Sperryville residents oppose allowing auto sales on highway; Supervisor Wayland aims to sidetrack proposed amendment
By James P. Gannon
A proposed zoning amendment that would permit auto sales lots in the highway commercial zone west of Sperryville appears to be headed for a detour when it arrives before the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors next Monday.
Piedmont District Supervisor Eddie Wayland, whose district would be the only one in the county affected by the change, told a community meeting Tuesday evening that he will move to table the proposed zoning amendent and send it back to the county Planning Commission for revisions. Wayland said he opposes allowing auto sales “by right” in the highway commercial zone west of Sperryville, and would prefer requiring any applicant for such use to obtain a special exception permit, which would give the county greater control of such proposals.
Wayland’s opposition to the amendment which cleared the Planning Commission on May 16 is likely to be decisive when the matter comes before the supervisors next Monday evening. The board normally attaches great weight to the view of the supervisor in whose district a particular proposal is at issue. Since the proposed zoning amendment would affect only Wayland’s district and not those of the other four supervisors, they are not likely to override his objections to approve the change.
The Piedmont supervisor expressed his view before a gathering of about 30 citizens at the Sperryville fire hall Tuesday evening. Most of those attending were from the Sperryville area and expressed outright opposition or various concerns regarding the auto sales zoning amendment. In response, Wayland said, “I will recommend that it be tabled and sent back to the Planning Commission” for reconsideration.
Currently, the county zoning ordinance does not allow auto sales, service and repair in the county’s only Highway Commercial district, which extends along Route 211 from the intersection with Route 522 west to the boundary with Shenandoah National Park. That area already contains two such businesses, Shaw’s Services and Mike Brown’s B and B Auto Service, but both those businesses were in existence when the zoning law was adopted and thus were allowed to remain.
Willie and Cathern Smith of Culpeper, Va., owners of the property formerly known as “Cooter’s Place” on Route 211 west of the village of Sperryville, want to use that property to sell classic cars and other used cars. They asked for the zoning amendment to allow such use in the Highway Commercial district, and their proposal was endorsed and recommended to the Planning Commission by County Administrator John McCarthy.
McCarthy said that since the Highway Commercial district allows a wide range of commercial uses, he could see no reason to exclude auto sales, and it was possible that the exclusion was simply an oversight when the zoning code was drafted more than 20 years ago. The Planning commission agreed and approved the amendment on a 4-1 vote.
But many Sperryville residents seem to differ with that decision, and came to express their views Tuesday evening.
If the zoning amendment is approved by the supervisors, “any property (in the highway commercial district) could have a used car lot,” said Tom Junk of Sperryville, a former member of the Planning Commission who opposed the change before that body.
Ruth Kiger of Sperryville, who is a member of the Water and Sewer Authority that oversees Sperryville’s sewer system, said, “So much (of the highway commercial zone) is in the floodplain, we could be creating problems, pollution-wise” if used car lots along the highway caused much runoff into the Thornton River, which runs along the highway. She also expressed concern that this would have an adverse affect on the Sperryville sewage treatment system.
Mike Brown, who sells used autos at his B&B Service in the highway commercial district, said the area was designed for businesses that would attract tourist traffic. “What does car sales have to do with tourists?” he asked.
In response to these and other comments, Wayland noted that he was away from the county when the Planning Commission approved the proposed auto sales amendment and learned about it after returning. Since then, he has talked to Gary Settle, who represents Piedmont District on the commission about the issue. Though Settle voted in favor of the amendment, Wayland said “Gary has had second thoughts about it” since then.
Wayland favors revising the proposed amendment to require that anyone wishing to use a property for auto sales or service would have to apply for a special exception permit. This would involve holding public hearings on the specific use intended, and would allow the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors to impose conditions limiting the use–for example, limiting the number of cars allowed, hours of operation, lighting, and the like. This, rather than permitting auto sales by right–which would require no hearings and would impose no conditions–would give the county more control over such operations.
The meeting also included a brief discussion of the idea of converting the Sperryville Antique Market to condo apartments, as owner Paul Stevenson would like to do. Wayland also expressed considerable skepticism–but not outright opposition–to that idea, which was discussed informally at the May 16 Planning Commission meeting, though the owner has not yet formally applied for a special exception permit for the project.
“Nothing has been officially proposed,” Wayland noted. But the idea, he said, “has lots of hoops to jump through” before it could be approved. “There are water issues there, and right-of-way issues” and others, he said. He expressed doubt at Stevenson’s estimate that the construction costs could be held to about $175 a square foot, suggesting that he thinks it would be considerably higher, raising doubts that the two-bedroom apartments would be “affordable” housing for many.
“If it gets off the ground, I will be surprised,” Wayland told the meeting. “The devil is in the details, and he has provided zero details.”
-- James P. GannonComments
Comment from afh
Time: May 31, 2007, 2:56 pm
The HC (Highway Commercial) area of Sperryville is a failure. Numerous businesses have closed or failed on the stretch of Rt. 211 in Sperryville. Examples are Country Manor, Cooter’s, Blue Moon, Mountainside Market, Baldwin’s Shell. Sunnyside is gone, the old Emporium is empty. The HC was created to promote business with tourist. Apparently, this tourist business is gone. Do we need to rework the entire HC area to address this situation? Maybe we need to change the area between Rt. 211 and the Thornton River into a green area? The Thornton River contains very clean water as it leaves the park. We have adaptive reuse provisions for old buildings, such as Fosters packing shed in Flint Hill. Should we look at a progressive adaptive approach to this HC area that would help to revive this area and create businesses for use by Rappahannock citizens and create tax dollars?
–Alvin F. Henry Jr.
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