Don't we have something on the
» All right. I'd like to call to order the
August 24th uh premeating. We have a
plan RBA uh to discuss the three notched
trails. So, first so much for for coming
out and we'll turn it right over to you.
>> Thank you. Yeah. Um I'll go ahead and
see if I can share this right quick.
Here
we go. Uh, yes. Thank you for having me.
I am Bill Rian. I am a transportation
planner for Plan RBA and have been there
for about 10 years. Just finished my
10th year. Fellow Mer across the the way
here. Um, I was going to say, um, I've
been working with, uh, Lean Webb and
Megan Heatwall on this this plan. They
are part of our stakeholder team. Um,
it's really the western spine, but we've
been calling it three notches.
[laughter] Three notches is nowhere near
here. It's kind of uh, more of that
corridor between Richmond and
Charlottesville, but it's it's how we we
hope to get a connection between
Richmond and Charlottesville. really if
you think about it all the way down the
peninsula um using the Capitol Trail up
to Stanton. That's an eventual goal of
this but for us it's just within our
region. So um
the you can see on the goals here
identify that preferred corridor along
the western spine. Like I said we've got
a stakeholder team. We've been working
with all the different localities
between Richmond and well the Bana
County U boundary.
But all these are a part of our efforts
here. You know, trying to get a
multi-use trail facility uh to, you
know, enhance regional active
transportation network. That's my main
thing. I'm an active transportation
planner. Uh but trying to get, you know,
safer access uh connecting uh key
locations and and destinations uh
population centers. This particular
study we started last uh summer and you
know, we have to wrap it up by December.
So pretty tight timeline. We've gone
through three of four of the stakeholder
committees. So again, the who we're
working with uh each of the five
localities, Cuchand Powan, Chesterfield,
Enriiko, and the city of Richmond. And
then we've been consulting in the
background with uh Virginia uh Capital
Trail Foundation, which obviously they
set a high precedent with that trail um
the soil and water conservation
district, the Capital Region Land
Conservancy. And then outside of our
region, we've been working with the uh
everything that's west. So our planning
would end in at that Gland Fana boundary
but um we've been working with the
Thomas Jefferson uh planning district
commission city of Charlottesville
Abomar and Fana counties and then the
Ravana trail conservy because it all
kind of started with them and then in
that connectivity for the state the uh
the VOTE state trail state office of
trails.
So what we're what we really are trying
to do is work with what we've already
got. We there's planning in each of the nine localities in the Richmond
region. We've just used some of the
planning that already exists and and and
adding that. Then we're looking at how
do we then connect gaps or close the
gaps I should say uh with all of these
different localities. And you know again
the exercise is to identify that
feasible continuous regionally supported
western spine. you know, Richmond all
the way to or at least toward
Charlottesville. So, again, this is
pulled from our regional bicycle and
pedestrian plan. Some of you may be
familiar with that. It's it was approved
by our policy board um in May of 22 and
we're on every couple years we're
updating all of that data. Um this is
the existing
[clears throat and laughter] facilities
in the region. Um we've got uh
approximately 210 combined miles of of
different bike bike bike infrastructure.
Um you know you see that big blue line
heading off to the southeast there.
That's the capital trail. We're working
on fall line which you can see a little
blue line from that blob in the center
there Ashlin heading down. That's going
to be a 43 mile trail connecting Ashlin
to Petersburg. So that's our north and
south spine.
>> Here's south end. We've got one mile
that's along the Hugenot trail. Uh
Robius Road kind of continues and and
when it gets to the line, there's that
one mile. So, got more work to get done,
but that's the beginning. Okay. Um
here's that spine network. And this is
something that we've had our uh through
our local um technical advisory
committee that they worked uh we worked
with them to to put this together. the spines, the red lines, those are the
uh we're trying to get all these other
trails to connect through those. And
you, as you can see, the red line in
Palatan, that is Hugenat Trail or Route
7-Eleven connecting up uh 522 to Guland.
We've had that as a spine. Um and and
Guland's got Route 6 as their spine. Um
there are gaps within that. The blue is
the spurs. Those are supposed to connect
to other uh trails to feed toward the
spines. And as you can see, there's a
huge gap just to the west in in the
Richmond area. There's no spine. So,
some of that effort, what we were doing
with this committee is is trying to
again identify and strengthen some of
those potential connections. Um, not all
of these exist. This is some existing
like the Capitol Trail. The fall line is being built now, but some of it's
aspirational like our proposed
connections. So again, here's the the
capital trail and you got the the fault
line. That's that spine network. We're
working on the western part. Now, this
is jumbled up, very uh confusing.
There's a lot of proposed and as you can
see in Pitan, I'll just zoom in.
we you have a trails plan. I'm pretty
sure according to Megan, you guys uh
approved all this, but you know, there
was a whole plan and you know, so we're basically working with [laughter]
the Hugenat Trail and 522. Um, but I'm
also here on behalf of how can we work
with this as well, whether it's to get,
you know, funding, which I've been
working with Megan some on, you know,
what could um, you know, what's the low
hanging fruit using, you know, your
existing plan, what's your highest
priorities, which you've identified in
your your trails plan. So, again, you
know, how do we make those things happen
too, not just the the theuh three notch
trail plan? Um, again, I won't go into
too much of this, but on the other side
of Charlottesville, they're working on
the Crosseé Trail, and that's supposed
to connect essentially from western
Charlottesville all the way to Afton
Mountain. Uh, it's a pretty big effort,
kind of similar to um, Gutland and
Powatan in that there's a lot of horse
country here. So again, like is this
trail not just a multiuse trail for
bikes, runners, pedestrians, but for
horses as well? So, you know, every
trail that we've done, uh, fall line is
one where we're like, "Hey, handover,
how much of this should be considered,
you know, horse trail as well, cuz you
really have to plan ahead. You those
trailers when people are bringing
horses, you've probably been to the, if
you've been to the Palatan State Park,
there's a lot of extra parking to to
accommodate those types of vehicles. So,
anyway, that's happening right now. um
you know it's Charlottesville to Aftton
Mountain there terrain uh issues but
they're generally following the rail
line corridor so the slope is more
gradual not going straight up the
mountain like you know you see with 64
as it climbs after again we're working
with other you know the state outdoors
plan uh BOT has uh multiple plans and so
those are advising some of this so we
don't have to reinvent the wheel every
time
um again the the one One other thing and
part of the reason that there is uh any
trail mentioned on um Hugenot trail is
you know there was in 2013 the James
River Heritage Trail plan. So again a
lot of these communities a lot of the I
should say counties and localities use
that uh do I'm sorry department of
conservation recreation plan the James
Heritage Trail to have that orange line
added to their their comp plans. So
again, we're trying to uh build support
for this. This is just being done within
staff. This is not a huge public effort
at this time, but you know, our project
terminating
with Fluana on how would we move through
how would a trail move through the
county to Charlottesville and then um
you know obviously to to the east
there's fall line of Capitol Trail. We
want to make sure we connect all the
way, not just, you know, to Hugenot
Bridge um in in in Reicho and and the
city. We've had three meetings so far
with our stakeholder group with one more
planned in November and that's sort of
the, you know, we uh are near the
finished product and we're going to, you
know, kind of go over it with them at
that time. So um the the previous
meeting uh let's see yeah
all these different lines different
colors are representing each locality um
panz sort of a teal color um but the
point has been we were working through
the stakeholder group to cut away a lot
of these uh to you know the dotted line
that's in Gland that was one of the
first things they said that's not going
to work that's actually three notched
corridor the old um three notched
[clears throat] road was uh in place and
then you know that's how US 250 came
about. Um so but they've sort of settled
on that route six corridor. Um several
of those Henriko lines it's just now
reduced to that one that's closest to
the James River that that darker blue.
Chesterfield has uh Robius Road along um
[clears throat] Hugnot Road into Bonaire
and then there's a series of ones in the
in Richmond because I haven't been able
to get them to really commit fully to
just one line. But um in Pan, we've been
working with U Lian Web and and Megan.
It's sort of incorporating a few extra
lines, but really that 711 corridor is
where we this is aspirational, not like
we've invented something new. It's using
what you've already had in your comp
plans. Um, so we call that the James
River Loop. Yes, sir.
>> Question on that. So, would you have it
going all the way to 522 and then north
um of 522 or or does it cut over
>> that old river trail, which is what that
little blurb is right there? the from
Maidens at 522 that Guchand actually has
a greenway trail planned just east of
the the courthouse. So it's not right
down the middle of the road on on Route
6. Is that is that what you're asking?
>> No, I guess I was just trying to find
out if the trail is obviously it follows
7-Eleven to 522, but there's also that line that goes down the trail as
well.
>> Um yes, that's more of the scenic byway.
Okay. Uh, and I have to say that was not
necessarily on the comp plan, but there
were um again that we followed some of
that scenic byway in that corridor. You
can't see it as well, but as it goes
that center line right right in here, um
that's headed toward the the prison farm
and there's natural surface trail in the um the uh trail plan that points
along the river there. And I kind of
fudged a little bit in the very eastern
heading towards Watkins because the line
doesn't extend past 288, but at one
point we were trying to convince
Chesterfield to stay along the river
from their Robius Landing Park and then
head to Watkins. So something that's
more rivercentric, but yes, that one
outcropping there is is sort of
following Gotcha. I don't remember that.
>> Old River Trail.
>> Okay. Fantastic.
>> Conveniently named.
>> That's probably why I got confused.
So when you say trail, are these just
natural? So is this like the Blue Ridge
um mountain trail?
>> The the the goal would be to have it be
separated from the road, have it be, you
know, 12t wide paved. Could be that, you
know, like if you've ever been to um uh
Hybrbridge Trail Safe Park, that's, you
know, crushed limestone uh surface. Um
anything like that that is uh but safe.
It's it's pulled away. that's somewhat
uh that's a sustainable trail. For
example, you you're not going to have a
lot of rudded um rained out sections,
but the again the goal would be to have
it be separated from the roadway. Is
that is that answering?
>> Yeah, I mean I'm I'm just you're talking
about horses and bikes and stuff like
that. I mean, are all they going to be
all of it multi-use or the horse trail
ends here and then the bike trail starts
there and then you know,
>> some of them
>> is it a walking trail? You know, you got
the Blue Ridge Parkway, you got the
trail that runs all the way from Lake
Maine all the way down. Is it similar to
>> Oh, I see what you're asking. Yeah. I
mean, there's East Coast Greenway will
follow a fall line. That's a trail. It's
just a series of other trails. Um, not
really a consistent surface. Uh, yeah, I
would say the goal would be to have it,
you know, 12t wide, something that is
not a road
>> and like a Blue Ridge Parkway. I mean,
that's obviously a huge roadway, but um
the the idea though is is its own
standalone thing. Robius Road that we've
had there, Chesterfield, you you may
have seen that there are existing bike
lanes along that. It's 45 mph road,
>> trail.
Yes, that's more natural surface as in
you're just on rocks. You're on whatever
the surface is through. And I was going
to say with Roius Road, they're planning
to have a shared use path. uh to the
side and you know move on from having
that really busy traffic uh I'm sorry
the bike lanes right next to that busy
traffic. Um
>> I you said part of this would be on 71
>> in theory. Yes. Um and working with
Ligan Web, you know, that's a very busy
corridor as you all know. I mean
>> it's also no shoulder,
>> right? Well, that's we wouldn't want it
to be on the shoulder. It would be if we
could if the if if your your locality
chose to go forward with something like
that, how do we separate? How how would
there be some separation or
>> how's it mean just to to help provide a
little is it something that we just
>> try to get easements or something along
[clears throat] the trail or how does
that work for
>> Well, I I would say using the the
capital trail as an example like route
five is the the main spine through
there.
>> That's a scenic byway as well. B do
administered that project because
essentially the Capitol Trail acts like
a um an
you know a complimentary route to that.
Again it's sometimes pretty close to
following that the contours of that. Um
sometimes it it very it pulls away
because the opportunity to go through a
certain property um was was easier. Um
there are a few sections in Charles City
County where it's right up next to the
road, which isn't ideal, but it's not
miles and miles of that. Um but yes, it
would be one of those VOTE had to with each of those property owners
negotiate, you know, right away. Um it's
about 11 miles we're trying to cover
with 7-Eleven and it may not all be
convenient to have it, and I know
there's a lot of historic properties on
there. It would be it it'd be a heavy
lift to have it right along that one
corridor. Um that's why we do have some
highlighted options for things that were
identified in the p the u the the county
trail plan that are pulled away. Um the
ones that are closer to the river were
marked as uh natural surface trail. So
you know if that's how we have to settle
if and again this is if you wanted to
proceed with something like this. This
is you know my grandkids might enjoy
this trail kind of thing. [laughter]
>> I don't have grandkids.
>> Go ahead.
Going back to the one mile that you
mentioned that is a POW tan that you are
planning for. Could you bring that show
me where that one mile is again please?
>> Your backyard.
>> My backyard.
>> Yeah.
>> Great. So uh yes this ATV is up and
down.
>> This is 288 and then the the interchange
with Gigi Trail and and 288 here and um
the the county line there. This is I
guess the Winterfield area. So, you
know, th those are bike lanes that are
on the side of the road and it it
continues all the way uh on Robius. This
is uh Polo Parkway and like, you know,
shops at um Bgrade area in Chesterfield.
So, it's a pretty long distance. I I've
biked that plenty of times, but it's not
something I would take an 8-year-old on.
What we're trying to to do is make it to
where somebody who's new to cycling
would be would feel comfortable or you
know obviously if you got a young kid
that you're with, you wouldn't want
[clears throat] tractor trailers or
whatever right next to them. Megan that
one mile, how does it template over the
approved trails plan that we parks and
register does it?
>> I have to go back and look.
>> Okay.
to him.
Um, that was about the the gist of
everything. I was going to say I don't
think I have Yeah, that was it. Um, I I
could answer plenty of questions as best
I can. I was going to say again, I'm
glad you're in the room. We talked a
little bit at our meeting about, you
know, your actual trails plan and and
how can we help uh move that along? uh
you know find find those um
highest priority projects as you've
identified and and you know let's find
some funding for to to move some of
those along. Um, but in particular with
the Three Notch Trail, um, a lot of what
we we just to sum it up, a lot of what
we talked about was, um, access to the
river, being closest to those
recreational sources, uh, trying to
connect some of the existing historical
sites and and, um, what was it? Fine
Creek.
>> Oh, Pine Creek.
>> Yeah. Some of those cooler uh, sites
that are that people would want to get
to
>> destinations.
>> Yeah, destinations. Exactly. along those
corridors. So, um anyway,
yeah. Yeah. Obviously,
I like I like the path. Obviously, it's
going to go through three of the
supervisors districts,
>> right?
