Commercial

Commercial

rezoning wins

approval

Proffers would limit uses

By SHARON KILPATRICK

Rappahannock News Staff Writer

The Rappahannock County Planning Commission recommended approval of rezoning property on the north side of Route 211 opposite the Shade Road for the relocation of the Faith Mountain Company.

In recommending that the planners consider rezoning the 1.7-acre parcel from agricultural to commercial. County Administrator John McCarthy said the contract purchasers, Martin and Cheri Woodard, along with the sellers, Carson and Aileen Johnson, had offered concessions on their use of the property which made it suitable for fezoning.

They had agreed that the use of the property would be restricted to retail sales and accessory offices, parking and off-street loading. The mail-order part of Faith Mountain’s business is a part of the retail operation, not warehousing, Mr. McCarthy said. The Woodards had also agreed that they would only move the mail-order part of the business, not the walk-in retail trade, until the four-laning of Route 211 is, completed or three years pass without the road work being completed.

Mr. McCarthy tcjld the planners that Mr. Woodward has agreed to post bond to complete an entrance road with curbing and a turn lane once the highway project is completed. The entrance will be across from the crossover in the highway for the Shade Road, Route *522. The Woodards have also agreed to screen both sides of the property with staggered rows of evergreens, he said.

Speaking as a representative of both the sellers and the buyers. Attorney Douglas Baumgardner said, "The property is located squarely within the area designated for future commercial activity.” It is an area that “does not lend itself to residential use,” he added, since it is so close to the highway. He said the rezoning would “enhance the tax base and maintain or perhaps enhance employment.”

Mentioning that another request for commercial zoning in that area had been denied, Mr. Baumgardner said that the mosl important difference between that application and this one was the timing. At the time of the other application th ?re was some uncertainty about the fourlaning of Rouie 211. “At this time that project is a virtual certainty,” he said.

Martin Woodard showed the commissioners site plans for the property, and drawings of the floor plan and outside of the building. “It’s a simple basic building,” he said, built of metal and 125-by-80 feet in size. There will be space for packing and shipping, a room for a “floral studio” where the dried flower arrangements that the company sells are made, offices, a space for a photography studio where pictures can be taken for the company’s catalogues, a lunchroom and an open area for customer service.

3ee REZONING, p. 16