishments as they normally store over those 50 gallons of fuel. The applicant has proposed to amend the zoning ordinance for the property and to profer conditions to ensure watershed management and protection practices. For those of you in the audience are watching from home, profers are voluntary consi conditions provided by the land owner that go above and beyond what is required in the zoning ordinance, usually in relation to supportive measures for the community to offset any negative impacts from proposed development such as helping to pay for sidewalk or extra pollution mitigation in design. As of 2020, the Virginia Supreme Court case Roland v. Town Council of Warrington. The court decided that profers can also be used to modify a zoning ordinance uh through the profit amendment. Some key points here. Profers are voluntary and they run with the land. The applicant has proposed to amend the zoning on the property and to profer environmental design and watershed protection practices. The profers will remove the prohibition of fuel storage and the WMP overlay for this property. Uh based on the document submitted, the applicant believes that the profer design elements go above and beyond uh to ensure the protection of

the Harwoods mill reservoir. For example, the first profer is advanced technology for both for each underground storage tank on the property. Here's a picture of that that I found online. Um just to give reference to what we're talking about here. Uh the profer states how the US shall be comprised of fiberglass or steel construction with a double wall design. The double wall interstitial space will be continuously monitored with a sensor to detect an inner and outer wall breach. Also, Newport News Waterworks reviewed the submitted plan and profers and provided the county with written approval of the project. The applicant has profered $43,000 for any costs associated with increased water quality management. The profers also provide for an annual inspection of the environmental design elements that are to be submitted to the county. The zoning ordinance sets out performance standards in sections 24.1-467,475 and 477 for convenience stores and gas stations. These standards dictate setbacks, additional landscaping requirements, signage limits, lighting, and the removal of the canopy and fueling equipment and tanks if the use is discontinued. Parking standards for convenience stores require one space per 200 square feet of gross floor area and one off- streetet loading space. The submitted conceptual development plan shows the square footage of the convenience store and therefore 31 spaces and one off- streetet loading space is required. The conceptual plan shows a total of 48 parking spaces. However, no off- streetet loading space is shown. So, this will be provided before site plan approval. The proposed sheets is also located within that Route 17 corridor overlay district and therefore must abide by the architectural and signage standards established in section 24.1-378. The submitted design renderings show a brick building with cast stone regal red

canopies, bronze aluminum composite material, and green umbrellas for the outside seating. The canopy has matching castone, bronze ACM, and regal red pumping stations with a monument sign to match. Some of the proposed colors that are shown on the submitted renderings, such as the bronze and reds, are not on the approved color palette. So therefore, other colors will need to be selected to meet the Route 17 corridor requirements prior to that site plan approval. The impact to public facilities and services were addressed in the submitted community impact assessment. According to that assessment, the adjacent development for Yorktown Crescent will extend the public Newport News Waterworks service to the subject site and would and shows no cause um to to cause any adverse impacts to the public water system. Uh the sanitary sewer service is also being provided to the subject site through new gravity lines that will be installed with the Yorktown Crescent project. According to the applicant, the proposed development is anticipated to produce small amounts of solid waste typical to a retail environment um and will properly be collected and placed within covered dumpsters located on site. Now I'm going to review the traffic impacts. During the Yorktown Crescent development resoning application in 2024, a formal traffic impact analysis was performed and submitted and the amended plan is currently in the site plan approval process. As part of this resoning and special use permit um application, an access change analysis was performed to support the proposed sheets. The access to a full movement uh excuse me, the subject site development is requesting the access a revision from partial access to full movement signalized intersection along Route 17. An updated site plan was submitted to York County this past March

for review showing this revision. The TIA memorandum submitted to support the access management exception request also serves as a signal justification report. VOTE reviewed the latest analysis for the Yorktown Crest's signal justification report and TIA and has not approved the proposal to date. Um access management is the control of vehicular access points between signalized and unsignalized intersections to help maintain through traffic along a corridor. In this instance, this would be route 17. A full movement signalized access is being proposed, which is an entrance such as a driveway earn section to a property or connecting road that is controlled by a traffic signal and permits all possible traffic movements, including those left turns, right turns, and through movements in all directions. The goal of the proposal is to reduce that demand on the major arterial intersection on of Route 17 and Fort Essus Boulevard. Here's a photo taken from the memorandum to provide visual context. Uh the TIA indicates that with the proposal, a significant portion of the southbound traffic generated by the entire Yorktown Crescent development will be redirected to the new full movement access. Therefore, reducing that demand on the intersection of Route 17 and Fort Uses Boulevard. Directly adjacent to the proposal proposed intersection is an existing median break providing access to four small businesses along Route 17. In order to provide full access to driveway 1, this existing median break is proposed to be closed. Uh this proposed driveway intersection will provide an exclusive northbound left turn lane to facilitate U-turns to access southbound right route 17. Additionally, there is an existing median approximately 800 feet to the south of the proposed intersection with an exclusive left turn lane, which will provide U-turns to support northbound access to Route 17.