>> Um
>> I've run firing mask calls up that
corridor for 26 years.
>> Y
>> So, I I I know it very very well. Um I
know the hazards of it. Uh, but I also
love the idea of bringing
um and and providing something like that
and what it could do to that area. Um,
can you answer a question about funding?
How's this typically done? Is it through
grants? Is it through CVTA funding,
funneling money to them or or what?
>> With Fall Line, like I said, we're
working on we're still working on
funding that fully, but um Fall Line is
a 43 mile trail. Um they just completed
last last fall the first section um
that's basically 5 milesi from just
north and Reicho up to Ashland. That was
mostly with CBTA money. Um CBTA
committed 108 million I think it was in
the first goound. The original estimate
was about 300 million to cost. Now it's
closer to 450 million because when we
started planners are laughing that's
what happens but anyway CBTA was one way
um there have been other contributions
uh state level committed some money um
because there's seven different
localities those seven localities are
trying to fill in some of the gaps
[snorts] right now we're working on
Petersburg up to Chester that's being
like they're they're groundbreaking next
month And most of the funding is in
place for that as well. But the gap the donnut hole essentially from that
Chesterfield section up to Henriiko I
should say Henriiko's funded and almost
all of theirs is there's multiple
funding buckets. So again to answer your
question it's not one funding bucket.
It's the solution.
Isn't it kind of hard to define where
the trails are going to be if you
haven't gotten these ones yet?
>> With fall line, um Richmond's still
working on some of their final lines. Um
Chesterfield had some identified in
their plans. Um and they basically
followed a lot of that corridor. Some of
it had to shift due to a solar farm
being built in the center of one
section. uh a shooting range I think was
near uh they're they were using an old
rail line but those are opportunities
that they had already identified. Uh I
think in what we're talking about here
is sort of a blank slate. We have that
corridor we don't necessarily have you
know lined up a series of property
owners that were already teed up for it.
Capital trail I think was u a lot more
of that you know property by property.
Um it is one of those when they did have
the funding in place and started
building it. It wasn't a march from you
know Jamestown to to Richmond to do the
trail. It was pieces and parts in and as
they were going everybody's like why is
this a gap? Why I have not you have why
haven't you finished my part? You know
point being though that momentum that
helps build that momentum toward having
more funding but it may not always help
if the property owners don't want it.
And I know 7-Eleven has a lot of
historic again a lot of historic
properties and it might be difficult.
Um, so yeah, that's our perspective that
would be awful difficult to fund because
you you can say you want to go this way
and then all of a sudden you got
property owners. Well, now it's got to
go this way. So we dedicate x amount of
dollars, but now the trails got to be
longer because it's got to go around
people that weren't giving willing to
give an easement. So, it's really hard
for the county to budget something like
that, right, when we don't know point A
to point B and what that's going to look
like.
>> It it it is um each of them ends up
being a different u approach, different
um solution uh to those those obstacles.
They're working right now uh an
extension of the Capitol Trail and it
basically matches what you're talking
about from Jamestown towards Newport
News. a lot. It's a tight corridor. A
lot of different waterways that affect
that. And yes, it the the distance has
changed a few times. The the course
they're trying to get get to has
changed, but I would think that if if it
is something that the county was
interested in that you would have at
least some preliminary work, we talked a
little bit about like how how would you
execute a trails plan? you may need some
extra help. Some some uh more than just
one person trying to tackle that. Um and
in in that case, uh if you like say had
a trails manager position that could
help, you know, knock on those doors. My
family's from Martinsville. When they've
uh tried to put together some of the
trails there, they they had a foundation
that was doing some of the door
knocking. But yeah, it's each one of
them has a different approach and a
different solution. I thought good job
for our deputy county administrator.
[laughter]
» Well, I uh I noticed John leaned over
and whispered in Megan's ear. Uh the
foundation is something that Parks and
Wreck has been working on and thinking
about for some time, recognizing that
there's uh there's multiple ways to skin
the cat, you know, and and as not only a
fundraising arm, but a force force
multiplier. And uh yeah, I think that
that's a a great example of how that
group could be leveraged.
>> We talked the other day about you all
have agreements with your farmers market
with groups and having some co-managing
maybe something to that to to that
effect a solution where hey we have a
co-trail issue or not issue but
opportunity you know with
some sort of shared effort. I don't
know. We we were throwing some
[clears throat] fun ideas out and all of
them sound really fun until you start
getting down to how much would this cost
and how would this work? So, it's all
fun games.
[laughter]
>> Whoa.
>> Well, I think the question for me is
like who's going to be making the ask to
the property owners?
We can commit to it all day long, but we
can't we can't can't necessarily force
property owners to
>> Yeah, absolutely. I will say with the
with fall line, they had two design
build sections. That first one that's
completed and the one in the south and
VOTE got to be the bad guy uh for a lot
of that. Um basically the you know
research being done on
here's the general corridor and then you
know assessing which properties may be
effective which side of the road may be
preferred because you don't want to
switch back and forth side sides of the
road especially on a busy corridor like
7-Eleven. But the idea again uh of uh
who's going to handle you know talking
to the public working with so a lot of
the fall line ended up being you know V
dot going through that public process
like I said with this we're just doing
the study trying to get together like is
do are people interested in this and you
know do we pursue it and if we do what
are the potential corridors but um in
the end yeah if you if you did want to
see it through there would be another
level of study. The fall line had an
Ashlin to Petersburg trail study and
that was funded through the governor's
office uh the office of interotal
planning um you know handled that it was
about year plus study. So that's the
more serious version of we really are
going to do some of the environmental
work in you know trying to figure out
traffic volume along roads. Like I said,
I have collected some data. Obviously,
[snorts] 7-Eleven is that collector as
you head especially east toward um 288
and still people that head 522, you
know. So, all those suburban
neighborhoods uh or really exurban
neighborhoods feed towards that corridor
and obviously 60 as well. You know,
that's your two major east west.
But yeah, VOTE would have to be heavily
involved in something to that effect.
And that's not free, but that's, you
know, that's governor's office had
funded, for example, the fall line and
the capital trail.
Mr. Chairman, I want to make sure I'm
not
pushing you along a path that you're not
prepared to walk. Um, no pun intended. I I appreciate the fact that you are now
familiar with our plan.
>> Absolutely.
>> Previously, I I assume you weren't. So
the fact that you're aware of it and can
help facilitate give advice and mostly I
hope help with funding source if you
have some guidance there. So at least
it's good that plan RBA is aware of that
plan. I assume that you weren't
previously.
>> Um I was um and we have that
incorporated in our region.
>> But does that mean it's [snorts]
anywhere past being a plan? No. So, but
if you if you and we were talking a
little bit about this the other day, you
know, you start using the CBTA money or
some other uh we we've talked about some
different um potential uh funding
sources to apply, you know, grants and
so on. any of those, you know, knocking
out a mile or, you know, connecting from
Fighting Creek up to the schools and and
beyond, any [clears throat] of those,
you know, little incremental updates or
trails, too, you know. Oh,
>> yeah.
>> But it certainly has been risen to the
top of any surveys that we've done in
terms of the citizens really valuing uh
the trails and looking for expansion of
them.
>> It's a very thorough plan. I really you
know I did refamiliarize myself with it
uh since um we we started this process
but yeah the it's very thorough and you
know identify as very I mean from my
perspective not living here you know
very workable corridors and necessary
things like connecting schools
connecting through your community
finishing sidewalk networks within the
courthouse area that you know you've
been asking for I don't know several
years as far as I know about how to
connect birth to the middle school.
» We have one person who constantly is.
>> Oh, he's not just a Pan guy.
>> Oh, really?
>> Carl.
>> He's famous.
>> He [laughter] infinitisly is.
>> Yeah. But it, you know,
>> sometimes it works.
>> We have people within the region. We
have people within these the
communities. But yeah, it's it's
wonderful to have people who are
interested and you know I feel like you
know he's he's not ineffective.
>> Oh, he's a knowledgeable guy.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
>> What other questions we got?
I'm still stuck on 7-Eleven because I
don't see how it happens just because
there's a road and then there's a ditch
and the ditch pretty much runs
away because the properties on either
side use that ditch to drain off their
properties.
>> It's it's very similar to Capitol Trail
in that situation.
>> That's how I vision it going from going
up Route Five from from Williamsburg or
Jamestown all the way up to um downtown
Richmond. So you would be asking
>> it's off the road. It's not right on the
road.
>> Yeah. So you'd be asking someone like
Norwood and um with the Sleti Place and
Brooker to really take a sizable chunk
of land off what 15 ft or more
on top of on top of what he got. the
conservancy that no one is in. I I don't know that
permission is the issue. I'm not sure it
can be done that. And I will say it's
part of why we consulted with Capital
Region Land Conservancy because there
are many properties in several
localities. We aren't sure if their
easements I'm sorry, an easement would
be possible.
>> Yeah.
And so if it's going to trek over
7-Eleven, then you have to build a
bridge.
>> Uh well, again,
>> with
>> Capital Trail, there are some crossings,
>> right?
>> You want it to be in a in a in an area
that has, you know, no hills
approaching. You want the best sight
lines you can, you know, uh you know, no
big curves before them. Um, but yeah,
that's that's obviously very important
issue. There's a power line that runs on
certain corridors of of uh 7-Eleven,
just a local power line. But again, like
some of those are opportunities, but
then you you see like, okay, that also
continues across seven people's
driveways and their driveways all have,
you know, the cutout for the driveway
and their their houses are right up to
the road. So, it's very hard to
envision. You could go in the front. I
don't know what there might be to go
behind some of those houses, but that's
part of the the course you might see
with Capitol Trail is going behind some
properties if that is an issue. But that
was a 52 mile trail. We're talking about
11 with or is um at least to 522. I
don't remember how far up to 522. I'm
sorry to the river it is from there. But
uh but anyway, yeah, it's it's not
without uh difficulties.
>> I think it's nine miles from 68 to the
road.
» Any other questions?
>> Any questions for us?
>> You know, I've been mostly asking all
the questions through Megan and now that
there's a foundation, I think, you know,
we got to start. But um it's it's
wonderful that you already have a plan.
Like I said, we that's what we use to
identify these corridors. So yeah, I
mean that was I'm glad you guys are
really enthusiastic about the actual
trail plan. And you know, again,
anything I can do, we can do to help,
you know, start that process of getting
some of those. We always talk about we
don't want to make plans that sit on a
shelf and never do anything with them.
So, that's the same thing with your
trails plan is even if it's all right,
we got something, you know, started uh
and or you know, the uh the priority
list included a couple that were, you
know, connecting the schools. I mean,
that's that's safety right there. Trying
to get the kids, you know, to and from
safely. So, I I don't really have any
other questions, but I know who to
contact if I have any more.
>> Do I have one question?
>> Yes, sir.
>> Ride motorcycles on.
>> Not supposed to. [laughter]
Um, it's a joke. I was going to say
though the horse question, um, I didn't
quite answer that thoroughly. Like in
like say Northern Virginia on the WO
trail, that one has some sections that
are so busy that they have multiple side
by side pieces so that the horses can
have their own space and not be spooked
by, you know,
>> pedestrians and cyclists. And um that
example of the Cros trail out out there
is like, "Hey, you know, you're going to
be talking to the horse farm folks. How
do you get through to them? You know,
come in there right away with the idea
that you're providing a longer trail for
the horses as well." So, it's a tall
ask, you know, because a lot of those
are multi-million dollar farms and I'm
sure there's several in Pitan as well,
but yeah, it's a tall ask uh for some of
those properties.
>> Sure.
>> Yeah. I'm John Kirkland. I'm the vice
chair for the foundation and we've
really gotten the ball rolling with that
foundation. I've already been out
speaking, speaker. Um I truly believe we
will be able to help with some of this
funding and looking forward to working
with uh we've got a good group. We've
got a good board. We're enthusiastic.
We'll have our website up hopefully by
October 1st. convey that to everybody so
they can go in there and actually see
what we're about, what we're doing, what
we're into and where we're trying to
help out in different localities. And I
think it'd be great for the county once
we get that up and running. But we are
live.
>> So if you want to give me some money,
I'll take it. [laughter]
» Can I uh can I mention I I think that
this is a space that we're doing good planning, but we're
doing good work as well. Um it was just
in 2028 that the county reconstituted
the parks and rec advisory commission
and they had the foresight in 2019 to
initiate a parks and recreation needs
assessment which was finalized in 2020
and they did a statistically valid
survey of the uh the county at large
that identified multi-purpose trails as
the number one requested amenity. Um and
uh we we used that information to apply
for a fiscal year 22 community project
funds grant which we are awarded for the
education connection trail. Uh we
applied again in fiscal year 2 uh three
for the ADA trail. Um that's that will
go behind the library. Um and part of
what we've learned is you have to be
careful what you wish for when you get
awarded federal grant money. Uh we've
been working on that since 20 fiscal
year 22. you know, meeting all of the
requirements of federal money. Um, we're
to the point that we're planning a
ribbon cutting in the next two months.
So, uh, near near the finish line on
that one, and the ADA trail will be
right behind it. But I think it's an
area that we're punching above our way
and and parks rec of work to advance the
goal of where you multi- trailing count
as well.
>> Good stuff. That's awesome. Love that.
» Um,
data on the economic at uh the capital
trail.
>> That that is a fantastic question and I
have to say with fall on that was the
same question. We did not do there is an
e economic impact study for the capital
trail. It's from 2018. So um it's pretty
far behind. The nump the dollar figures
are are way behind and obviously the
trail was very new at that time. Um but
we've been using that as a very low
baseline for the impact. Um it's
obviously something that be a tourism
impact but because that's already
busy corridor scenic uh byway Virginia
scenic byway. Um but that's that's what
we have
>> counters.
There are trail counters though um not
all the original 11 are in operation but
yeah that's on the B do website and I I
can provide links to to those um you
know so you get a good sense of how many
people are using not just that trail but
you know around the state. Um but yeah,
it's some of those are
um it's it's how you perceive the you
know how many people pass through
certain areas. Um that doesn't
necessarily mean that somebody stay much
stay in a hotel or anything like that.
Uh but yeah, the economic impact study
like I said they Capital Trail
Foundation is is working to update that.
Who knows if that's next couple of
years, but um fall line that was a big
request like Ann County was that was a
big request for them as well. Like if we
approve this,
how do we know this is going to provide
any benefit to us? Um and in handover's
case, they were the first ones their section was the first completed.
Actually as Ashlin was first, but they kind of count us out. Excellent.
Perfect.
No other questions from the board.
>> I can't identify it.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
» Right by my house.
>> Yeah, I do.
>> Good evening. I'd like to call to order
the August 24th, 2026 regular monthly
meetings. Thank you all for coming out.
