Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening. Um, I'll call to order the planning commission for March 11, 2026. 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 are matters of public record. The commission is comprised of seven citizen volunteers appointed by the board with one representing each voting district and two at large members. Uh roll call, please. All right, we got technical issue here.

Mr. Here

All right. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Next on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from the January 14th meeting. Any comments on the minutes? Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we approve All right, motion is made. Roll call, please.

14. Yes. Mr. King. Yes. Yes. Abstain. Yes. Yes. All right. Thanks. Next on the agenda is citizen comment. period for anybody who'd like to address the planning commission for an item not on the agenda. Seeing none, we'll move on to the public hearings. Um, this is UP 1065-26.

Good evening, commissioners. So, this application submitted by TRC Williamsburg LLC is a request to authorize a special use permit to establish a farm equipment sales rental and rental and service store on a 2.5 acre portion of a 16.5 acre parcel located at 118 Waller Mill Road. The location of the subject property is within the Kingsgate Shopping Center and is zone general business. The site is located on the northeastern portion of the shopping center between Morttown Road and Waller Mill Road. And the area is currently undeveloped and sits directly adjacent to the existing uh Dollar Tree store. The surrounding area is largely commercial and tourist oriented in character uh due to its proximity to the bypass road corridor. Uh nearby uses include time share, resorts, hotels, and other commercial businesses. And across Waller Mill Road to the east and northeast is the Green Springs subdivision which is zoned for highdensity single family residential development. So the applicant proposes to construct a 21,930 ft tractor supply company retail store. The development would include a 250 foot indoor storage area referred to as the feed center, a front sidewalk display area, a fenced display a fenced outdoor display yard, and a permanent trailer uh storage area located near the parking area along Waller Mill Road. So, under the zoning ordinance, this use is classified as a farm equipment sales, rental, and service store. Um, some attractor supplies product mix uh typically includes farm and ranch supplies, pet and livestock products, home and outdoor goods um and the like. So applications that the applicant would need to submit is an official site plan

um to accommodate and also um applications to accommodate the development and maintain required setbacks and parking. Um the applicant must subdivide the existing parcel and adjust internal lot lines. So, this will involve a property line vacation to incorporate an adjacent parcel along Morttown Road and also a boundary line adjustment to create a new out parcel for the tractor supply store. The comprehensive plan designates the subject property for general business. This area already contains a concentration of commercial uses and tourist oriented development. Um so given the existing existing development pattern and the comprehensive plan designation staff finds that the proposed tractor trailer is consistent with the planned land use and is compatible with the existing commercial um environment. So the proposed use must comply with several performance standards within the zoning ordinance um including standards for motor vehicle related uses and general commercial and retail development. So these standards are designed to ensure compatibility with nearby properties, particularly residential areas. For example, off- streetet parking and circulation areas must be located at least 35 ft from residential property lines and must be screened with landscaping and where necessary fencing. So the conceptual plan shows the closest driveway located uh is located more than 80 ft from the nearest residential property line. And there's also a trans transitional buffer along Waller Mill Road being proposed. Um, other standards include lighting being shielded away from the property lines and also not having excessive uh noise from outdoor speakers as well as hazardous materials and storm water runoff being evaluated by county departments. And so all of these performance standards are going to be reviewed in uh the site plan process.

So, the new uh the parcel proposed uh to be incorporated for additional parking fronts Moretown Road. Um and the zoning ordinance requires a 45- ft green belt along Morttown Road. Uh the conceptual plan indicates that this green belt will remain intact and will not be reduced uh by the proposed improvements. And as previously stated, a transitional buffer uh is also proposed along the Wallermill Road frontage where the property faces residential development across the street. And although the property is not located within the tourist management corridor overlay, it is visually associated with that corridor. So to maintain the visual character of the area, staff is recommending um conditions of approval requiring architectural compatibility with the existing shopping center u monument style signage and decorative fencing to complement that required uh landscaping. So lastly, going into parking and traffic, um parking for the tractor supply store is calculated at one space per 500 square feet of floor area, resulting in a minimum requirement of 44 parking spaces. Um the conceptual plan shows that this is being met. Um and because the new store will occupy existing parking spaces uh from the shopping center, staff also evaluated to make sure the the parking was met for the shopping center separately. Um, and based off of the shopping cent's floor area, 554 parking spaces are required. Uh, and so based on the concept plan, uh, the new parking areas that replace the spaces removed, um, helps to maintain compliance, uh, with the overall parking requirements for the shopping center. And as for traffic impacts, the applicant submitted a trip generation memorandum. Um and it approximately um the use will generate 55 average weekday trips which is well below the threshold

to activate a traffic impact analysis per our code. So staff does not anticipate any excessive traffic to be produced from this use. So in summary, the applicant proposes to construct a tractor supply retail store within the Kingsgate Green Shopping Center along with associated storage and display areas. The proposal is consistent with the comprehensive plans general business designation and is compatible with the established uh commercial character of the Moretown road and bypass road corridors. Applicable zoning standards related to buffering, landscaping, lighting, hazardous materials and design will be addressed during the site plan review and traffic impacts are expected to be minimal and parking can be brought into compliance through the proposed reconfiguration of the parcel. So based on these findings, staff is recommending approval of the application subject to the conditions outlined in proposed resolution PC26-06. Thank you for your attention. I'm here to answer any questions you may have. The applicant is also here to speak.

