A public hearing for a proposed proffer change at Brugh’s Mill Country Store served as more of a platform for area residents to express their displeasure with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for not restricting truck traffic on Brughs Mill Road.

Several residents who live on or just off Brughs Mill Road challenged the Botetourt County Planning Commission to reject a proposed proffer change that would allow the continued use of a gravel parking area for temporary tractor-trailer parking at the store.

The residents argued that anything that increases tractor-trailer traffic on Brughs Mill Road and around I-81 Exit 156, where the store is located, is a safety hazard.

David Rader, who owns the store, told the commission members that having the truck parking area that will accommodate up to seven or eight trucks has been safer than not having it.

He said some tractor-trailers otherwise would use the narrow Reynolds Road to go around to US 11 and back on Brughs Mill Road to the interstate. Having the parking area allows those trucks to turn around at the store.

He said it’s a better solution and safer than not having the parking area, and in the 16 years the lot has been open at the store, he has not had any complaints about tractor-trailers parking there. He does have signs allowing only one-hour parking and not sleeping; something he tries to enforce.

But several neighbors recounted close calls they’ve had with tractor-trailers on Brughs Mill Road and at the interstate interchange and the store.

Some also worried that the proffer change would eventually invite the property to become a truck stop.

Rader assured the commissioners that the proffer change would not lead to a truck stop.

“It’s not going to be a truck stop. We’re just trying to provide a safe place for truckers to come off the interstate,” he said.

The Planning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve the proffer change when it meets April 24.

The request for the proffer change arose when Rader approached the Planning and Zoning Department about having an electric car charging station at the store. That prompted the department staff to review the 1999 rezoning for the store. That rezoning included a proffer that there would be no tractor-trailer parking at the store, and the site plan for the store did not include the gravel parking area that Rader later added to accommodate truck drivers who were stopping at the store as customers.

Board of Supervisors member Billy Martin, an ex-officio member of the Planning Commission, told the audience that residents on Brughs Mill Road need to “stay on VDOT” about the truck traffic using the road as a shortcut between US 11/I-81 and where it intersects with US 220 just south of Fincastle.

The county has asked VDOT to restrict truck traffic on Brughs Mill Road, but VDOT so far has rejected that request.

VDOT is in the process of reviewing the road, but Martin said the residents should continue to push for a total ban on tractor-trailers, and then law enforcement can write tickets. “Keep on ’em,” he said of VDOT.

In their remarks before voting, the Planning Commission members agreed that the proffer change for the store would not increase tractor-trailer traffic on Brughs Mill Road.

Chair Sam Foster said the Brughs Mill Road problem and the proffer change request were two different issues.

Foster said tractor-trailers going into the store parking lot has been going on already and he didn’t believe the proffer change would add to that traffic.

Steve Kidd noted he was a on the Planning Commission when the Brughs Mill Store rezoning was proposed. “We didn’t stipulate no trucks on his property if a driver wanted to get a biscuit,” he said, noting he believes the graveled truck parking lot was needed to keep the rest of the store’s parking area from getting cluttered.

The electric car charging station, Rader said, is being installed by a company that is leasing the space. That company was awarded a contract to install and maintain electric charging stations along I-81 as part of the Volkswagen settlement over its falsified emissions tests. The charging stations are needed to encourage more people to use electric cars— a way to reduce automobile emissions. Rader said they will be installed at about 70-mile intervals on I-81.

Commission recommends SEP for cell tower

The Planning Commission voted 3-1, with one abstention, to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve a special exceptions permit (SEP) for a 199-foot cell tower on Kenneth A. Mooty’s property off Lithia Road just south of Buchanan.

Tim Mitchell told the planners he and other neighbors on a ridge along US 11 north of the tower site will be looking directly at the cell tower. He said he and nine other property owners on the ridge opposed the cell tower and noted none knew about the proposal until this week.

He also said that an environmental review provided by Verizon, which is proposing the tower, is not valid because it was outdated. The Planning Commission did not address that when members voted to recommend approval.

He provided the commission with a map of the property and a profile photo that showed how the proposed galvanized tower will stand out from their ridge against the green mountains behind it. He suggested another color, such as green, would make it more palatable.

He also suggested that Verizon could have worked with the surrounding property owners to get a better project.

A couple of commissioners did question why Verizon did not have a community meeting before submitting its application for the SEP, but noted that isn’t required.

They also questioned why Verizon did not do signal testing at other tower heights other than the maximum 199 feet allowed in the county ordinances.

Verizon representatives noted in their presentation that the tower will provide more reliable service and in dead areas in an area around Lithia Road, US 11 and in the Boblett’s Gap Road area.

They said another tower will be proposed on Prease Road to help fill in other areas in the same vicinity where service is poor.