I'd like to ask Mr. McClung if you
wouldn't mind starting us off with the
pledge of allegiance followed by Mr.
Kenny handling the imitation, please.
I
>> pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to
[clears throat] the republic for it
stands, one nation under God,
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for
allowing us to gather here tonight.
We thank you for your words that one of
your greatest commands is to
I just pray for peace tonight.
I just pray that you're here in a mighty
way. Father, in Jesus name we pray.
>> Amen. Amen.
» Thank you. Do I have any requests to
postpone agenda items, make any
additions, deletions, or changes in the
order of presentation?
Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to
approve.
>> Oh, second.
>> All in favor?
>> I.
>> Any opposed? Hearing none, that'll bring
us to board updates.
Any uh board updates?
I'll go over one. I went to the uh uh
general government steering committee.
uh that kind of goes over different uh
legislation, different um positions that
Veo takes on different legislation. And
we reviewed several priorities
uh two of which thank you uh two of
which uh focus on opposing any
legislation that removes local authority
and the second priority would be uh uh
opposing anything um that I guess
imposes unfunded mandates on localities.
So, those were the two priorities that
uh Veo's uh taking strong position on uh
moving forward for uh legislation for
the general assembly. Any other board
updates before we move on?
>> Mr. Cherry, I got one.
>> Go ahead.
>> Uh as y'all know, I live on Pierersburg
Road. It's going to be shut down for a
while. So, probably a month or two and
I've been dealing with VOTE on getting
some enhancements [clears throat] to the
Stave Mill Dorset intersection. So, we
got a a couple signs new signs up. I'm
working on getting a flashlight put in
there now to help things out. So, That's
all I got.
>> Thank you.
>> That'll move us to the county
administrator updates.
>> Yeah, thank you. We've uh got some
infographics coming up on the screen. Uh
but want to make you aware that this
Friday is the final movie in the village
um movies in the park series for the
summer. Uh Parks and Recreation puts on
this series through a grant that they
were awarded through the Virginia
Foundation for Healthy Youth. This
Friday's movie is Lilo and Stitch and it
begins at dusk at Turner Park. Um, next
this Saturday is Guchin Palatan
Community Services Board's Hopefest.
This is a community event that focuses
on substance use and recovery. The event
will be held at the CSB's Gland location
and it is free and open to the public.
Um, next is First Friday's event returns
to the village park next Friday,
September 4th from 6:00 to 8th. This is
a free outdoor concert with vendors on
site and the Riverside band will be our
musical guest um next Friday evening. Um
next, our mobile outreach team is
hosting the premiere of Stories of Hope
on Tuesday, September 8th from 5 to 7:30
here in the Village Building Auditorium.
Uh there's a cookout that starts at 5:00
pm and that will be followed by the
premiere of local storytelling videos
that start at 6 pm and this is a
campaign that was created to raise
awareness and reduce stigma around
substance use. Um this is a free event
and it's open to the public. So we'll
hope to see you there. Um, next, Park
and Recreation is offering free yoga in
Village Park on Monday mornings
throughout the month of September with
the exception of Labor Day, which is
September 7th. But otherwise, uh, come
out and participate in free yoga on
Mondays in Village Park. And then the
last update we have this evening is the
Never Forget Run is scheduled for
Friday, September 11th at Powatan High
School. Uh, as you know, the 911 attack
took the lives of nearly 3,000
individuals, 343 of whom were first
responders. Um, so the run involves 343
laps around the high school track, one
lap in honor of each first responder who
died on 911. Uh, so we hope you'll be
able to join us on uh, Friday, September
11th for this event. Thank you.
>> Thank you. All right, that'll bring us
to our public comment period. Um, what
we'll do now is we'll move into that.
And I will tell you, we've got uh three
public hearings. So, if you're here for
any of the three hearings and you've
signed up for the public comment as I
call your name, just let me know and
we'll we'll move to the next name. Um,
so the [clears throat] board will now
hear from citizens who wish to speak to
the board. Speakers will be recognized
in the order in which they signed up.
When your name is called, please come to
the podium and begin by stating your
name and address or voting district.
Each speaker will have three minutes as
an individual or five minutes for a
group as long as you have uh at least
three folks here from your group. Uh
please direct all comments to the board
as a whole and not individual members uh
or the audience or staff or any other
attendee. Refrain from criticizing
specific individuals or groups or using
vulgar, rude or threatening language. We
will begin now with Matt Fischer.
Good evening, chair, chairman, and
members of the board. My name is Matt
Fischer, 945 River States Court, and I
live in district 2 in Palatan County.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak
tonight. I'm here to respectfully ask
the board to remove Motorsports Park as
a conditional use in the Agricultural 10
zoning district.
I believe this change is important
because the A10 district is intended to
protect agricultural land, rural
character, open space, and low inensity
uses. A motorsports park is not low
inensity agricultural use. It is high
impact commercial recreational use, and
it brings concerns that are
[clears throat] very different from
normal farming, forestry, or rural
residential activity. POW Powatan's
adoptive planning priorities speak
clearly about financial stability,
public safety, quality of life, and
economic development that fits the
character of the county. Allowing a
motorsports park in A10 areas works
against those goals. These facilities
can create repeated noise, dust,
traffic, vibration, environmental
concerns, and emergency service needs in
locations that were not planned or built
for the level of that activity.
There's also a physical concern.
Motorsports Park may require sheriff's
office response, fire and rescue
planning, traffic control, road
maintenance, inspections, code
enforcement, complaint response, and
ongoing monitoring. Those costs can fall
on the county and its taxpayers. At the
same time, Palatan does not receive an
emission tax revenue tied directly to
ticket sales. That means the public
burden may not be matched by a clear
proportional public benefit.
Quality of life matters too. People who
live in agriculture areas have made
decisions based on rural zoning, rural
roads, rural quiet, and the expectation
that nearby land uses uses will remain
compatible with that setting. Even if
conditions are placed on a permit, the
county still is left to enforce those
conditions over time. That is not
efficient government and it creates an
avoidable an avoidable conflict between
an intensive event style use and
surrounding rural properties. I want to
be clear that the request is not about
opposing business or recreation in
Palatan. It's about putting the right
uses in the right places. If motorsports
are ever considered an economic
activity, they should be re reviewed in
a district and location where road
access, infrastructure, surrounding
uses, emergency services, and
environmental protections can reasonably
support them.
For those reasons, I've respectfully
asked the board to amend the zoning
ordinance and remove motorsports park as
a conditional use in the A10 district.
Doing so would protect Palatan's
agriculture in rural areas, reduce
avoidable public service burdens,
support the county's long-term planning
goals, and help ensure the future
development remains compatible Powatan's
character. Thank you for your time, your
service, and your consideration.
>> Thank you,
>> Robert Kelly.
Good evening, Robert Kelly, District 2.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman and
Supervisors. I'm rising to speak in
regards to Throttle Therapy's proposed
conditional use permit. Yes.
>> I would ask that you hold your comments
until the public hearing for that.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Thank you.
>> Pete Cisty,
>> same. Mr. Chair,
>> same. Uh, Virginia Morgan.
Hello, my name is Virginia Morgan and I
live at 2649 Glen Ridge Terrace and
Glenn Brook subdivision. I am speaking
in support of an ordinance to prohibit
the discharge of firearms and or
pneumatic guns in residential
neighborhoods in Powatan County. And the
current strategic plan adopted by you,
the board of supervisors, it states that
the safety and well-being of our
residents is paramount. The time is here
for you to stand behind that priority
and take action to ensure this takes
place. From January through June of this
year, law enforcement responded to 115
calls about the discharging of guns in
this county that included at least 18
residential neighborhoods. This isn't
just an isolated issue in Glenbrook. It
is a countywide problem that the county
data confirms. This is a safety issue.
It is not about politics. It's not about
changing the county's history or
culture. And it's certainly not about
infringing on the Second Amendment. I am
a gun owner myself. This issue was about
residents feeling safe on their own
property.
I have invited you all as well as others
out to my home to see the setup
firsthand. Some of you have taken me up
on this and the consensus has been the
same. This is not something that should
be taking place in this environment.
Deputies have told us not to go in our
backyard and some have even refused to
walk onto certain areas of our property
because of the shooting. If this isn't
the definition of unsafe, then I don't
know what is. I want you to ask
yourselves, is this somewhere you would
want to live? What if you were not able
to enjoy your backyard? What if you
didn't feel safe on your own property?
Would you be comfortable if your
children or grandchildren played in our
backyard? I'm sure the answer is no. If
this was happening to you at your home,
you would definitely want action taken
to protect you and your family. Law
enforcement wants help, but until an
ordinance is written that they can
enforce, there's nothing they can do.
This is something that you can fix. You
have the authority to take action. You
have residents asking you for a basic
safety measure to protect them. You also
have a responsibility to ensure the
safety and well-being of the residents
of this county. This ordinance isn't
meant to ban gun use everywhere in the
county. It's about location. It's about
protecting the safety and quality of
life in residential neighborhoods where
homes are closer together while lawful
shooting continues elsewhere in the
county.
You have made commitments. You have said
safety is your priority. Your strategic
plan says so. Law enforcement has been
clear about what they need. The only
thing standing between the residents and
their peace of mind is your followth
through. So, I am asking you to please
do the right thing and approve an
ordinance to protect those of us that
live in residential areas of the county
so that we can feel safe and find peace
in our homes and on our properties.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Teresa Kelly.
[clears throat]
>> Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I'm
Teresa Kelly and I live in District 2.
Um, thank you for allowing me to speak.
I am also here to respectfully ask the
board to remove motorsports park as a
conditional you conditional use permit
from agriculture 10 zoning in the palan
palatan county strategic plan strategic
priority six rural heritage and resource
preservation. This priority focuses on
ensuring that as palatan grows it
maintains those characteristics that
make it a unique alternative to the more
developed areas of the region. These
features include active farms, managed
and natural re resource, sorry, managed
and natural forests, undisturbed lands,
fields, waterways, and historic
structures. The network of bike trails
by definition is disrupting to a forest.
It requires cutting underbrush and
continuously clearing vegetation. Soil erosion and waterway
pollution. dirt bike trails on rolled
terrain caused severe soil compaction
and accelerated uh erosion. Stripping
the forest of floor vegetation, sorry.
Stripping the floors for a vegetation
cover means that when it rains, mud,
sediment, and trace automotive fluids
will wash directly into local creeks,
rivers, and ponds. This directly
violates the county's commitment to
clean waterways. The purpose of A10 is
to maintain agrarian and lowdensity
rural character of the county that
optimizes economic use of the county's
prime farmland and forest land resources
and defines countryside appearance and
rural character of areas designated as
rural preservation areas in the
comprehensive plan. A commercial or
highintensity recreational ride park is
not a farming or forestry operation. It
introduces an intense non-aggricultural
commercial land use into a zone meant
for quiet countryside living. Please
understand, I am not against motorsports
park or outdoor recreation. However, we
must exercise due diligence to ensure
commercial activities align with local
zoning regulation. For these reasons and
those already stated, I am respectfully
asking the board to amend the zoning
ordinance to remove motorsports park as
a conditional use permit from
agriculture 10 zoning. Thank you for
your time and service to our county.
>> Thank you,
» Tommy Broaden.
Mr. chairman and fellow board members.
I'm Tommy Broton from 2452 Judes Ferry
Road and I'm not uh here to speak about
anything that you have direct control
over, but I would ask you if you could
please pass on to VOTE that the roads in
this county, the grass has not been cut
this year. I've lived in the county for
53 years. It's the first time the road
has never been cut in front of my house
and most everywhere else across the
county. Uh, Route 60 has was partially
cut, but today is the first day of
school
and
that intersection at Judy and Route 60
grass is three feet or more high and
we've got new young drivers there. uh
and they needed to be safe. So, uh as
some of you know, I retired from the
sheriff's office uh some 20 years ago
now, but uh I've been one of the first
responders that has had to go tell
people that their child has been killed
in accidents, and I hate to see any more
have to do that. Uh, and I know of five
or six fatalities at that intersection.
So, I would just ask you to pass the
word on to please do something with the
roads. Thank you.
>> Thank you,
» Steve Barl.
David Baron live third district. Uh had
seen y'all for a while. I'm sure y'all
miss me. Uh I got a couple things
comment from the last meeting. [snorts]
Uh I'm one of those old people. Be 65
years old. I'm one of those people that
supposedly
don't want to pay my taxes, support the
schools. My house, my property is
bringing down the value of this county
according to Barbara Brown. I'm sorry.
That is it is just ludicrous.
I didn't paid taxes in this county
for over 30, 35 years, personal and
business.
I'll tell you as a personal insult. So
the whole lot of other older people in
this county. I'm old. I admit it, but to
say something like that is embarrassing.
Shows lack of knowledge as far as I'm
concerned. Now, I'm going to get to some
other issues. I haven't been here cuz I
got a family member that's pretty well
sick. I'm going to take care of her. We
can't comment. Come to the meetings. The
board before this let you call in, speak
your mind. Now, if you don't want to
take my tax money and my wife's tax
money, I don't care if I can speak or
not, but I have a right to speak just
because I can't make it here and a whole
lot of other older people don't like
driving at night. It's getting harder as
you get older. You'll find out.
So, I'm just saying please go back and
let people call in, voice their opinion,
be heard. You're probably not going to
listen anyway, but at least make us feel
better. Now, if y'all don't want to do
that, there thing called the American
Disabilities Act and it's a group I
can't stand. ACLU, I know they would
love to dive into this because you're
all supposedly a Republican party board
by power county by your taxing and
spending ways. Uh, sorry, that's a joke.
So, I'm just asking you to please
consider that. Since I got another
minute or so, I'll dive into a few other
things.
Last meeting, Mr. Denady, and I like
you. I think you're a nice guy. He
called Mr. Booth out about three or four
times for speaking, making comments.
Told him, "Be quiet. Won't be no
applause. Won't be this." So far
tonight, we have divied away from that.
I think you'll miss Mr. Booth an
apology. He can get a little crazy, a
little radical. I know he's a neighbor
of mine, but he's sincere and he means
what he says. He's trying to do what's
right by this county.
I hope y'all listen to your planning
commission. Y'all obviously didn't last
time with Meltonville and all that
stuff. Now, I got this to say. This gun
issue thing
been a life member
the NRA for 55 years. My wife doesn't
like hunting. She owns a gun. The first
gift my son got when he was one year old
was a life membership in the NRA. I'm
telling every one of you sitting up
there. Only one I have any dictate over
to is Mr. Powers. in my district. Don't
mess with the gun rights of people in
this county. I'd love to stay, but I got
to go home and take care of my wife. God
bless you and good luck tonight.
» Send
Good evening. My name is Cindy Bootton.