The comment letter received from VOTE on October 28th, 2025 provides alternative proposals and addresses multiple issues seen throughout the submitted study. A VOTE prefers to have a continuous green tea over a conventional signal as it would not require southbound traffic to stop while still allowing vehicles to make those protected movements in and out of the site. VA also recommended a restricted crossing U-turn. Uh this would U-turn the relocated westbound left turns from the site at a location between Route 17 Driveway 1 and Fort Eusus Boulevard. Per the comment letter, both the CGT and the RCUT would make it easier to coordinate with the existing signal at Route 17 and the Fort Esuses Boulevard intersection. VOTE also expressed concerns around the four small businesses that would be affected by the relocation of the existing median crossover and would prefer to have reassurances on whether those businesses are going to be supported of the relocation. Other comments address the methodology and data used throughout the study and asks for clarifications uh and corrections. So in conclusion, the applicant is seeking the authorization of a reszoning with conditional profers and special use permit to develop the proposed site for a sheets convenience store with fuel sales. The applicant is consistent with the comprehensive plans. The application is consistent with the comprehensive plans designation of the area for commercial uses. And to address concerns about encroachment into the Harwoods Mill Reservoir buffer, the applicant has profered environmental design and watershed protection practices to safeguard the area's water supply. Additionally, the agency responsible for the reservoir, Newport News Waterworks, has provided a letter of approval for the project. Lastly, transportation and community impacts uh are also addressed within the

application and further evaluation will occur to ensure compliance with state and county requirements. So due to these considerations and conclusions as noted, staff recommends approval for this application subject to the conditions set forth and proposed resolution numbers PC25-27 and PC25-28. Thank you for attention. Uh I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Uh the applicant representative is also here with a presentation and to answer any questions you may have as well. Thanks. Let's start. JP any questions?

Uh yes. One the watershed the concern was addressed. Um it I'm a little confused with the transportation uh recommendations. So they're they're they expressed concern uh over impacts potential impacts on existing u retail. How was that addressed in um the application itself as far is it is a use condition how how is that going to be a condition of approval?

So in the site plan uh process they have to abide by the VOTE standards and they have to comply. So in in the site plan approval process, that's where the this problem would get mitigated. So the the V dot's recommendation was to have reassurances on whether these businesses were going to be supportive uh of the application. Has that been accomplished or is that a condition being placed?

From my knowledge, uh that has not been addressed. We did send letters to the surrounding property owners about these applications. Um, as of now, a resubmitt for the VOTE approval um has not been submitted from my knowledge. Okay. Thank you.

M, how many feet from stop light from Fort uses to the new traffic zone? Is that about 1,00 800? What is it? It's a it's about 1,200 ft. Well, um, which is one of the reasons why VOTE would like a different proposal than a signal. Um, because with their standards, they like to have 2,000 ft between uh two signaled intersections. All right, let's start close here and see what turn my mic on. No big questions. The the two the traffic issues were were a couple of mine. Uh, and I think that's about all they have. They've been addressed a little bit.

Yeah, just a quick question. Um, excuse me if you mentioned it. I I don't recall but the the whole public's development uh their transportation um impacts are included in this analysis as well because that's going to be combined with the whole circulation process of the residential and this development the existing Wendy's and Arby's and Correct. So the the the traffic analysis is a part of the whole Yorktown Crescent development amendment to which includes the public. Correct. Thank you. comments. All right. And I don't have any questions. Traffic was my concern, but that'll get taken care of. All right.

All right. With that, I will open the public hearing. Um, and Tim Trent, Mr. Trent.

