The much-anticipated rezoning and special exceptions permit (SEP) applications for a Sheetz will go before the Botetourt Planning Commission Monday, Nov. 13 at Greenfield Education and Training Center.

The site for the proposed convenience store/fuel station is at the corner of US 220 (Roanoke Road) and Catawba Road in Daleville.

The commissioners will also hear a deferred request for a rezoning, a change of proffers and an SEP for a proposed eight-building, 266-apartment complex in Botetourt Commons, also in Daleville.

Sheetz

The application for the Sheetz convenience store and fuel station includes a request to rezone three small parcels that total .82 acre where two aged buildings and a storage facility are located on Catawba Road.

The request is to rezone that property from Industrial M-1 to Business B-2, and to combine those lots with two existing B-2 lots that total 1.66 acres. The applicants are also requesting an SEP for a convenience store and car wash on the combined properties that total right at 2.5 acres.

Morgan Property Group, Mid-Atlantic Commercial Properties LLC, Catawba Road Realty LLC and the engineering firm LE&D Professionals PC are among the entities involved in the rezoning request on behalf of the current property owners.

Botetourt’s zoning ordinance does not allow convenience stores and car washes by right in B-2 districts, so the SEP is required for the proposed Sheetz.

The B-2 properties include R&R Holdings’ small strip mall directly on the southwest corner of the intersection and the childcare facility property owned by Bradberry Company that is at the rear of the R&R Holdings property.

The M-1 zoned properties belong to Botetourt Warehouse Associates LLC and the Estate of Barbara H. Goad.

The rezoning and SEP application includes provisions in the proposed Sheetz site plan for a dedicated right-turn lane from Catawba Road eastbound onto US 220. It also includes a right-turn access lane from US 220 southbound into the southern end of the property. The applicants say in their proposal they will donate the right-of-way for the right-turn lane to the county.

The proposed entrance to the convenience store would be from Catawba Road near the western end of the combined property.

The proposed Sheetz is among the election issues facing the two candidates for the Amsterdam District seat on the Board of Supervisors. It came up during Monday night’s candidates’ forum in Daleville.

Some residents in the area have already expressed concerns about traffic backups at the intersection— both on Catawba Road and for traffic turning left off northbound US 220 onto Catawba Road.

A county-contracted traffic impact study of the intersection included recommendations for a dedicated right-turn lane from Catawba Road onto US 220 southbound and a right-turn lane from southbound US 220 into the property as essentially first-phase and currently affordable options no matter what type of development occurs on that corner. Both would require right-of-way dedications or acquisition.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) concurs with the traffic study at the intersection and on US 220, and noted that right-of-way for a right-turn lane on Catawba Road would have to be dedicated for that purpose by the property owners/developers.

A turn lane into the property from US 220 also would be required for a new commercial entrance permit.

The developers are proposing to dedicate the right-of-way on Catawba Road “to provide the county assistance in their long term plan to improve the entire intersection, in a manner consistent with the improved Access Management concepts contemplated in the (2016 amendments to the county’s Comprehensive) Plan.”

Those amendments designate the Daleville Town Center as an Urban Development Area (UDA), which includes the Catawba Road intersection and property on the north side of Catawba Road west to that road’s entrance to Daleville Town Center.

As part of the Sheetz site plan, the developers are proposing sidewalks along part of the site on Catawba Road and into the property and along the front of the property on US 220.

The building itself is proposed to be 6,050 square feet with a brick veneer after all the other structures on the property are removed. There would be five fuel islands, all covered with a canopy fronting on US 220, a drive-thru car wash in the rear, and drive-thru pickup window for the convenience food store in the rear, and some outside seating.

The plan proposes exterior LED lighting to meet the county’s lighting section, and signage and landscaping— including some trees— that would meet the county code.

The county planning and zoning staff had not provided its comments on the rezoning and SEP request for the Planning Commission as of press time.

Apartment Complex

Marlett LLC and Cathcart Group will be back before the commissioners with its request to rezone a total of 17.862 acres from the Shopping Center (SC) Use District and the Agricultural (A-1) Use District to the new Residential (R-4) Use District and for an SEP for up to18 multi-family dwellings per acre at the end of Commons Parkway in Botetourt Commons.

The Planning Commission deferred hearing the request at its October meeting while Martlet officials conferred with Appalachian Trail Conference officials about the proposed development. The property borders the Appalachian Trail.

According to the application, the proposed development would consist of 266 apartments housed in eight buildings on the property.

This will be the first request for R-4 zoning under changes to the county zoning ordinance the Board of Supervisors approved last week.

The new R-4 High Density District is designed to provide a zoning option for higher density developments than the old R-3 Residential District.

As part of the zoning ordinance change, the supervisors also made created the new Agricultural Rural Residential (AR) District and renamed R-1 to Low Density Residential, R-2 to Low-Medium Density Residential and R-3 to Medium Density Residential.

The supervisors also added commercial stables as a by-right use in the Agriculture (A-1) and Forest Conservation (FC) Districts.

Potfillers Change of Conditions

The Planning Commission will also hear a request from Potfillers LLC for a change of conditions that will allow the company to enlarge the proposed garage size for the landscaping storage lot, and to allow the existing home to be rented as a residence under the county’s new “multi-purpose” zoning amendment— allowing more than one principal use on a 2.032-acre lot at 6149 Cloverdale Road at the corner of Hillview Drive.

In June, the Board of Supervisors granted an SEP to allow Ian Hensley to relocate Dirt Works Landscaping to the property where he planned to build a new building for a small office and the rest a shop area at the rear of the property.