I live at 4343 Ridge Road, Palatan.
Um, couple of issues. First, I wanted to
inform the board where I live.
Um, I have neighbors that are at least
1,500 to 2,000 feet away and they have
two children that if the weather permits
on their dirt bikes at least 3 hours a
day, the evening hours when people like
to relax and enjoy their evening after
work, have some quiet time. Not at my
house.
And I don't mean to be mean, but every
time I hear them, I hope one of them
wrecks.
Not that I want them to die,
but I'd like one of them hurt bad enough
that they gave up the motorcycles so I
can enjoy some peace and quiet. I have
anxiety issues, and I should be able to
relax at home in my yard. The other
thing is on and I've got 55 acres. I'm
in the middle of it. I did my best with
what I could afford to protect myself. I
moved out here where there wasn't
anybody here.
Uh I have neighbors now shooting on all
four sides of me and I know the Second
Amendment right allows them the right to
own a firearm. I don't have a problem
with them owning a firearm. What I have
a problem with is me feeling like I'm in
a battlefield in my own yard. There
should be one or two days a week that
the board could come up with that it's
quiet time for everybody in the county.
The guys get to play with their guns.
They get to hunt. I can't quit. I can't
make this make them stop, but I would
appreciate some kind of Nor's ordinance
that puts an evening and a morning time
be before which they can't shoot and
after which they can't shoot. And I
would like two days a week when it's
quiet time for old people like me
to have some peace and quiet and not
have to take an anxiety pill. Okay. I
think it's only fair they get to have
their guns. I should have the right to
what's it say?
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
Quiet time is my pursuit of happiness.
And I should be allowed that just as
much as they should be allowed to have a
gun and shoot. And the other thing is
the reason I told you about the
motorcycle kids, you've got a subject
coming up tonight that relates to that.
I just wanted you to know how far away
from them I live and I still have to
deal with the noise. And I'm 70 years
old, worked hard all my life.
I should I should have been able to earn
the right to live in my yard in peace as
well as these kids having fun.
>> Thank you.
>> April May,
I'm April May. I live at 3571 Pine View
Drive. Thank you, board, for hearing us.
I'm here to I'm a horrible speaker too,
by the way, so bear with me. Um, for you
to deny the CPU in the resoning for
throttle therapy.
>> Would you mind just hanging on to your
comments until we get to that?
>> That just gives me more time to
practice.
>> Absolutely. [laughter]
>> Don May.
>> Okay. Uh, Janet Newton.
» Good afternoon. I'm Janet Newton, 2933
Lake Louise Drive, District 3. Um, I'm
here again to discuss Lake Louise. Lake
Louise has once again come um to the
forefront on social media this week.
People want answers. I would like to
address the instability of the dam that
supports Mountain View Road. It
continues to grow with every weather
event. Um, Lake Louise, for those that
don't know, was sold at a delinquent tax
auction for $2,500, almost 7 acres of a
lake. People say to us, 14 lot owners,
uh, you're always up there at the board
of supervisors meeting, why didn't you
buy the lake? How do you buy something
that you don't know is for sale? We were
blindsided by this.
Reason being a couple of years prior we
had um went to the county and asked
about purchasing the lake and we were
told all back taxes between 20 and
$30,000 is what it would take to buy
that lake. So yeah, we were blindsided.
Jim and Deborah Reynolds bought it for
$2,500
and then offered it for sale on social
media to us for $54,000.
when we said we didn't weren't
interested in buying it for that um they
said we were going to destroy your
recreational deed rights and they did uh
we have a cave-in now on Mountain View
Road and as I said earlier the dam
supports Mountain View Road and that
cave-in grows with every weather event
and we've had a lot of weather recently
deeq and V do have all been involved
since last year and have requested the
rentals to stabilize the area They
pretty much thumb their noses at these
requests because the situation gets
worse as I said every weather event.
They destroyed a thriving ecosystem, a
7acre lake. We witnessed a horrible fish
kill. They uh didn't get any required
permits to do this. They did this in
broad daylight. And I have pictures of
the individual who shoveled out that
Virginia protected creek in a lame uh
attempt to destroy that lake. our
property values tanked by 30%. Thank
goodness you guys took that into account
and gave us the 25% reduction in our
taxes. Um, yes. Ironically, the owners,
Jim and Deborah Reynolds, live in Lake
Shaun and serve on that board. I'm
asking the board tonight, what can you
do to compel these folks to comply with
stabilizing the area? Trees fall. Um,
we've got them off the road. Um, it's
very unstable. Sediments flowing
downstream, discolored water, please get
your well water tested. If you live
downstream,
if if agencies are keeping a close eye
on the instability, are you going at it
um from the road? Uh you're not going to
get a very good view. Come to my
backyard. I invite you to. I have the
best view of what's going on at that
cavein. And you'll see why I'm up here
every month to ask these questions.
Thank you.
>> Thank you,
» James Cave.
» Okay. All right. We'll come out of the
comment period and move to appointments.
There are two library board appointments
on the agenda. One for the district
three seat and one at large seat. You
have three applications in your packet
and all three applicants reside in
district three.
[clears throat]
>> Go ahead.
I'm asking for board consideration for
the appointment of Joanne Fico and of uh
Arthur Gregory uh to the uh library
board.
>> Second.
>> All in favor?
>> I.
>> Any oppose?
Hearing? None. That passes and bring us
to our consent agenda.
>> Mr. Chairman, could I have one more
minute? Um
>> we were fortunate to have three
applicants and uh we only had two
positions open. Uh, and I want to just
uh call out um Mrs. Fluitt who applied
and thank her for her interest in the
county and encourage her to continue to
look to uh volunteer time. We need as
much help as we can get and I thank her
for her interest. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
>> Thank you. I'll move us to consent.
>> Items A through C on the consent agenda
are minutes approvals from prior board
meetings.
Item D is a budget action to accept
state funding, insurance recoveries, and
farmers market fees and appropriate
these funds for their intended uses.
Item E is a budget action to accept just
over $9,800 in additional state library
aid. Item F is an action referring four
zoning ordinance text amendments to the
planning commission. uh each addresses
changes in state law that uh that
require corresponding updates to our
county local ordinances. And item G is
an annual certification confirming that
the county has used CBTA funding only
for eligible transportation related
projects.
» Mr. Agy, item G with that. Do we have
that listed anywhere for public
knowledge? The uh the projects that
we've spent funding on in fiscal year 26
are on the Carter Gallier project. Uh we
spent just over $4,000 on an appraisal
and a rightaway plat. And then we spent
uh $512,000
on the arch project at Route 13 and
Route 60.
>> Well, we can make those available if
somewhere you were to ask.
>> We can.
>> Okay.
M. Go ahead, Mr. Powers.
>> I have one question on F will
>> Did he change his name?
>> It's okay. Go ahead. Sorry. Go ahead.
>> Sorry. Yeah. Um,
will on item F,
are we before the referral to the
planning commission on the voting
ordinate text, does the board get to
review the text or is that something
they're going to draft?
>> So, tonight you're just referring these
items to the planning commission. And
these were the items uh that we talked
about during 2 by twos that um
legislative changes at the state level
has trickled down and now necessitates
some adjustment in our local zoning
ordinances. So the uh planning
commission will pick them up and then
they'll come back um to the board after
the planning commission's reviewed those four items.
>> Thank you,
>> Mr. Ch. Mr. Powers. Go ahead. I'd like
to ask the board to consider uh some
edits to the um minutes of July 27th
uh on page 22 of your packet. Um
and specifically uh there at the in the
first sentence which reads 2850 Red Lane
Road, director of Pony Creek
Veterinarian House. It should say horse.
If you make that change, please. And in
the uh third sentence there, it
currently says um her existing
structures are residential dwellings
rather than 180day seasonal camping
cabins. Um I'd like to edit that so that
the resulting
uh phrase it says simply the resulting
portion of the sentence should then read
her existing 180day seasonal camping
cabins.
And to that end, I would like to make a
motion that we accept um those changes
to the minutes as suggested.
>> Any uh any comments in reference to the edits?
» Second.
>> Hearing none, we got a second on the
floor. All in favor?
>> Just clarify that that's for the entire
consent agenda.
>> I'm sorry. Yeah, for the entire consent
agenda.
» All in favor?
>> I Any oppose? Hearing none. Moves us to
action items.
>> Um, item A under action items is a
budget action and Miss Schubert is here
for an overview.
» Item [clears throat]
A is resolution R202648.
That's budgeting and appropriating uh
$219,8465
to the fisc year 26 budget in our grants
fund. Periodically throughout the year,
we get grants and donations that are put
in this fund that can only be spent for
specific purposes. Uh the majority of of
this resolution is for an opioid
abatement cooperative grant that we
received. Uh we're in a cooperative
grant with Chesterfield, Colonial
Heights, and Petersburg that we receive
money from the state's opioid abatement
authority to do outreach, mobile
outreach. Um and so that's the majority
of the resolution. Uh we also get um
national opioid settlement money per
periodically throughout the year based
on a class action settlement. And so as
I receive those we get those
appropriated um to be used at a a future
time. Um, and then the others are triad
library, some animal shelter donations,
project lifesaver, uh, sheriff
donations, Earth Day, our junior
emergency technician donations for that
program, and parks and rec scholarship
program.
» Any questions?
All
right.
Open the floor up for a motion.
R 202648
that amends the fiscal year two 2026
Paladin County operating budget and
appropriating $219
8465
in grants and funding for miscellaneous
grants and donations.
>> Second.
>> All in favor? I.
>> Any oppose?
Item B is a budget action that assigns
$900,000 for use by the state mill turn
lane project. And we'll turn it over to
Miss. Uh this resolution is amending the
fiscical year 27 uh operating budget by
900,000 in our central Virginia
Transportation Authority fund. Um these
this was a grant uh the money this is
money being held at the state CVTA. We
applied for a grant of 900,000 to help
um put an additional turn lane at Stave
Mill.
>> Can you can you dive into greater detail
with the fact that we just approved
regional money just a few months ago?
» The
>> I uh I can dive into that.
>> Okay, [clears throat] you dive into
that.
>> Yeah. So on uh this is a project where
we were awarded $1.8 million in CVTA
regional funding to complete this turn
lane. Um, but we reached out to Wawwa,
the developer of the uh of that corner
on Stave Mill and Route 60, and we're
collaborating with that project to have
their contractor build the turn lane uh
while they're mobilized for that
project. Um, they're going to be able to
do that at a reduced cost, which we're
estimating at $900,000. So, that's why
the amount is different than the 1.8
that we were awarded from CBTA regional
funding.
Any follow-up questions on that?
» So, we're not we're basically taking 900
of that 1.8 that we were already
awarded.
>> Exactly.
>> Just want to I just want to make sure
that that's clear. And [clears throat]
I'll make a motion uh that we uh approve
resolution R2026-49
amending the fiscal year 2027 Palan
County operating budget by uh budgeting
and appropriating 900,000 in CBTA fund.
>> Second.
>> All in favor?
>> I.
>> Any oppose?
Hearing none that passes. Thank you for
the clarification.
Item C is our last budget amendment and
this is to the Powank County Public
Schools budget and we'll turn it over
again to Miss Schubert.
>> Uh yes, resolution R202651
is actually reducing the school's um
operational budget by $164,95.
As we know, the state did not approve
their budget till June 29th. And so
therefore, the schools received the new
CL tool from the Virginia Department of
Education. And once they applied that
with the ADM, they had a reduction in
basic aid. And then but they did get um
an increase of 70,000 of state sales
tax, but a reduction of basic aid of
235,191.
Um they are proposing they're reducing
um instruction by 14,800, operation and
maintenance by 24,176,
and then the contingency line by
$125,929.
questions.
I'll entertain a motion.
» I make a motion we approve resolution R
2026-51.
» All in favor?
>> Any oppose?
>> Hearing none, it passes. 50.
>> And item D is a resolution to approve
the CSB annual performance contract. and
Mr. Toby Fritz, who's the executive
director for the CSB, uh, is with us
tonight for an overview.
Good evening everyone. Uh, Chairman
Nani, members of the board, and uh, Mr.
Hegy, thank you so much for the
invitation to come here and speak this
evening. Um, I promise I will keep it
under the aotted time at 10 minutes. I
probably will be done in five. I can
talk kind of quickly. I just want to
talk briefly first about uh who we are
in case some folks here haven't heard of
the CSB and then talk about some amazing
things that happened in fiscal year 26
and then as as Mr. Hegy mentioned the
ask tonight to look at our performance
contract uh for the next year. So, a
community services board, you may hear
me say CSB, that a community services
board is the uh entity that was created
by statute. Um, Gland Palatin Community
Services was started in 1982
and we are the local option, the local
entry point for mental health,
developmental, and services and
substance use recovery services. We're
the public safety net for any publicly
funded uh services, the mental health de
developmental services and uh substance
use recovery. So we are the one door for
folks that have questions about any of
those types of services to come in.
So if you remember anything about
tonight, just remember if you have
questions about any of those services,
start with us, please. So uh what we do,
I mentioned those three categories. The
one um blog that's up there, same day
access. I want to make sure I highlight
that we have a service that's available
Monday through Friday the working hours
that if somebody is in a habit of moment
and they want to come get an assessment
they can walk in. We call it same day
access and last year 187 of our
residents took care of it that took
advantage of that service here in
Palatan. So that was a a number that
we're really happy with. Um, so there
are a lot of services up there, 23
different services actually that we do
at the CSB from assessments of a toddler
the whole way up through a 2 a.m. crisis
call. Now, we partner with um folks in
Richmond to cover those uh after hours,
evenings, weekends calls because we're
too small for that, but we have a lot of
services there that we can help
somebody. Um, so in fiscal year 26 there
was 711 of our neighbors that we served
over 24,000 different services. So
basically that's one in 45 people in
Palatin County that we were able to
serve. And throughout the year there
were approximately 100 services on any
given day that we were open that we
delivered for people in Palatin County.
So we're really proud of those numbers.
Um, another number that I'm a little
really proud of is our net promoter
score. If you've ever heard of a net
promoter score, that's that question you
get. How likely are you refer to refer
somebody to Palace and Community
Services? You probably get that question
about a restaurant or a medical office
um all the time. But the scores after
the calculations are done range from
negative 100 to 100. And anything above
50 is generally considered excellent. So
our score of 74 is something that we're
really proud of.
Um, one of the programs that folks may
recognize is Monikin. We're based right
here in this building. Uh, we'll be
based over in our new building. When we
get it done, I'll talk about our new
building here briefly. But one of the
things that was very cool um from last
year was that our Monican program in
their talent show was featured on the
cover of the annual uh VACSB, the
Virginia Association of Community
Services Board on their annual report.