And again, if you would state your name and uh address, please, and you have 10 minutes. Sure. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the commission. My name is Tim Trant, attorney with Kaufman and Canolles, address at 4801 Courthouse Street in Williamsburg, Virginia. It's my privilege to be here tonight on behalf of the applicant. Uh, briefly introduce the team members that are here with us uh to hopefully answer any questions you may have. Uh, the property owners obviously are listed there and there are quite a few of them. But uh I'll first introduce the Redstone team. With us are John Schwarz and Maya Taylor who've uh visiting us from from Florida. Uh a much much uh warmer and sunnier place at the moment. Um and then uh uh Henry Cells with Timmans is our traffic is our uh civil design engineering group. And then uh Karen McFerson with BHB is our traffic engineer. And Sheets is our tenant. And we're we're representing Sheets tonight. They uh they couldn't be here. Anyway, um thanks first off to staff. Sorry, it's touchy uh key keypad here. Um for all of their help in working through what what was a relatively complicated application and application process. Um very constructive, very protective of the county's interest, but very constructive and collaborative, which I'm very grateful for. Uh Miss Scoff gave you a very thorough presentation. I will endeavor not to be redundant, just highlight some things that we'd like to um we believe are focus points of the application and your decision-m. These are just some slides. I think everybody's familiar with where the site is located, but just in case we need to come back to any of it for questions, they're they're in my presentation. Um I'll start with the project overview. As has been mentioned, uh, Redstone is developing u the public site as a grocery anchored shopping center on the adjacent property and is proposing this sheets project as a complement to to that project and uh to

establish a meaningful presence on Route 17 and an improved access on Route 17 for both not only the sheets but also the uh the public site. Cheats as as many of you may know and have visited is a really highly regarded top tier brand in the in the convenience store full-ervice modern convenience store uh marketplace. They have over 750 locations and 21,000 employees spread across the Mid-Atlantic region and uh in the Midwest a really u top top market represent sort of the premium brand for for modern convenience stores. There's a lot of synergy that both Publix and Sheets are excited about as well as Redstone as as sort of the the architect of the of the project uh between those two businesses. And it we we believe the synergy of those two uses on essentially the same parcel will help create a very vibrant and sustainable commercial note that will endure serving residents of the county. Uh employees that work in York County and some of the nearby employment centers and commuters as well. um revenue from outside the county. Uh helps fulfill the comprehensive plan vision for this location as a village center and commercial node and uh completes uh a comprehensive retail offering that's in close proximity to those centers of employment both existing residences and future residents through York at Yorktown Crescent that have yet to be developed. Um to speak briefly about traffic, I know that's of of interest to everyone typically with any project like this. Um, one of the advantages of this site for for a large uh retail use or high high volume traffic retail use, there's multiple ingress and egress points. And this just uh rounds out that that access to a full service on 17 in addition to the full service or full

movement access on Fort Eustace Boulevard. So, it allows multiple points of ingress and eress to both facilities and a dispersion of both entering and exiting vehicles. um it's complimentary uses on the same site uh will provide for a fair amount of internal capture of vehicle trips uh between the stores. So if you think about somebody that needs gas and needs groceries, they make one stop, they enter and exit route 17 once, right? They enter once and exit once at one location and they have a couple options of how to do that, right? As opposed to stopping once somewhere else on 17 and then stopping again. So you can reduce it has the potential to reduce conflicting movements uh in the corridor. And then um last but certainly not least signalization or the green tea. However that um uh debate shakes out or that that uh analysis shakes out. It's not really a debate just the what's the the proper tool for that job. Uh but signalization at our proposed intersection either through a green tea or conventional signal actually improves the level of service at the primary intersection of Fort Houston's Boulevard and Route 17. It takes some of the pressure off of that intersection by allowing left turns in at the u at the at our at the secondary entrance. Um and to speak to to the traffic generally, we proposed a conventional signal. We think that probably works the best. uh VOTE has really interested in seeing us explore the green tea. We're working through that. Um Miss McFersonson is here uh and can talk to you about that if you have any interest. It's an innovative intersection design. It may work. We're sorting out sort of the rightway logistics. We do not believe and and I think VOD may may be on board with this, but we do not believe the R cut works. It would create off-site impacts really for the for the Route 17 Fort Esses Boulevard intersection. That that would really be inappropriate. So, we think it's really a choice between the green tea and the signal, and it's

