By Matt de Simone
The Botetourt County Planning Commission held a meeting on Monday night at the Botetourt County Administration Offices in Daleville that featured a public hearing about a potential “convenience store, highway” to be built in Buchanan.
In December, the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors authorized proposed text amendments to Chapter 25 of the Botetourt County Zoning Ordinance.
The commission looked at amending the existing definition of “convenience store” and adding a description for the proposed use: “convenience store, highway.”
Senior Planner Drew Pearson described the proposed convenience store, highway as something similar to the existing convenience store use found in the zoning ordinance. The primary difference is that the proposed use would provide high-flow commercial diesel dispensers to fuel commercial vehicles and parking spaces designed for commercial trucks, such as tractor-trailers.
The last convenience store approved in Botetourt County included a car wash (Sheetz in Daleville). Both uses are allowed with a Special Exceptions Permit (SEP) in the B-2 Use District. Two separate SEPs were required and approved for that development.
The petition amending the zoning ordinance to create the new use category, “convenience store, highway,” combines the uses of convenience store and truck stop into the proposed use that would be allowed by SEP in the B-2 Use District subject to supplemental regulations designed to limit where the service can be located throughout the B-2 Use District.
Following Pearson’s proposal, the commission’s concern was that there still isn’t enough language to define the traffic and environmental impact. Additionally, limiting the number of trucks could be difficult. However, the commission understood that these were merely text amendments discussed currently.
After deliberating, the commission approved the text amendments with recommended changes, including a traffic impact analysis, which is a requirement for future applications for a SEP use, to be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation of approval.
To read through the meeting’s agenda items related to the “convenience store, highway,” visit the Botetourt County website’s new “Agenda Center” at https://www.botetourtva.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02142022-167.