So, I thought that was a pretty cool
recognition. Um, one of the other pieces
of data for that program is the state
requires that we hit 50% uh of community
engagement. We had 79. So that was uh
something that we blew out of the water.
Really happy with that. And something
that um will mentioned earlier, the uh
helpfest, it's a partnership that we're
doing with substance use and recovery.
But one of the other things that we're
happy about with Monikin is a lot of
partnerships that we have there that
folks participate in in packing the
backpacks of love, doing the judging
Halloween contest and things like that.
So great program that I I love I love
seeing. Just to talk briefly about the
people who do the work, there are just
under 100 folks that work for the CSB.
Um and 88% of them last year voted uh
Gushland Palace and Community Services
as a great place to work. That great
place to work certification is an
international certification. So it's a third party that does the
certification. Uh 88% of CSB workers
said that that's compared to 57% of a
typical US company. 99% uh feel good
about what we do for the community. I
think that's a lot of why we're all
here. And um every person that completed
our survey said they were satisfied with
what we have to offer. So some upcoming
milestones I mentioned our building. So
everybody may have seen our new building
that's under construction uh just close
to the admin building. We're
anticipating being able to occupy the
building and start delivering services
there in the spring of 2027.
Another um project that's underway is a
revamp of our website. we were able to
get a grant to fund that and hopefully
come up with a website that will really
invite people in, help uh walk them
through our front doors in terms of
finding the type of service that they're
looking for. Um, and something else that
I'm really proud of, um, our
developmental services team. I mentioned
same day access. That's for mental
health and substance use. They created
something for developmental services
because folks have questions, a lot of
questions accessing waiver services. I
mean the process there is is complicated
and so there's always questions. So they
created that um DD access and started
that July one and um so that's really
great that we have that in place now. So
the performance contract so that is the
document that is put out by the state
that covers all of our um all CSPs. Um
so we're in the second year of this
current performance contract and so
there were amendments that were
submitted there with you this evening.
Um, so the amendments basically were a
requirement on the CSB to maximize what
we're doing for Medicaid billing. Um,
some updates to patient um to patient
education and reporting. Some updates to
quality measures and reporting dates.
Um, some as federal laws come out
regarding uh protected health
information, we of course need to update
our policies. That's in the performance
contract. And there was also some
administrative updates regarding um
funding processes all the state funds
that come to CSBs. That's something that
really affects the bigger ones um but
not us but it's still something we all
have to abide by and some training
requirements. So that's good palatin
community services. I wanted to stress
our uh phone numbers are up on the
screen for everybody. 804598-2200
that's our palatin office. Our crisis
number is 804598-2697.
That's a number that anybody can call
any time of the day. During business
hours, you'll get somebody local after
hours. There'll be somebody from
Richmond, our partners in Richmond
Behavior Health who can answer. And of
course 988, one of the things that um
I'm very intrigued by is it took 911, I'm sorry, over three decades to
fully be widespread and implemented. But
uh 988 is now up and running here in
Palatine County. It is uh a service that
if anybody's having a mental health
crisis, they can call and get support
right away. And if somebody calls 911,
we have now have the connection. Um the
PAP team did great. Uh the public
service answering uh team did a great
job getting that connected in the
background. So, a lot of good stuff
going on here in Palatin County. I could
talk too long, but I'll stop now. Any
questions on on the CSB on the
performance contract or anything that I
presented?
>> Any questions from the board?
>> No.
>> Thank you. Just need a uh a motion to
approve the annual performance contract.
>> I move we we approve the annual
performance contract for the CSP.
>> Second.
>> All in favor? I
>> I oppose. Passes five vote.
Thank you.
» All right, that'll bring us into our
public hearings.
>> So, item A is a conditional use permit
uh request from a business in District 2
and Mr. Web is here for an overview.
Members of the board, a
quick presentation. Uh as you can see
the first one will be Chabakans CU
request for rural event venue.
There we go. Thank you. Okay. As I
stated, uh, case 2605 CUP Commissioner
Smith from Arthur Traverick for a rural
event venue on Dorset on Dorset Road.
As [clears throat] you can see here, the
proposal would utilize Chadwickinson's
orchid operation and existing structures
to host weddings, receptions, and
similar private events.
Uh, rule event venues are allowable by
CUP in the A10 zoning district.
Development would be in conformance with
the concept plan as you can see here
showing the existing dwelling, which
would not be part of the operation, but
you have a field there to the north that
could potentially be for tents. And then
over in sort of in the souththeast
corner, you can see there is a um a
pavilion uh that you know any events
could use the whole facility, the green
houses and and things like that.
As you can see here, here are the three
uh three properties just north of Mosler
Road on Dorset Road. And you can see uh
the zoning of the area is is uh
agriculture 10 with to the to the east
some single family residential on the
future land use map. Uh it is uh rural
areas.
Proposed conditions it would be a
maximum of eight events per month with
no more than 75 guests per event with
limits on the time events may be held.
Final conditions will be subject to a
site plan approval and the CUP is good
for five years at which point it must be
renewed.
Uh the request uh [clears throat]
requires modification of the rural event
venue development standards requiring
all buildings, parking areas and so
forth uh to be located at least 200 ft
from the property line. is you as you
can see here uh that number number three
there and number six you might remember
I think a year or so ago we added
there's potential for the board to
modify uh uh rural event venues
uh the nearest structure would be in
that lower southeast corner of that
pavilion which is about 20 ft from the
property line uh it's it's well set back
from the the neighbors a little under
275 ft from the adjoining houses and
that's the closest point that the uh
venue would have two neighbors houses.
And I did a just kind of did a little
diagram here just to show you. You can
see kind of that lower corner the 20 ft
and you can see 295 270 to the houses.
But if you now go to the north kind of
where that field where maybe they would
have tents and things like that, uh you
then would meet would meet those
requirements easily. Uh so just an idea
just what the setbacks look like.
Since [clears throat] this is a CUP, I
just want to note that there are a
number of review standards in the zoning
ordinance require staff and the board to
look at when considering. Won't go over
all those. There are in a staff report.
Um, the plane director, that's me,
recommends approval of CGP requests as
amended subject to proposed conditions,
including requested modifications to
rule event venue development standard 3.
Uh, the planning commission last month
uh recommended approval by a 5 to zero
vote. And just the changes since the
planning commission, uh, you can see it
went from four to eight events a month.
Uh, we've removed restrictions now
allowing events in winter months. So, it
is allowable all all year, even though I
think it would be heavily tilted towards
summer and and fall spring. Uh, and the
requests adjusting hours from 5 to 9:00
p.m. to 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. I think,
uh, Mr. Chadwick said garden clubs and,
[clears throat] you know, uh, groups
like that sometimes will meet during the
day. Uh, so that would allow that from
the 9:00 a.m. to the 900 pm. Uh, any
questions?
>> Questions from the board?
>> M. Chairman,
>> go ahead.
>> Uh, Lian, on page 135 of our packet, um,
under TR Roman numeral 7, transportation
traffic analysis, in the fourth
paragraph, it says, "The re recommended
cup conditions require the existing
Dorset road entrance to be upgraded to a
moderate commercial entrance prior to
commencement of the rural venue use."
Um, in talking with Charity today, um, I think that moderate I didn't know what
one was and it depends on VOTE's
assessment of the amount of traffic
coming in and out. Um, when you've gone
to eight events, uh, the turn there off
of Dorset is a sharp 90 degree turn. Um,
I would encourage you as you do site
planning to do as much radius there so
that someone coming in doesn't have to
stop, make a right-hand turn, can more
ease into a turn going into that venue.
>> Yeah, I think the the moderate is 18 to
30 feet of width at the highway. Um, I
think it's probably at least a 20 foot
wide, but uh they'll look at that the
site plan um as far as widening that and
work with VOTE to make sure they're
satisfied with that.
>> I just want a good radius on it.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Yeah. Okay. Just if you could bear that
in mind as the site planning's done, I'd
appreciate it.
>> Any other questions for staff?
>> Looking as applicant here to present
anything
» if you so desire. All right, Arthur
Chadwick, 1240 Dors Road. Uh, this is
just an idea we've hatched to possibly
host events at our farm. Maybe weddings,
maybe garden club events, wreath making
classes, poinsetta grooming, uh, you
know, 75 people max. It's we sort of
already have a, you know, people,
gardening, people come in regularly to
our farm. This is more of a an event
specific thing, but nothing major.
Excellent.
>> Any questions for the applicant?
All right. Thank you.
>> All right. Now, we're going to open up
to the public. I'm going to go through
this
one time for everybody. Uh, as Mr. Barum
mentioned earlier, um, I'm going to I'm
going to reference something that he
mentioned. Um, so the board will now
conduct a public hearing. Individuals
speaking may speak up to three minutes
stating their name and address for their
district. A representative of of a
legally organized group may speak up to
five minutes. After stating their name
and address and representation uh
provide at least as long as there's at
least three members of that group
present,
speakers shall direct their comments to
the board as a whole and not the
individual individuals or groups. They
may not use any vulgar language, rude or
threatening language. All persons in
attendance shall observe the board's
decorum policy and conduct themselves in
a professional manner that demonstrates
respect for others and is not
disruptive. Applause or outburst during
or after speaker comments is not
appropriate and violates the board's
decorum policy. Everybody hear that? Go
like this for me. Thank you. Thank you
so much. I appreciate you. All right. We
would now like to open this up to the
public. Anybody would like to come speak
on on behalf of this hearing.
Seeing no one, we will close this
hearing and open it up to the board for
any comments.
>> Mr. Chair,
>> go ahead.
>> Me and Darlene, we traveled around this
property. We visited him, Arthur, and
his whole place, his whole venue out
there uh several times. We we'd love the
idea. So, um I will be making a motion
to approve this if any comments.
>> Any other comments from the board? We
have a motion on the floor.
>> Second.
>> Take a roll call vote, please.
>> Mr. McClung.
>> I.
>> Mr. Powers.
>> Hi.
>> Dr. Brown.
>> I.
>> Vice Chair Kenny.
>> Hi.
>> Chairman Denady.
>> I. That passes 5. That'll bring us to
item B.
>> Item B is a resoning request in district
one. And we'll turn things over again to
Mr.
Yes sir. Thank you.
All righty. Uh EWN and Oddell resoning
requests request to resone approximately
15.2 acres compromise of three parcels
on the north side of Anderson Highway
near Dorset Road from Commerce Center to
A10 and Light Industrial. The request
includes several bound line adjustments
and replaces existing profers for one of
the parcels from the 2024 resoning.
Um as you can see here the the
[clears throat] current parcels outlined
on the left. The two front parcels are
zoned Commerce Center with parcels with
parcel two including Brewster's Ice Ice
Cream Shop. The back parcel is zoned
A10. So one you can see and two are
Commerce Center. Three in the back is
A10.
And as you can see here in the future
land use map, uh this area is squarely
in the gateway business uh future land
use designation.
Uh this slide shows the intent of the
reasonzoning and bound adjustment. The
north portion of parcel 2 and the
western portion of parcel 3 would be
added to parcel one to create a single
13.3 acre parcel.
The rest of parcel two which contains
roosters would remain commerce center.
So you can see two there. So you start
with three, you end with three.
The rest of [clears throat] parcel three
which is included includes a restant
would remain a 10. Again, three would
remain a 10. It has a residence. Partial
one would be splitz zoned with the
southern 2.7 acres remaining commerce
center and the northern 10.6 acres
becoming light industrial. So front
portion of parcel one you still maintain
uh the commerce center.
Here is uh a slide just kind of show you
the development areas with the buffer.
You have a buffer, the corridor buffer
along uh Anderson Highway, 30-oot
corridor buffer, buffer in between the
adjoining properties. And then kind of
that gray area shows you the development
area.
You can also see uh the connection that
was part of the 2024 resoning going to
what we recently had a proper amendment
to clean zone to the property to the
west. You can see that that connection
uh being allowed to come through this
property.
This request does follow the previous
resoning as stated 2024 for parcel one
resone from A10 to Commerce Center. The
current application retains the
objectives from that resoning including
shared access with adjacent properties.
Uh as part of the current request, the
existing road A to the right of sheets
would be improved. You can see existing
road A would be improved. Uh and you can
see just sort of sort of sort of looking
in the future how it could uh
potentially be improved all the way to
the back in the in the blue there on the north. And then you can also see
where uh access road B, that's the
green, would come uh through uh the
subject property, connect to uh the
property to the west, which is just off
the screen. And you can also see
obviously the existing right in right
out uh that is on the property to the
west of sheets.
As [clears throat] noted the application
contains a number of propers including
that the boundary adjustments would be
completed and reported prior to site
plan submission.
uh access management limits the the
connections on on to 60 to the existing
connections. Uh we also have a ultimate
rideway pedestrian pedestrian easements.
So uh the plan director, that's me,
recommends approval of this resoning
request with the profers as presented.
Uh the planning commission voted 50 at
their August 4th meeting to recommend
approval.
Following the planning commission me
planning commission meeting the
applicant agreed to profer the extension
of the westbound acceleration lane going
west on Anderson highway at the right in
right out. So will that right in right
out is uh we will look at the site plan
to extend that uh into an acceleration
lane and possibly that could also
coordination with the clean sto folks
just give a give an acceleration and a
turn lane to the right there. So, I
appreciate them uh being, you know,
openminded to that potential and again
that would be reviewed at the site plan
and we could be DOT's comment. Um again,
uh happy any questions. You have any
questions on this this case? M
>> go ahead.
>> Hey, just just one lean. Um on the
parcels that are Commerce Center, is
there any proposed development at this
time or are we going to wait, they're
waiting for the resoning to happen
before they deter?
>> Um I I'll let the applicant answer that.
[laughter]
» Uh Dan Jones, 3901 Old River Trail, and
I'm privileged to represent the owners
of these three parcels on this this
resoning. Uh the the buyer of this is is
all all the the entire area uh the
commerce center on the western parcel
plus what is being reszone light
industrial that will be one a single
user.
>> Okay. But I was just curious do we have
any idea what kind of business or
industry may be going on those parcels
at this time?
Uh yes, it seems like that's well known
on the street, but I'm I'm sworn to
secrecy, but
>> I'm in the country, so I don't know.
>> But but it's a uh a heavy equipment farm
implement uh uh sales and service
operation.
>> Uh I might say maybe somewhat similar to
Caterpillar, but not Caterpillar.
>> Appreciate that, sir.
>> Does that Does that clarify?
>> Give their neighbors some give their
neighbors some competition. There we go.