really just whatever works ultimately works the best, and we're committed to to whichever that that shakes out to be. Um, moving on to environmental design and watershed protection. Uh the goal of both Redstone and Sheets when we understood that we were in a watershed protection zone was how do we come up with a design concept that assures the county and Newport News Waterworks uh and the community generally that that we will have a s superior environmental design that will ensure protection of the wershed on an equivalent basis as just a pure buffer. So there's multiple ways to protect or worship. There's just a buffer, you know, where you can't do certain things within it. And then there are design techniques that uh can achieve a comparable or greater uh you know uh protection of of the watershed of the environment. And that's where we we dug in. We work with sheet the sheets team which was very enthusiastic uh about the the the project and the challenge. Uh Newport News Waterworks who was very uh gracious in engaging with us uh to to vet ideas. the Timmans team, county staff, and we feel like we've achieved that design commitment that that would achieve a a comparable or superior protection than than just this the uh conventional buffer in the ordinance, the base ordinance. Uh profer, as Miss Kauf mentioned, uh includes ongoing maintenance and monitoring of those design elements to ensure that they continue to provide the uh the desired protection throughout the life of the project. So, as long as the sheets a sea store gas station is there, those those um protections have to remain in place and as it's been said, supported by Newport News Waterworks. And I will conclude uh just briefly by um citing what we respectfully believe are some of the the benefits of the project. It's consistent with the county's comprehensive plan. There's been a commitment as hopefully uh you have seen through the elevations to a

high quality architectural and landscaping design. And to speak briefly, there there was uh apologize for the confusion about some of the colors still not meeting the corridor overlay protection zone. I am assured by sheets that that was a result of them looking at an older color palette. I think that's been updated is what they shared with me. They are confident that they can meet the the the right color palette and intend to do so between now and the board meeting if if we're fortunate to move forward tonight. um concentrates retail services at a designated village center in close proximity to uh centers of employment and existing and future housing. It allows for construction of the entire site by by sort of solving what happens on this out parcel. Now it allows for construction of the entire site to proceed on a on a similar timeline which you know reduces uh um construction impacts over time and then uh provides traffic improvements that ultimately improve the level of service at Fort Eustace and Route 17 a very important intersection for the county and uh last but not least substantially enhances the the commercial tax base. These are very very uh tax friendly for locality projects and so thank you for your time and happy to answer any questions that you have.

All right, I'll start down in this. The only question I had um the there's I saw that you had diesel. Um is there that this does not permit commercial vehicle filling. I'm assuming there's not a commercial island commercial truck,

right? Good good question. Yes. So, no, this would not be uh the site would not be suitable for um um commercial vehicles. I guess I'm I'm hesitating, Mr. Smith, and to to make sure I'm being can completely candid. So, commercial vehicles like service trucks, you know, that that are but yeah, tractor trailers, it would not be able to fit in fuel in this site. We will we do have we have designed our entrance and and turning radiuses near our tank fill locations to be able to get a tractor a tanker truck in and out but not to fuel. Great. Thank you. Yeah.

Are you anticipating I noticed you had all gas dispensers. Are you going to have EV capabilities? I don't believe there are EV charging stations intended at this time, but I know from working with sheets at other locations, they are looking at adding those as as demand dictates. So, they're they're poised. And in some locations where that demand is there, they do have them. Uh I don't think we've proposed them in this plan. Yeah.

Yeah. what I in working with them and they're and this will be a new new I think this is the first sheets that'll be in our market area or the the immediate vicinity um but from working with them on other ideas for other locations they um the EV charging stations have come up and that's definitely a part of their business model it's just when demand and and u sort of drives that I guess my other question to be Earl do you know if VOTE when VOTE plans to take three lanes from Dimby to Fort Houston 50 years from now. No, okay.

I do not know. I do not know there I mean there is a plan to extend three lanes all the way to the Coleman Bridge, but I do not I don't I do not believe there is a timeline on that portion. Thank All right. Going down the end just as uh and other gas stations. I'm assuming that there's going to be a backup generator. Good question, Mr. Kroner. So, the answer is yes and no. Um, I was looking for a yes.

Yes. I understand, but I'm trying to be honest, though. Uh, I want to tell you what our our plan is. So, uh, I have spoken with Sheets specifically about the backup generator and they, uh, serve a a lot of stores that suffer uh, from natural disasters. You know, Asheville is one of their locations that we all know has suffered recently for extended power outages and they continue to serve that marketplace. What they do and what they like to do and it's not every location. There are some places where they utilize uh a permit generator. But what they find to be more effective and and more efficient is to bring in temporary power. So like in Asheville, I think many of those sites that remained open were served by temporary they'll coordinate to bring in temporary generators to keep the store open. So, their plan uh for this store at this time would be to serve it in in a in the unfortunate event of a natural disaster that uh eliminated power by temporary power with a on-site generator.