Any questions there? Any questions? We'll start this way. Skip my questions. All right. Thank you. With that, I'll open the public hearing. And we have one speaker, which is the applicant, Eric Aubrey. And you have 10 minutes, but you don't need to use 10 minutes.

Well, hello everyone. I'm Eric Aubrey. I work for Twin Rivers Capital, the developer on the project. Um, I appreciate you all considering our application. Um we've worked with uh the county Vicky Gatis on the planning team specifically and with Madison over the last um probably a year going on a year and a half now um to meet the meet the requirements and make sure the site all of our due diligence is done and it's um in conformance with all of your standards. Um so that being said, you did a great job summarizing it much better than I could have done. But um yeah, thank you very much for your consideration and uh let me know if you have any questions. All right, questions for the applicant.

Great application. Um, the only question I had was the parking. Um, I I and I'm citing the the one that's right here on 17, the tractor supply that's there has uh I'll call it drive-thru spaces where you can have vehicles with trailers, that type of thing. And I didn't see that on this site plan. Is that considered for this site? It is not. So, this is a um an existing lot. It's not a ground up or it is ground, but it's not a a brand new development. So, we would not um reconform the the parking lot to add those spaces. I just you might want to consider that that that's a convenience, not just a convenience thing, but it's also from a safety standpoint of vehicles trying to do 10-point turns after they pull in with a trailer. Yes,

that type of thing. So, that was my only comment. That's a great I appreciate it. And I will note just to assist with this question, there are there is two loading spaces that they have done. one is required. The other one I think they're putting at the rear to kind of help with those kind of loading situations. So, they'll be loading out of the back side of the shopping center or the back side of the store. So, you'll be able to pull in and just circle around the shopping center to to get in it. I think that was the intent, but we we do have as well the the FOD, the fenced outdoor display next to the building that does have a drive out going through the middle so folks with uh truck trailers can pull up, load, and circle out. So, there is that as well.

Thanks. Yeah, just one question. Are y'all going to have propane? We are. Okay, that's it. All right, down this way. No question. And um I I got to say I'm very happy to see this. The shopping center has been undergoing significant redevelopment and we have a small farm. We're at Tractor Supply often. So now you're several several miles closer to my house. So glad to hear that. Thanks. With that, I'll close the public hearing. And what's the pleasure of the commission? Mr. Chairman, I'll move PC 2606. There's no comments.

All right. Roll call, please. The motion by Mr. Wasmer is to adopt resolution number PC26-06 to recommend approval of a farm equipment sales rental and service store at 118 Werm Mill Road. Mr. Brooks, yes. Mr. King, yes. Mr. Crraer, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Watsmore, yes. Mr. Chamberlain, yes. Motion passes. Great. Thank you. Uh, no old business, new business, staff reports.

All right. So, you all have your development activity report. So, I'll just hit a few highlights. Um, on that first page, the uh theft deterrent wire and Lafayette Gun Club and the Picosen parcel changes there where we did the comp plan and the reasonings, all those were approved by the board at their February meeting. Of course, you had no items on your February agenda. Um so the we have no items on the March board of supervisors meeting this year this uh month. So which is uh one less meeting for us. Yay. Um coming up uh you'll have the changes being proposed for the data center ordinance and uh you'll have a firearms sales and service at one of the local pawn shops. Um you'll also have another a tourist home on that uh agenda. And then lastly, uh you'll have a couple zoning ordinance amendments. Uh one is for some standards for drive-throughs. Um that you'll see also um on the second page, you know, some things of note that you might be interested in. A site plan was approved for the RV site there on 17. Uh so that place where they've been the grassy kind of area, they're eventually going to, you know, pave it, put a nice building on there, and that's be his main sales lot there. Uh that site plan was approved. We also approved the site plan for the public's grocery store so they can start land disturbing activity here soon. Um on page three, the Paws Pet Resort up on Lightoot Road. That was uh submitted. So that's under review currently. And then I think there was one more. If I can get the page to turn. Nope, that was it. That was it. Uh there are other little smaller items in there like sub smaller subdivisions and such but but that's all we have for you. Any questions? Any questions for staff? No committee reports? No commission

reports. So we will adjourn. Bang us out.