Love it. Thank you. And and I might add
I represent the the the owners on the
reszoning uh tailong properties. We we
do not represent them on the the sale of
the property
and uh [clears throat]
all I number one I want to thank Lian uh
county staff has been incredible and uh
I wish Lian well as he moves to uh uh to
Prince George County. I just sold a
property there and uh I've let my
friends know down there that they have a
good man uh coming their way. Um
just in summary, as you know, this is in
the uh the county's designated gateway
business district. Uh it's consistent
therefore with the comp plan. Uh it uh
is a coordinated employment and tax
revenue development. Uh I think uh I
think it's something that uh I'm proud
of and I think you'll be proud of it
also. Uh it improves interpartial
connectivity uh to the parcel uh to the
parcel not only the parcel to the west
but it also connects to the parcel the
quan parcel uh ju just west of that and
uh it complies with the access
management uh plan along route 60 uh and
supports the county's long-term economic
development uh goals. and I'd be happy
to
answer any questions or concerns you
might have.
>> Any questions for the applicant or
staff?
>> Uh, Mr. Chairman, I I would just like to
uh Dan, commend you and the applicant
for how you've treated the ingress and
egress on 60. Um, that that's an
accommodation I truly appreciate and I
think it'll be far safer to do.
>> We we heard your comments on the
resoning two years ago.
>> Okay, good.
someone listens. So, [laughter]
» any other questions?
>> You you answered my question on
interparial connectivity. So, thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Any other questions?
» We'll open it up to the public if
anybody's got
» Hello, my name is Carl Schwenderman.
from 1727 Teresa Lane. Um, I would like
to request that Powatan County ask the
developer to physically build the
five-foot sidewalk at the exact same
time that they're going to build route.
They're going to dig up Route 60 because
under the proposal, they're going to dig
up like a 500 foot section of Route 60
and add a whole lane to it and a turn
lane. And that's a big road that's a big
road project. And what they could do is
just ask the the contractor, the
engineer when they build that since
they're digging up Route 60 and they're
going to do lane closures and all that
mess. It would be cheaper just to ask
the developer to include building the
sidewalk between the granite place and across the front of the sheets at
the exact same time they're going to dig
up Route 60 because it would get the
sidewalk settled and it would save money
in the future versus trying to go out in
the future and try to apply for grants
and stuff. It would just be easier just
to get the sidewalk built along with
Route 60 being built right now.
>> Thank you.
Anybody else?
>> Not seeing anybody. We'll close the
public comment for that hearing and open
up to board comments.
Not hearing any comments. I'll make a
motion to approve uh 02026-9.
» Second.
>> I'll take a roll call vote.
>> Mr. McClung.
>> I.
>> Mr. Powers.
>> Hi.
>> Dr. Brown.
>> Hi.
>> Vice Chair Kenny.
>> Hi.
>> Chairman Dennady.
>> I passes five. And that'll bring us to
item C, throttle therapy.
>> Item C is a conditional use permit
request for a motor park in district 4.
And Mr. Webs here. [clears throat]
>> Uh before I go, this will be my last
hearing here. So I just wanted to before
we get going just really uh the last
it's been a you know short but uh
exciting tenure. We've done a lot in two
and a half years and I really want to
say to the board of supervisors I've
worked with a lot of boards and I really
mean it from the bottom of my heart.
This is an excellent board and the staff
feel supported by you and I just going
into a big hearing there's no other
folks I'd rather go into a hearing and I
know your objective and you you want to
do what's right for the county. So I
appreciate the two and a half years and
all of you on the board. So thank you.
>> Thank you.
[clears throat]
» All right. Uh this is case 2603 CUP.
Conditional use permit request for vital
throttle therapy Amatic River LLC for
Motorsports Park on 711 acres west of
the intersection of Rocky Ford Road and
River Estates Road.
You can see here uh map of the subject
properties. The proposal will allow the
development operation of an off-road
motorsports park on two parcels located
along the appatics river which are zoned
A10. Uh motorsports park is allowable by
CUP in the A10 zoning district. Uh the
property includes 2 and a half miles of
frontage along the AMEX river and is
predominantly wooded with the network of
existing logging trails and roads.
As you can see here from the future land
use map, uh rural areas and some natural
conservation on the southern portion of
the property. Uh also you can see the
current zoning agriculture 10 with some
residential to the east.
The [clears throat] development would be
in conformance with the concept plan as
shown here. Uh it would utilize existing
logging roads and new trail segments to
provide amenities including a
motorsports track, youth riding area,
ATV sidebyside area, single track
trails, and extension of the current
trail system along with the centralized
parking staging and supporting
facilities.
There is a 300 foot buffer along the
exterior property boundaries. The
applicant is requesting to use an
existing trails within the buffer to
provide a pedestrian and bicycle access
to the aimatics river.
[clears throat]
One of the issues has come up related to
the property is the status of access to
the property. The property is currently
accessed from Rocky Ford Road via River
States River Estates Road. From the
terminus of River States Road, a 1400
foot private access road leads to the
property and crosses a bridge over
Skipper Creek. The private road is
governed by a 1985 private road
agreement and a 1996 recorded plat for
the River Estate subdivision, including
a 50-foot buffer subject to public
dedication for the future extension of
the River Estates Road as a public
roadway. A private road application was
approved by the plan commission 2001
related to a planned 52 lot residential
subdivision on the subject property that
the pro subdivision includes a primary
public access road extending from the
end of Riverstates Road into the
property using the 50-foot buffer.
Key CUP [clears throat] conditions. In
the In the event the board is inclined
to grant the CUP request, staff has put
together a number of recommended
conditions. These includes restrictions
on the number of riders and vehicles,
restrictions on the days and hours of
operation, and no more than three
special events per year.
And there are also requirements to
improve the existing access address fire
and rescue standards and minimize
additional land disturbance. Namely, the
existing private road leading to the
property would have to be upgraded to a
public roadway using again the 50-ft
buffer area subject to public
dedication. A new bridge would need to
be constructed and was an additional
road improvements within the property.
No motorsport activities could begin
until a site plan is approved and all
required improvements have have been
made. The applicant must obtain site
plan approval within 12 months of board
approval and the cup would be valid for
5 years after the site plan approval
with renewal renewal required after
that.
Again, I want to note that the
conditional use permit review standards
in the zoning ordinance and they've
discussed them in the staff report.
Uh the planning director recommends
denialist of the C request. The planning
commission voted 5 to zero at their
August 4th meeting to recommend denial
because the property is located adjacent
to the AppMax River AFD. state code
requires the ex the existence of a AFD
shall be taken into account regarding
land use planning decisions. The
county's AFD advisory committee has
recommended denial of this request and a
report for from the AFD is included in
your agenda packet. Following the plan
commission meeting, the applicant
requests the the addition of a walking
and biking trail in the 300 foot buffer
at the northern end of the property,
which was included on a previous
provided concept plan.
As a result, staff has updated the
concept plan and adjusted the occupancy
limits on profer number 11 to allow up
to 125 personal vehicles instead of 100
and limit and the limit of 150 riders a
day has not been changed.
With that, do you have any questions?
>> Any questions for staff?
>> Mr. Chairman,
>> go ahead.
So, Legan, on item
7B, public road dedication,
um I'm assuming that public road has to
go from the entrance all the way to
where the motorcycles would unload and
ride. Correct.
>> To to the property, I think within the
proximity of the parking area,
>> right?
>> Which would basically be at the top of
the hill.
>> Correct. And if you didn't have any if
you didn't have 50 feet to play with,
then you couldn't put a public road in
there. Correct.
>> Well,
>> I mean, I've driven the road.
>> Right. Right. I mean, they do have
>> when you get up towards where you're
going to park on the property, there's
not 50 ft.
>> I think the the fit the the fe simple
pipes in comes out to Skipper Creek and
it's probably at least 60 70 feet of of
land that goes all the way back to their
property and it, you know, widens out.
So I I believe there's plenty of of of property to put 50 foot. Now the
road doesn't have to be 50 foot.
>> Well, my truck's not 50 ft wide and it
barely fit on the road up to the
property. I'm just saying if the public
roads got to go all the way up there,
that would involve a substantial amount
of money, wouldn't you think?
>> Absolutely.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Yep.
>> I have a question. As I understand it, they could not
operate until that road was taken care
of. Is that true? That's correct. It had
to be constructed
» there. Is there more than one entrance
egress?
>> You know, I I believe for the
subdivision there was discussions of an
ingress. I forget the road to the to the
west, but maybe someone from the public
knows better than me, but it for a
subdivision over 50 or more, you have to
have a second egress. I don't know if
that's why that subdivision was never
developed. Uh but uh again I mean they
could have reduced it to maybe a 49 but
the current code does you know for a
subdivision does require a second egress
but I'm not really too familiar
with the past conversations. Uh I think
fire rescue is comfortable with they
would prefer a second egress but they're
comfortable with the compromise that
building the the actual public road to
the property would would be a great um
help and obviously access in general. It
would it would improve the bridge that
cannot maintain the weight of a piece of
fire apparatus.
>> It would have to be built to VOTE
standards as well.
>> Was was there was there a VOTE study
completed for this project?
>> I mean, they gave us review comments. Uh
that's in your packet. We've we've
talked to them on numerous occasions,
met with them. Uh so, you know, it's a new road. So that that's a whole
process and engineering and surveys and
that's that's quite a quite a process to
go through but uh VOTE does it all the
time and we we we do it too. Uh but so
that would definitely um you know take a
lot of review environmental review
engineering new bridge. So it's it's a
substantial effort to build a road all
the way back there for sure. I guess a
part of my question too is not saying
every rider would, but when you have
this many bikes, side by sides,
whatever, you're also talking trailers.
>> Yes, sir.
>> What is a what does a road what can road
handle? What does the surrounding roads
handle? What happens if a school bus,
fire engine, somebody else uh piece of
farming equipment meets one of those
trailers on one of those roads back
there? Well, if they get to a site plan,
that would be discussed. And part of
what could what might need to happen is
at Rocky Ford there that might need to
be widened as well, shouldered at the at
the entrance at the entrance. I mean,
that's quite possible uh that that would
be required.
Um, but as far as a standard, I don't
know, 20 foot road with the base, I
mean, that's that would be adequate for
pulling a trailer. I don't know if the
radiuses at um if the radiuses and uh
again we haven't seen an engineer site
plan at Rocky Ford are really that great
right now. So that would maybe have to
be improvement.
>> Thanks. Any other questions for staff?
Excellent. We'll open up to the
applicant now. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. [laughter]
Good evening, Chairman Denady, members
of the board, county staff, and
community.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak
with you tonight. We are deeply grateful
to be here and for the privilege to
invest in and become members of this
community. My name is Scott McAdoo. I'm
a police first responder. My partner
Alex is a federal law enforcement
officer and Iraq veteran. Between the
two of us, we are husbands, fathers, and
parents to five children. Yes, we
currently live in Annapolis, Maryland,
but our focus, our investment, and our
passion are right here in Virginia. Our
journey started quite simply. We fell in
love with off-road riding vehicles, and
our families and our families fell in
love with it, too. But we quickly ran
into a major obstacle. It was nearly
impossible to find a private, safe,
high-quality place for our families to
ride together. So, we took a leap of
faith. We scraped together our personal
savings, took out several loans, and
purchased a 93 acre property in Orange,
Virginia, right next to Lake Anna.
Given what Alex and I see every day in
our line of work, we named it Throttle
Therapy Lake Anna. For us, getting out
on dirt bikes, ATVs, side by sides, and
target shooting wasn't just recreation.
It was a way to decompress, disconnect
from the bad things out in the world,
and reconnect with our kids.
We decided to share our journey journey
on social media, turning the property
into a private Airbnb style vacation
rental for riding and target shooting.
We didn't have all the answers. We just
had two months of cash reserves and we
made plenty of mistakes along the way.
But failure is a great teacher and every
setback taught us how to build a better,
safer, and more structured operation.
Through those lessons, we learned very
quickly that there was a massive demand
for outdoor recreation in central
Virginia and far too far too few places
to go. Because Lake Anna was p was a
private rental centered around a large
farmhouse, our phone started ringing
continuously with daily inquiries. We
quickly realized a pattern. Not every
family needed or could afford a big
farmhouse. Many simply wanted a safe
place to ride for the day, bring their
camper, or stay in a small cabin for a
night or two. Families were desperate
for a flexible, managed park option. To
solve that challenge and give family
those options, we went on the hunt for a
larger property. That search brought us
here to Powatan County, where we fell in
love with two things. The incredible
rural character of the community and the
proximity to Richmond. Our first target
was a 1400 acre tract off Brackets Ben
Road. We loved how isolated and secluded
it was. But when we visited, we found a
critical flaw. Access.
Reaching that site meant driving
directly through a neighborhood, not
around it like the property we are
discussing here tonight on Rocky Ford
Road. To make matters worse, from our
calculations, the driveway easement ran
through a neighbor's garage and fence
line. We knew right away that driving
through a neighborhood like that was
going to be a huge challenge with the
community. Before moving forward on the
property, we knew we needed county
support. My very first call to Palian
County was to board supervisor Mark
Kenny. Mr. Kenny, I don't know if you
remember that call, but I certainly do.
I remember how excited you were about
bringing a structured outdoor
powersports park to Powatan.
Mr. Kenny connected us with M. Mrs.
Roxanne Serno, your director of economic
development. Mrs. Serno shared that
excitement. She saw the vision, families
visiting Powatan, staying in local
lodging, spending money with local
vendors, and enjoying outdoor
recreation.
All while preserving Powatan Powatan's
rural landscape without placing demands
on your school system or your taxpayer
dollars. When we hit a legislative
hurdle discovering that a power sports
park
parks were not permitted on A10
agricultural land, the board took
action. While the planning commission
voted against the change, you, the board
of supervisors, stepped up and amended
the code to make outdoor recreation
possible on A10 land. We thank you
sincerely for that leadership.
Eventually, the 1400 acre opportunity
fell through and for a moment, we
thought our journey with Powatan was
over. But then we connected with the
owners of the 700 acre property off
Rocky Ford Road, Throttle Therapy
Appamatics River and Powatan Powersports
Park. The 700 acre site is remarkably
secluded
with very few residents nearby unlike
Brackets Bend. Traffic drives around the
neighborhood rather than straight
through it. Does it have access
challenges? Yes. There's a shared
driveway and an older bridge, though.
That bridge is currently driven across
every day by members of the community
and patrons of a local public wine
vineyard. Just two days after we
submitted our conditional use permit
application, chairman Dennady ran a poll
in P in the Powatan and the no Facebook
group regarding the proposed park. I
recall that over 70% of respondents
supported our park, people wanted this.
Yet even with such support for our park,
something shifted. Something changed and
momentum with county leadership started
to cool.
To address local concerns, the county
recommended we host a community meeting.