So, you're saying there would be a generator on site, but it would be a temporary. It would be delivered to the site. It would be portable and delivered to the site after the at the p time of the power outage. Disappointed, but I understand. Yes. Mr. Trent, good evening. Uh question or comment and a question. The renderings really nice. One of the nicer looking sheets uh that I recall seeing. Um my question was simple. Anybody have a a timeline for construction? Assuming you get the board approval, what kind of uh time frame out in the future you expect to be operational?

Sure. I'll answer that. uh and and look to John to tell me if I'm off base or John or Maya, but it will probably take um you know, if we were to get through the board of supervisors in January or or February and be able to start the actual site planning process is going to take probably six months to pull permits. So construction would probably be late 2026, early 2027. Thank you. Yes, sir. Nothing, Mr. Boston. Nothing. Mr. Good evening, Mr. Quest in a com. Yeah, after everybody else helps me turn this on. I was just how long for the temporary generator to get there? If it's 72 hours later, we don't need it.

No, it just needs to be there within 24 hours or just that's just kind of a comment.

No, understood. And just just a word about you know temporary generators versus permanent generators generally. So permanent generators um you know they are operated very rarely. I mean they're test cycles that run as you know to to to sort of keep them uh in in working order and to confirm their operational capabil capacity but uh they're not running under load on a regular basis and so their reliability ongoing maintenance and and supervision uh and and work and and monitoring to keep them in operation. Uh however, temporary generators that are moved around you know from sight to site are continually being used, continually being maintained and continually being monitored for operational um sufficiency. So that is why it is you know preferred to be able to deliver a temporary generator and it would be delivered you know the experience is that it would be delivered in a in a timely way. They they they want to stay open. They want to make revenue. uh they want to serve their customers that come in every day and get the same cup of coffee and the same breakfast sandwich and if they can't do that that's not good for sheets either. So, sorry.

I just have another comment on the lights on 17, the intersections there, and refer you back to that fooar between on Victory Boulevard between 17 highway and Newport News and that strip in there that there's a there's a light every 500 yards. I don't know how long. It's just it's a mess right now. And when you have lights that close together, it just creates a problem. I don't care how how much you engineer it, it just is a problem. And it's just a comment. Hopefully, there's a way to get around that because I see nothing but a problem happening there at Fort Eustace and N17 up and down that that little corridor there. And the third little comment I have is I don't know why this is the best business for the land use, best land use for this partial of property in this particular location. Can you enlighten me why this is the best land use?

Be delighted to. That was my opening for be delighted. I figured you would do that.

Yes, sir. No, thank you. Well, as I said, um there's traffic in the corridor now. There'll be traffic in the corridor in future whether sheets happens or not. One of the advantages I would humbly submit to you of a sheets is it's we it is not a destination location, right? People typically don't drive out of their way to go to the Sheets. They're in the corridor already commuting. They need gas and they make a decision to stop at Sheets versus somewhere else versus going across the bridge to the racetrack in Gloucester Point. Right. So, a lot of the traffic that is quote generated or is really just existing traffic that's captured by this business. So, it's it's not adding in any material way. I would humbly submit incremental traffic in the corridor. It's capturing customers and dollars for York County that would otherwise be traveling out of the community, you know, to Gloucester Point to to capture. So, and this is to your traffic signalization point. And so, you know, adding those trips are already going to be in that corridor signalizing, as I mentioned earlier, the access point where we've proposed it verse the the existing access which exists today. Uh, actually improves the function at Fort Eustus Boulevard and 17, which is really the primary and more important intersection. So I I understand nobody likes to have another stoplight and more stop lights, but in terms of overall delay at the Fort Eustace Boulevard Route 17 intersection, that's improved. Delay is reduced by controlling traffic at at our intersection. So just you know you know humble suggestion that you know some traffic there will be some traffic improvement as a result of this signalization. um why this is you know the highest and

best use of this property. There is there are large employment centers as you may know that that you know exists throughout that immediate vicinity and on down into Seafford. uh and those employments and residences uh as you know in in areas on both sides of 17 in this area that exit, you know, particularly for the employment centers that exit and travel north on 17 to Gloucester, north to Dembi Boulevard and then out to the interstate and to other localities and there isn't um convenient access to a grocery store and gas station um of this caliber in that immediate vicinity. And so they might well uh travel on across the bridge right to a another location or turn on to Demi Boulevard. This is a way to capture that uh revenue and and serve those customers at this location in York County. Um it's also creates Yorktown Crescent hasn't um you know is not even close to being built out. a lot more uh development resident primarily residential development after this project takes place uh to happen there and it will allow uh the the that community to be served by internal travel right they won't have to enter Fort Eustace Boulevard or Route 17 to get to the grocery store or to get to the gas station so it it provides her some internal capture of those trips where they would have to cross Fort uses Boulevard to go to uh another grocery store or another gas station, they can capture uh those um we can capture those trips internally on site. And so I think the combination of serving uh providing it, you know, a fullervice modern convenience store, which doesn't exist in in in that vicinity of York County for commuters that are are not traveling