It wasn't legally required and the
county staff helped select 25 neighbors
who would be most directly impacted. We
purposely kept this off of our social
media. We didn't post a single word
about Powatan to our followers because
we wanted to speak directly with those
25 neighbors first. We sent out 25
letters, but words spread like wildfire
and nearly 90 people showed up on the
very first day of our two-day meeting.
Unfortunately, many of their minds were
already made up before we even opened
our mouths. As wild accusations and
misinformation began to circulate, we
turned to our social media channels to
share the actual facts and set the
record straight. But it became apparent
that no matter what facts we presented,
no matter what evidence we showed or how
directly we answered their concerns, the
oppos opposition simply refused to
listen. They didn't like our answers.
They didn't want the facts. And in their
eyes, we were always wrong, no matter
what solution we brought to the table.
Since then, the requirements placed on
us have only grown. When we included the
on-site lodging option in our initial
application, which is a key driver for
local tax revenue and essential for
those families wanting small cabins or
camper spots, county staff asked us to
remove it from our application. Then
after us strip after asking us to strip
lodging out, the county turned around
and told us that our park wouldn't
generate much revenue.
On top of that, we required to build and
replace a brand new road up to full VOTE
standards, a bridge that neighbors and a
public vineyard say is unsafe. Yet, no
one else in the community is stepping up
to fund or repair.
Despite these despite these moving
goalposts, we have continued to look for
ways to give back and align with Powatan
County's long-term vision. We read the
Powatan County strategic plan with
highlights which highlights goals for
public access to the Appamatics River as
well as expanding expanded public hiking
and pedal bike trails.
We knew we know that the community
members have expressed their desire for
more free public public hiking trails
and we want to help the community
achieve that goal, the county achieve
that goal. If the permit, if this permit
is approved, we are proposing to
dedicate a public trail
within our buffer zone along adjoining
property lines, creating a lasting asset
for non-motorized public recreation in
Powatan.
It's frustrating when members of the
opposition tell us, "We support riding,
just not this location."
Some of those same individuals have been
so determined to see us fail that
they've even begun attacking our private
farm in Orange County. An action that
does nothing except eliminate the very
places families rely on to ride safely.
and our opponents. If our opponents
truly support outdoor recreation, we
would welcome the same passion and
energy being channeled into helping us
find a solution we can all agree on
rather than tearing down private family
businesses.
Members of the board, here's a clear
choice for you before you tonight. The
current land owners build subdivisions
for a living. By right, this property
can be developed into a residential
subdivision up to 88 lots, permanently
changing the landscape and causing its
own environmental challenges. A
subdivision brings permanent traffic,
strain on infrastructure, and heavy
financial burdens on public services and
schools. However, the owners have agreed
to to allow us to lease this land for up
to 15 years. This is up to a 15-year
lease. This up to 15-year lease provides
a vital bridge. It preserves 700 acres
of open rural land while development
gradually pushes west from Richmond. It
supports your strategic plan. It funds
local infrastructure repairs. It gives
kids and families a safe, controlled
place to enjoy outdoor recreation,
all while possibly delaying dense
residential development until the county
is truly ready for it. Alex and I are
first responders, veterans, fathers, and
small business owners who believe in
doing the thing things the right way. We
look forward to investing in and
becoming members of this community, and
we respectfully ask for your approval of
our conditional use permit tonight.
Finally, I wanted to take a moment to
deeply thank all of our supporters.
To everyone who has shown so much
passion for this project and taken the
time to email the board to voice to
voice your support for throttle therapy.
We hear you. We appreciate you and we
would wouldn't be standing here without
you. So, thank you. I'd also
specifically like to thank Mr. living
and web for all his hard work throughout
this process and wish him the absolute
best moving forward. Thank you for your
time, your leadership and your
consideration.
>> Thank you. What uh what questions we
have for the applicant?
» I have a question,
>> please.
>> So, you are willing to bring a road up
to VOTE standards and rebuild a bridge
on land that you are leasing?
>> That would be Yes, ma'am. That would be
one of the CR requirements. In order to
access to open up, we would be required
to build the road up to VOTE standards
and build a new bridge. That is correct.
>> But you you still don't own the land.
>> That's correct.
>> Okay.
>> That is a big condition of our approval
that that access.
» I didn't see an economic impact um
report in the packet.
Um and we have heard that this would
help Palatan
um generate revenues for
businesses and lodging.
>> We don't have any lodging.
» So this is build it and they're come.
So, initially with our application, we
when talking to Miss Miss Serno, we
wanted to add a campground and bring in
parkstyle
semi-permanent cabins to bring in the
lodging.
>> You don't have any water coming in there
or any sewer.
>> That is correct. We would have to work
that. We would have to
>> I guess you would.
>> We would.
>> Yeah,
>> we would. Okay.
>> And and initially that's what our plan
was. And then county staff had asked us,
they said, "Why don't we, why don't we
just kind of get in there and let the
dust settle and then we can we can kind
of figure that part out." So, that was
one thing that the planning commission,
they mentioned that, well, we don't
quite see the revenue on that. However,
we wanted to bring that with the lodging
because my understanding is we don't have a hotel or a motel here in
the county. We wanted to help with that,
but we were asked to take that out and
remove it.
>> Okay. I still didn't see an economic
impact. What do you think you would
generate or the county?
>> Are you looking for a specific what?
>> I'm assuming as a business person that
you have determined a return on
investment.
>> Mhm. [clears throat]
>> So you don't lose your shirt.
>> Sure. Um, and part of that would be
money that would have to come to the
county in terms of taxable income.
In your estimate,
what is coming to the county? If you
haven't gotten there, that's fine. I
just I keep hearing economic impact will
be positive.
And I'll be darned if I could find that
in this packet.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> It's just a practical question. If
you're not there, you're not there.
That's fine.
>> We are not there because we weren't we
were asked to remove the lodging. We
were asked to remove the lodging from
the application. We wanted to do that.
We wanted to bring in those revenue
dollars because we understand that would
be a vast driver for that.
>> Okay. So, that is something you bringing
in,
>> excuse me,
>> how many lodgings were you bringing in?
>> How many? We wanted to have up to Alex
up to 20. Up
>> up to 20.
little cabins.
No more questions.
>> Thank you.
You're welcome.
>> Any uh any questions?
» Scott, I'm um not a writer. Um my life
I've been a fireman. So,
>> thank you for your service.
>> Yeah. I want to give you u
[clears throat and cough]
you use the word therapy in your in your
name. Can you dive into that a little
bit for me?
>> Yes, sir. So,
I've been a I've been a police officer
for coming up on 15 years now. Alex was
an Iraq war veteran.
During during my time in law
enforcement, I've seen some really bad
things. Um, I've had to notify a lot of
make a lot of bad visits to notify
family members have passed, children
being hurt, killed, messy suicides,
and that stuff. I thought I was immune
to that. And there's things that still
stick with me mentally,
things that that haunted me for a while.
And then I talked to my wife about this
and I said, you know, this is this is
bugging me a little bit. And every time
I see certain things or I go past a
certain road, it reminds me of those bad
images.
Well, then along came CO. Along came CO.
We were all locked down. We couldn't do
anything.
What we knew to do was let's get outside
and get some fresh air.
So, Alex lives across the street from
me. Other first responders, military
members, business owners.
We went out, we bought dirt bikes, we
fell in love with riding. We went
outside, enjoyed the outdoors. We kind
of started a little joke and it just
was, "Hey, let's go get some throttle
therapy today."
And when I ride, I found something that
I truly love. And I found so many other
we've connected with so many other great
individuals that when we ride and when I
ride I think about just two things I
think about it can tune it all out and I
can think about riding that bike and not
smacking the next tree
and I absolutely love it and it's just
something that has brought me so much
help and and just an opportunity to get
out enjoy the rural country and and it's
unfortunate because I know We see as a
long career in the in the fire
department and the police department, we
see so many bad images over and over. And there's and I I can't quote
the studies, but we there's so many
studies those those images, they just
slowly cause a little tear in our in our
brains. And and that's and so it it it
really just kind of started as a little
hey, let's go get some throttle therapy.
And then talking to
other guests and visiting the other
tracks. I like to do a lot of interviews
and I just ask them, you know, what what
is it about riding that you really enjoy
and the answers are all very similar as
I mentioned and and and I thank you for
the opportunity to explain that.
>> Thank you.
>> Any other questions,
>> M? Go ahead.
>> So, I do have one other question. You
made a couple comments about
misinformation. 100% agree with
everything that you said about me and
being excited because when I looked at
that other track of land, there wasn't a
house anywhere I could find.
>> Mhm. So, I'm really curious because from
what I understand, the deal fell through
because the landowner wanted to keep
that property for land credits. Not that
you guys had easement access or anything
like that because when I looked at the
road to that property, I didn't see it
go through a house, neighborhood, or
anything. That was the reason why I got
so excited about it.
>> So, I I'm really confused as to why all
of a sudden you're saying access to that
property was an issue when there wasn't
a neighborhood or structures anywhere
around it. So, if I recall, there were
two accesses access points to that.
There was the one access road right
through the neighborhood and it really
bottlenecked on that gravel road that
would I guess you would call the main
access to that. And we went out actually
took some measurements with the tape
measure and the and their fence was
there, their trees were there, and my
understanding it was a 25 was it a 50ft
easement, Alex?
>> I think it was 25, but at the smallest
point there's about 16 ft.
>> It was it was very tight. CC road.
There's another CC road.
>> Well, because the road I looked at that
went to the property, there weren't any
structures around it
>> there.
>> On the plat I looked at when you guys
first contacted me, when I looked at the
property and discussed it with the
planning department, I didn't see any
neighborhoods. I didn't see any houses.
Didn't see anything. That's one of the
reasons why I was excited about that
parcel because there weren't 90
neighbors living around it. [snorts]
>> We love the parcel as well. We did. And
when we came in and met with the realer,
we initially, our first thought was, "Oh
my gosh." and how we came in and brought
it was it was tight. It was tight. And
the gentleman's I the the neighbor's
garage was right there and I and forgive
me not sure which which access point you
access because I know there's on the far
side there was more of a utility type
access on the far side but that that for
us looking at the campground and that
just didn't seem very very viable for us
that option to have that. We wanted to
come in through that one access that
really bottlenecked and appeared to be a
big challenge. I wish I had an I I
forgive me this is disrespectful of me
for not having a map up of that. We had moved on from that property and
is something we were very excited about
and unfortunately it fell through.
>> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions
before you open it up? Thank you, Scott.
Alex, appreciate you.
>> Thank you. [clears throat]
>> All right. Just as a uh just as a
reminder here folks,
um just want to make sure that speakers
that are coming up uh shall direct their
comments to the board as a whole. Uh not
any individual members uh any individual
members of the audience.
They shall refrain from using any uh
criticizing
any individuals or groups using vulgar
language, rude or threatening language.
All persons in attendance shall observe
the board's decorum policy and conduct
themselves in a professional manner and
demonstrate respect for others
and is not disruptive. Applause or
outburst dur during or after speaker's
comments is not appropriate and violates
the board's decorum policy. I'm asking
you all to please please please follow
that. We have folks that are here that
are passionate. And I can tell that
you're passionate. When I look at the
number of emails in my inbox for both
support and opposition, when you total
them together,
a majority of us have have spent uh
three and a half years here, over three
and a half years. When you look at data
centers, every housing project that's
come up, anything that that firearms,
anything that that just brings people to
the table, put them all together. It
still doesn't equal the total number of
emails that we've received both in
opposition and support for this project.
So I beg you, please give people the
respect to speak and feel welcome to
speak at this podium. Please come
forward when you're willing.
» Good even [clears throat] Good evening
members of the board. My name is Mor
Weatherhead. I'm also a paramedic. My
idea of therapy is my 10 acres out in
the country that I bought purposely to
have a quiet place where I could retire.
Our community has now spent eight months
trapped in this manufactured crisis.
They've never had a road.
There is no way to make that private
easement
into a public road. Never in the history
of Powen County has there been a hostile
taking of a private deed easement.
To turn that private easement into a
state road would require the signatures
of everyone holding a deed.
Yeah, the developer owns the underlying
dirt and sections of the road, but the
state requires that the whole road be
dedicated. And owning the underlying
dirt doesn't take away the rights of the
deed easement owners.
That private easement crosses the back
of my property.
That 50-foot buffer on my property
is from 30 years ago.
That same developer who 5 years later
bought that 711 acres, put that on my
plat.
It's not even legal. He didn't own that
road. He couldn't put
a subject to public dedication on a road
that he didn't own. Only those people
living back there could do that. There
is no signature on my platform from the
people living back there because they
didn't sign off on that. That's their
private easement. Yes, he owns a part of
that easement as of 2001. My plat was
written in 1996.
So tell me how the county plans to take
our private property to make a public
road.
Taking that 50-foot buffer would take
both me and the fisher property out of a
egg 10.
I told Egan all of this at the very
beginning that there's no way to make
that road into a state road without all
of us signing off on it. A 30-year-old
plat note isn't even valid. It's
considered vacated. The county has never
taken care of that road. We've paid the
taxes on that property. That is our
property you're talking about taking. So
I think my property rights and my rights
to the therapy of living in my house on
a 10 should certainly supersede an
incoming commercial venture which
they've never had the ability to make
that estate road at any time.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Um Jess Walters and 6075 Captain
Yansancy Road. I'm actually from Elton,
but I'm speaking on behalf of a group.
So, I would ask for all of them to
stand, please.
All right. Mr. Chairman and members of
the board of supervisors, my name is Dr.
Jess Walters, and while I am a current
resident of Rockingham County, I grew up
in Powatan and I am the sole heir to
both 1033 and 1013 Rocky Ford Road in
District 4. Furthermore, I'm
representing each of my family members
who make up the land owners beyond
Skippers Creek Bridge on the CCC road.
First, I would like to thank you all for
the thorough analysis of all
contributing factors in this decision.