on other roads in York County that that frequent those locations. That's why I think it's it's a premium uh place for for sheets to be located. Thank you. Yes, sir. And I have no questions. Everybody's asked what what I had. So, um thank you. And I have no cards. Anybody wish to speak on this? And again, state your name and address for the record, please. And you have three minutes.

Uh yes, sir. Karee Jefferson, 114 Holden Lane. Um, I don't mean to be negative Nancy tonight, uh, but you know, my grandmother used to always have a saying, all money ain't good money. And the particular location that this sheets is trying to to capture, I don't think is the kind of clientele and the traffic that we want in in York County. Most of us prefer to go to Newport News. Costco and Sam's get our gas and then come back to York County where we can enjoy uh uh better shopping. Like I said, Publix sounds like a great plan. Sheets, we prefer to keep that on I 64, I 95 on the way to DC. We don't think that that's a good utilization of land. And um we would ask that the uh York County um planning u board reconsider that and address specifically the um uh comments by VOTE. I think the presentation from both the staff here and the um sheets um lends the fact that more homework needs to be done um before the board can approve over. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing and let's go all the way down here to start. Well, first we're only here to reszone the property. um not to uh select the brick color or get into too many details uh including the concerns with the uh traffic still needs to be worked out and will be before it's approved and moves further. But um I don't have a problem with the reasoning.

Uh thank you Mr. Chairman. I think it's a nice looking building. I'm also a firm believer in competition um in the county. As you many of you know the Walmart and the Waw Wa by Walmart and the Wawa down by Wolf Trap is capturing uh almost all the sales here. Um, I think it's prudent that we allow competition in the county to improve our businesses and make our existing businesses improve themselves to because right now they they're the only game in town as far as that. Um, compared to sheets I've witnessed across this state and other states, this is one of the nicer designs. Uh, I think it fits in well with the rest of the development. Um, and I think it'll be a benefit to the community. So, I'll be in favor of this, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Remember to do that. Uh, let me just start. When I first read this, I read the first paragraph up in front, talked about it. I did a second lieutenant salute and I said, "Oh my gosh, not another gas station and convenience store on the 17 highway. That's all we need." You know, and uh I think there's more work that needs to be done as planned before I approve it. And uh that's all I got to say.

Mine's about is traffic. Um but I also know that this entire I mean I don't see this as intersection. I see this as a district that's going to be redesigned over the next couple of years with some large development uh taking place there. I know VOTE is working aggressively to address uh so that that intersection doesn't become victory in 17. We don't repeat that disaster in my words. Uh but I'm confident that VOTE is on that. I'm confident that that Sheets has uh deployed their resources to address that as well. From from a planning commission standpoint, it's consistent with the uh comp plan um with the resoning. They've addressed the watershed concerns that I would have had. Um, obviously if Newport News Waterworks has endorsed it, then I see no problem moving forward.

Yeah, I too am concerned about the traffic issue, especially when Bei does from Wolf Trap to then be make that three lanes. Now, when that's done, then you bottleneck into two not but a half a mile away from the sheets. Um that does concern me. Uh but uh I I'm very accustomed to visiting Sheets. Uh I know their establishments and their business and they do a very good job. I think it's like um Mike was saying, it's good to have competition and it's good for York County as long as FOD and cheats can work out the traffic flow. That's it. Mr. Chair,

thank you. And I also um have confidence both the staff and and and sheets and B do that they'll figure out what the best intersection is and and work that out. And I stop at Sheets often when I travel. So I look forward to getting one here. Uh with that we'll need I guess we have to do motions one at a time. Okay. So I need a motion for PC25-27.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion for PC 2527. All right. Is it Did I say the wrong So, we have to do 28 first. Yes. The reasonzoning needs to go first. I think that the numbers are not in the correct order for you. Apologies. I'll move for PC 2528. Am I right? Yes, I believe that's correct. Yes. Roll call, please.

The motion by Mr. Brooks is to adopt resolution PC25-28 to recommend approval of a reszoning located at 79007908, 7914, and 7920 George Washington Memorial Highway. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Kryiner, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Watsmore, yes. Mr. Titus, no. Mr. Brooks, yes. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes. All right. And then we need a motion for PC25-27.

All right, Mr. Chairman, I'll I'll take this one. I recommend we move PC25-27 to the board of supervisors with recommendation of approval. Roll call, please. The motion by Mr. King is to adopt resolution PC25-27 for a special use permit to authorize a automobile fuel dispens I'm sorry automobile fuel dispensing establishment at 7900 7908 7914 and 7920 George Washington Memorial Highway Mr. Kryer yes Mr. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Watsmer,

yes. Mr. Titus, no. Mr. Brooks, yes. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes. All righty. And then the next item on the agenda is uh a zoning change. And Madison, this one's yours as well.

I'm back. All right. Where's the All righty. So, this application is to consider amendments to the York County zoning ordinance within sections 104, 271, and 272 for the use of theft deterrent wire. First, I'm going to provide some background for this. Um, to start things off, staff looked to see what the York County Code currently says about theft deterrent wire. Uh, the code currently prohibits the use of barbed wire or electrified wire or similar type fences, uh, except when used in conjunction with a bonafide ar agricultural operation in single family residential districts. In section 24.1-272, this establishes accessory uses permitted in conjunction with commercial and industrial uses and states land uses not listed in this section and not deemed similar to a listed use shall be deemed not allowed as commercial or industrial accessory uses. So, historically, the county has interpreted the code's lack of reference to theft deterrent wire in commercial and industrial districts as an indication that this use is not authorized. However, some of the county's businesses have expressed their desire to use theft deterrent wire to protect their property and to restrict access to dangerous equipment and/or machinery. If approved, the proposed amendments would change three sections of the code. by one adding a definition for theft deterrent wire in the context of fences, two clarifying when it can be used in residential districts and three allowing for the use of theft deterrent wire in

commercial and industrial districts while alo also establishing performance standards for the use. The goal of these amendments is to balance community need with safety and aesthetic expectations. Local ordinances uh the or yeah local ordinances that regulate theft deterrent wire were reviewed, compiled, and analyzed. The ordinances analyzed include Norfolk, Petersburg, Hampton, Newport News, Fairfax, Stafford, James City, and Gloucester. Also, a work session was conducted on November 24th, 2025 with the planning commission ordinance amendment subcommittee. During this meeting, concerns and considerations were discussed relating to residential application performance standards and how citizens could request for any exceptions. Now, let's move into summary and explanation of the changes. Uh the zoning ordinance should include precise definitions to ensure there is no legal ambiguity regarding what qualifies as theft deterrent wire. Theft deterrent wire is proposed to include security fencing materials that deter unauthorized entry by means of sharp edges, electrical charge, or specialized construction that impedes climbing, cutting, or breaching. Examples include razor wire and barbed wire, concertina wire, theft deterrent composite cables, otherwise known as TDCC's, and electrified wire. Section 24.1-271J as it currently exists prohibits the use of barbed wire and electrified fences in single family residential areas unless it is used in conjunction with a bonafide agricultural operation. The proposed amendments to the section would change three things. First, this would

update uh the first update would remove the term single family so that the regulations apply to theft deterrent wire in any residential district. The second change would replace the terms barbed wire or electrified fence with theft deterrent wire because it encompasses additional security measures. The third revision would increase clarity of the requirements by replacing the phrase in conjunction with bonafide agricultural operation with domesticated livestock or gardening operations that are consistent with Virginia code section 55.1-2804. This was changed because it reduces ambiguity and references and references the relevant section of the code of Virginia which defines lawful fences in this context. Section 24.1-272A addresses the use of fences and walls in conjunction with commercial and industrial uses. Proposed amendments to sections 24.1-272A 5A through E addresses the design and aesthetics of theft deterrent wire such as where the wire can be located including to not allow certain outward projections and types of colors to be used to reduce visual impact if next to residential or public rideway. The revised resolution uh that was put on the deis um takes out subsection C to allow projections past the plane of the fence and subsections F through G establish enforcement mechanisms for public safety and sets out administrative exceptions to one or more of the standards. An ad administrative exception can only be granted if the strict application would create an unnecessary hardship or if equivalent safety and aesthetic measures uh could be achieved through alternative design. This exception allows for flexibility of different needs and applications. For example, if there's

situations where more than usual security uh needs are required. So, I'm going to close with staff's recommendation. The proposed text amendments would add a definition for theft deterrent wire, provide clarification on when it can be used in residential districts, and establishes performance standards for theft deterrent wire in commercial and industrial districts. The all-encompassing definition provides clear interpretation for application. The revisions to include theft deterrent wire for domesticated livestock and gardening will be applied to all residential districts and their proposed standards address the design and aesthetics of theft deterrent wire in commercial and industrial districts with the allowance of administrative exception. So public safety, visual blight and security concerns were considered and surrounding localities requirements were reviewed with additional planning commission input. So therefore, staff recommends approval through the adoption of proposed resolution number PC25-29. Thank you. I'm answer I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Just just know 29R. Oh, we didn't have a revision on that. So and we'll start down here again. I noticed one of the the revision was the projecting arms. I'm just assuming, please correct me if I'm wrong, that if this fence is put on the property line, arms do not project over the property line. Correct. So, the section um that was put out was to not allow to go past the plane of the fence. However, it still in the resolution is to not allow it to go over property lines. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, I don't have any questions, Mr. Chairman.

None here. Thanks. All right. Thank you. And with that, I'll open the public hearing. Anybody wish to speak? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. And let's start this way. Any questions, comments?

First of all, well done, thorough presentation of the details and bringing that out. Um I I think it's great that we're aligning ourselves with our rest of our localities. this down the end. Um, I'll I'll I'll just add having worked on that committee, I appreciate the input of of staff and their um changing this to to accommodate what I felt was important to make sure that gardeners who if you have a garden in this area and you don't have electric fence um you're not going to have any product um at at the end of that. So, um, myself and well, actually my wife more than me, uh, we all, uh, we have a garden and we use electric fence a lot and this allows us to to continue to do that. So, with that, I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Chairman, I'll move PC2520-29R. Roll call, please. The motion by Mr. Wasmer is to adopt resolution PC25-29R to recommend approval of various amendments to the York County Zoning Code to incorporate provisions concerning theft deterrent wire. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Was, yes. Mr. Titus, yes. Mr. Brooks, yes. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Kleiner, yes. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes. All righty. Um any old business, new business, staff reports.

All right. So, you all have your uh development activity report just to go over a few highlights. So, the uh pause pet resort that was out there on Lightfoot Road that was approved by the board at their last meeting. Uh so, they're going to be moving forward probably soon with the site plan and so forth on that site. Um, next week the board will be reviewing the faith recovery, the one that's on Ule Road. So, they'll be having that public hearing next week. Um, down at the bottom of that first page, uh, you'll note uh future applications that you'll be getting. Um, the uh, Peter Takuna, I'm probably not saying that correctly. Uh, that was a short-term rental that had been applied for. However, however, after some discussion with the applicant, um we they they have decided to withdraw. So, that application will not be coming before you. Um the other application that you'll see next month is Adventure Freedom there. Um up at the Marquee Shopping Center in the old JC Penney building, uh Rebounders, I've know if you've ever heard of that. It's like a little indoor family fuse amusement center. They have trampolines and games. If you ever been to a Dave and Busters, it's kind of like that except you have trampolines also. Um, but they're proposing to take up about half of that building. Um, but to do that, they the um the profers that were given when the church had come in previously to go on that site um restricted video arcades, pool halls, billiard halls. So, they're just coming in to amend those profers and then also get a special use permit for the video arcade component because that does require a special use permit in our ordinance. Um, and there's two um and then we also have the um the reszoning uh the comprehensive plan amendment and the resoning for uh those parcels that came in from the city of

Picosen into the county. So, you'll also see that application coming on to your um thing. I didn't really see anything else in there that was probably of a highlight to you, but if you have questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I also wanted to give a big thank you to the planning commissioners that took time to come in and uh help us to talk about these two issues on the committees. The comprehensive plan amendment committee or comprehensive plan committee subcommittee and the ordinance ordinance amendment committee. I wasn't in the ordinance one. It's a mouthful, I'm guessing. Um, but I I heard it was very good discussion and you all had some really good um things for staff. So, very much appreciate that. I I look forward to that working relationship as we move forward in the future uh when those things come up. Um so, thank you and I just wish everybody a very happy holiday as it comes up and be safe.

All right. Any commission requests? I would like to be added to the uh ordinance committee if that's possible. Okay. Pay I hear the pay is good. So I would All right. Um and I'll wish everybody a happy holiday. We will not meet until uh next year. And uh with that we stand adjourned.