Understandably, this is a divisive topic
that is both emotionally charged and
controversial, but each factor does hold
merit. I want to share just a little bit
about some of the people that this will
truly affect. The family-owned parcels
of land accessing this road were
purchased by my grandfather in the 1930s
as one of the founding farmers of this
county. He along with my grandmother and
their six children operated one of the
largest dairy farms in Powatan, playing
a pivotal role in the county's early
days of agriculture. Not only did he aid
in the development of this road, he and
my grandmother wrote the 1985 CCC road
agreement as a formal agreement between
each landowner, even though most were
immediate family. Today, those land
plots make up a large parcel of property
belonging to second, third, and fourth
generations of my family. While my
family members have spent their lives
living on and maintaining the
surrounding land in rural preservation,
social media supporters of the applicant
have stated, "People forget they bought
two acres and want to control 50 more
around them. Everyone moves to and wants
the country life until country life
turns into country life. A bunch of
suburb people move to the rural counties
and then want to stop country folks from
doing country things. Anyone who doesn't
support this place should move. and
you're in a state that is eat up with
mental illness and people that are
totally Supporters have called
my aunts Karens, communists, a-holes,
threatened to mail blast all of the
major insurance carriers to make them
aware of EMS constraints on the bridge
and among others not appropriate to read
for this audience. My personal favorite
stated one was an old busy body cat
lady. Why? For quietly voicing their
opposition and for posting signs on
their own property to prevent
trespassing. Because my family stays
most mostly quiet on social media, I'd
like to reiterate the type of people
that they are. My grandfather was one of
the most wellrespected members of this
county, paying for everything in cash or
an IOU. My mom and aunts are some of the
most hardworking country women I have
ever met. They got up every morning at
3:00 a.m. and milked cows before going
to schools or their jobs. They worked
hard to keep this land for their
children. These women and their
descendants are all hardworking land
owners who were not only founding
farmers of Powatan County, but are those
who continue to commit their land into
the rural preservation of Powatan
through the county's agricultural and
forestal district program. Each of them
has contributed taxes and business to
the county for more than 50 years. My
cousins and I went to Powatan County
Public Schools and their children have
done the same. This family truly
supports the county and has only wanted
to live out their lives and raise their
children and grandchildren on land
passed down through generations. Now,
let's discuss the legality here,
specifically of one of the conditions of
the cup, the condition to build a public
road from the terminus of River Estates
Road to the property while not accessing
the CCC road. Briefly, the 1985 CCC road
agreement written by my grandfather was
signed by all property owners, including
immediate and extended family as well as
non-family, stating the easement shall
run with the land to successors and
assigns of the parties hereto. This eman
this easement agreement was notorized
and filed on record in Powatan County.
Virginia code 55.1-308
states that dedication for public use
may only be obtained with the written
consent of every holder of any
restrictive covenant or easement prior
to making such dedication. According to
this code and Virginia property law, a
single lot owner cannot unilaterally
offer someone else's property rights to
the county. By definition, easement
holders hold a protected fractioned
property interest in the road. Whether
or not the developer owns property on
either side of the road or has a buffer
subject to de public dedication is
irrelevant. There is no access to the
property in question without crossing
the easement affected by this agreement
in at least two places. The potential
buffer including the easement which is
subject public dedication is on the
left. His property on a narrow strip is
on the right and the 711 acres in
question is to the left of the CCC road.
In 2001, an attempt was made to develop
the 711 acre piece of property. Noting
then the need for a public road for
access. Even with the approval of the
internal road network, the planning
commission then recommended deferral of
the request due to the question legality
of the rightway. They gave the applicant
four months to provide time to submit
verification that the rightway was
available to improve the road. No other
continuation or further approval records
are available and there's no public
record of resolution. Given the legal
challenges, the history of the
surrounding properties, and the detailed
analysis provided by both the planning
director and the agricultural and
forestal district committee, I encourage
you all to follow the recommendation of
the planning staff and planning
commission to deny this conditional use
permit. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Uh,
good evening, Bob Kelly, District 2.
Good evening, Chairman Dennady and
Supervisors. I'm here to speak about
throttle therapy's proposed conditional
use permit for the motorsports park. I
am asking that the board follow the
unanimous recommendation of the planning
commission and reject this proposal. I
understand why folks are enthralled by
throttle therapies marketing. We
remember our teenage years spent riding
dirt bikes and ATVs over old dirt roads
and through sand and gravel pits.
Today's different. No trespassing signs
are everywhere and it's tough just to
find a place to ride. Kids need exciting
things to do and throttle therapy
promises that. While that being said,
throttle therapy is a business. Their
goal is not to let make life better for
the people of Powatan. Throttle therapy
exists to generate maximum profits for
their owners. They will bring in
customers from across Virginia and
neighboring states. Kids from Powatan
will not be able to just take their dirt
bikes to Throttle Therapy on a whim and
ride. They will need to make online
reservations weeks in advance. And the
price may be too rich for some of our
neighbors. Folks coming in from Virginia
Beach, Stanton, Smith Mountain Lake, or
Kentucky will bring heavy traffic to
Rocky Ford Road and to River Estates
roads. These streets are narrow and
curvy. They are not built to handle the
volume of traffic that would come to
throttle therapy.
The AFD environmental impact study
include with the board agenda just
shows, excuse me, shows just how
damaging throttle therapies operations
will be. First, the decibel level from
all of those bikes and ATVs running at
the same time will significantly impact
the quality of life and damage property
values in the neighborhoods adjacent to
the park. Second, this will cause
significant damage to local wildlife,
especially to the birds that are
indigenous to the Appamatics Riverbank.
My late friend Pat Aspenwol was an
amateur aven photographer. Her home was
near the property in question and she
would be shocked that this board would
even consider a proposal that would
permanently harm our local environment.
And then finally, what does Powane get
out of this? Throttle Therapy will, by
the nature of their business, require
more emergency services. Are they're
offering to pay for road improvements? I
guess the road up to there they will.
Are they offering to buy a new fire
truck, police vehicles, police
equipment? And finally, just to reflect,
there's nowhere better to watch a sunset
than the parking lot of Graceland
Baptist Church. It's that peaceful
feeling that I never want to lose.
Throttle therapy offers too much
disruption without bringing equivalent
benefits to the people of Palatan.
Therefore, I urge you to reject the cup.
Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Next.
Good evening, honorable chairman, other
distinguished members of the board.
My name is Pete Cy. I live in district 4
on our family farm at 1687 Capeway Road
here in Powatan.
Tonight, I am speaking as a member of
and on behalf of the board of directors
of the Powatan County Farm Bureau. And
at this time, I'd like to read a
prepared statement.
With unanimous consent, the board of
directors of the Palatan County Farm
Bureau respectfully request that you
resend ordinance 0202603
adopted by the Palatan County Board of
Supervisors in January 26th that amends
chapter 83 zoning section 83160
10 section 83 162 conditional uses by
adding number 61 motorsports park as a
use allowable by conditional use permit.
We further note the work on this
ordinance is not yet complete as
evidenced by this staff statement as
follows. And I quote, "Further
supplemental use regulations and
performance standards may be developed
or refined in the future to guide
expectations related to operational
impacts and to ensure compatibility with
surrounding rural properties.
Additionally, we apart from the
president of the Powatan Farm Bureau
request the board of supervisors deny
approval of the current application 2603
cup by Throttle Therapy Appamatics River
LLC for the operation of a motorsports
park off Rocky Ford Road in District 4.
The board of the Palatan County Farm
Bureau hopes you take these two requests
under consideration and thanks you.
Now, if I may make a few comments as a
citizen and a land owner in the county.
A few years ago, we placed our farm in a
perpetual conservation easement to
protect those 250 acres of fields and
forests from ever being developed. Our
commitment to keeping Palatan
agricultural is real. It also formed the
core of the Rocky Ford Agricultural and
Forestal [clears throat] District.
Having said that, I have no personal
aversion to motorcycles. I've owned
four. I even rode one to California and
back when I was in my 20s. I get it.
It's fun. It's thrilling even. I also
think four-wheelers have a place in
agricultural settings. They're
invaluable and checking miles of pasture
fence or transporting harvested deer
home over long distances. I agree.
Riding around outdoors is a great way to
get kids off screens and into something
they can enjoy with their siblings. and
parents. But let's not kid ourselves.
This proposed venture is a commercial
operation owned and managed by
non-county residents. This is not a
casual ride around the property of mom
or dad or your grandparents. And this is
a terrible location for this venture.
The environment, the wildlife, and the
homeowners in the surrounding
neighborhoods just did not sign up for
this. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[clears throat]
Can I limit the applause, please?
April, May, 3571 Pine View Drive. The
one lady hit a lot of what I was going
to say. They did a noise cuz that has
been a big issue with the residents
around and I don't fit in their little
speck bubble, but on my back porch I
could hear the noise. Um the planning
commission they did an acoustical study
and as uh on page 239 of the cup it says
acoustical study did not use lab
calibrated acoustical equipment and were
not intended to establish compliance and
or non-compliance with county's noise
ordinance. Planning director also stated
this was during summer foliage in a
single visit and should not be
interpretive as a predictive of future
conditions under different seasons,
writer volume, or operational
circumstances.
They stated they had 50 to 60 riders
that day. They're looking up to up to
150 riders on their day visits. Um, when
the planning commission asked Throttle
Therapy how they were going to staff
this, uh, neither owner of Throttle
Therapy had any ideas on the staffing of
this business. Um, at the planning
commission meeting when asked the cup on
page 214 states at a minimum there's one
manager on site during business hours.
From his Facebook post, it will be
online memberships and reservations. So,
in my hands, it looks like off-site
management
from while they live in Maryland. They
still in the CPU talks about dry camping
and portaotties. So, does that mean
staffing is going to have to stay
overnight with these dry campers to make
sure nobody's trespassing on other
people's property that surround and how
waste and
water issues are going to be disposed
of? Is there going to be monitoring of
that? The creek that runs underneath the
bridge runs through my property and we
were all on wells. So, what happens when
something a spill happens? Who's going
to clean that up? Are they responsible?
Is the county responsible? Um, I am a
business owner. I'm a hairdresser.
Services in the state are not taxed. You
don't pay sales tax per visit on a
service that you provide. How is the
taxing on this? How's the county going
to make money in order to support all
the stress on EMS and fire? Um,
how's the county planning on making this
a public road? Are we going to
confiscate private citizens property? I
don't believe that that's how we run
this country. Um,
and the cup is only for 5 years. I know
the land owner has tried to develop this
in the past for neighborhoods and that's
been posted multiple times, but you have
one access in, one access out, and it's
private roads. And unless you confiscate
somebody's personal property to do that,
I don't see how this is a viable
business.
>> Thank you.
» Hey guys. Um, Sheenar Connor is I'm from
voting district 63. Actually, I I drove
down from Stafford just to come to this
meeting. So, because obviously I brought
the stuff, if you could pretend this is
a motorcycle helmet, but pretend it's an
ATV helmet cuz I was my family was
riding ATVs up in actually Maryland this
past weekend at my wife's parents house.
Anyway, and look, some people made some
really good arguments. I go to a lot of
these board meetings up in Stafford. You
guys should all be glad. Um Stafford,
Spennsylvania, they're crazy. It's like
Jerry Springer board meetings. So, be
glad that it's not like that here, okay?
It's you guys are cool. Um, but I mean,
they got like pride parades with drag
queens twerking on kids for money. Like,
it's it's nuts, okay? It's crazy. So,
I'd love to come down here and I don't
know how you going to work this out.
Like, the road thing, that's a big deal.
Like, you know, obviously you don't
steal people's private property. That'd
be stupid. But, so I'm really all about
freedom. Um, you might have maybe you
guys have heard my name Shamgar Connor
since it's a one in the world. Shamgar
is a Bible name. Anyway, I got kicked
off the kidney transplant list at UVA
because I didn't get the COVID vaccine.
And then after that, I got like stalked
by all these like crazy lunatics that
were like I'm they they said I should
die and my kids should die, my wife
should die, and then like it was nuts.
Crazy, right? But so I'm all about
freedom. I just want people to have
freedom to do what they want. And I
think if you guys could work it out,
this would be awesome. I mean, I'd love
to come down here all the time. I mean,
I drove it down took me an hour and a
half just to get here today just to talk
about this, but I mean, [clears throat]
we've been doing this kind of stuff our
whole lives. I'll tell you a cool story.
Um, we had um like you know those Power
Wheels things. So, I modified my kids my
son's Power Wheels when he was was 3
years old and I put two giant lawnmower
batteries in it and crosswired it so it
was 24 volts. So, there he is. He's like
3 years old
like hold on and I'm running after him
full speed. I can't catch him. And he's
riding all around the yard. We got three
acres of land. And it was awesome,
right? And I'm I'm screaming. Hey, get
back here. Don't worry. Ah, these, you
know, but and this was his helmet. Look
at this. I mean, that's pretty cool,
right? Look at that. Mohawk riding
around like crazy having fun. Like those
are the kind of memories that you love
to make. I really think if you guys
could work something out where you guys
get this going, like you guys could have
a lot. You could build your whole town
like around this in a positive way. You
know, we I was up at Stafford and then
they didn't want Bies built there and I wore a BES costume and I went
there and I did a taste test on the
microphone at the board meeting. I
started eating. I'm like, "Oh, it's
yummy." Right? And then they approved the thing. It was pretty
funny, right? I mean, but the point was
it was just to say, "Yeah, I think it's
cool. If you guys can work things out to
bring a business, they eventually
obviously you're going to make money.
You bring people here. I know. I guess
there's no lodging. I don't even know
that. That's crazy. But I mean, maybe
they'll build some. You never know,
right? So, I think it's awesome. So,
look, let me put on this helmet to for
like for purpose of the video. Look. All
right. Ready? There. I'm ready. Ready.
Okay. Start your engines. Wait. Let's go
get some throttle therapy.
There we go.
>> Thank you. Boom. Boom.
Good evening. My name is Monica Gallier
and I live at 920 Rocky Ford Road, right
up the road from River Estates, right up
the road from Orthod Throttle Therapy.
Hopefully will be. I support it first
and foremost. I want that to be known.
Sorry I didn't have time to dress up or
change. My husband and I drove in from
West Virginia today where we went to
drive our side by side.
A lot of people out here, a lot of
people online, a lot of people
everywhere talking about how this
impacts the animals,
the wildlife.
While we were driving
in West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky
this past weekend, we saw wild horses
who would run up to our side by sides,
follow us,
so we would stop,
licking my machine, sticking their heads
in the my machine, wanting to come with
us in our machine.
Not afraid of them. They heard us
coming. They wanted to see us. We wanted
to see them, too, because it was fun.
So, saying that the wild animals will be
affected
is not 100% true.
My husband and I bought our property in
1998.
We built our home with our own hands. We
own both of the both sides of the
property of Grace Church on Rocky Ford
Road and behind it.
I support it. I live on Rocky Ford Road.
I have shown my support by speaking
about this. I have shown my support by
showing up to the community meetings,
the planning commission meetings,
posting signs on my property supporting
this. Soon as I put the signs up on my
property, someone called Palatan
Historical Society, Grace Church is
owned by the Palatan Historical Society.
Someone said those signs were on Grace
property. They were in front of the
church.
They weren't. That was a lie.
Those signs were on my property.
There have been
horrible things said by people on both
sides.
People who are opposed of this,
they try to put themselves in the high
ground. They've said some awful things
online also.
They've said hurtful, threatening, mean,
degrading, bullying things. Both sides
have. And that's not right.
But no one from the supporting side that
I know of, and I've talked to people,
have trespassed on someone's private
property and stole the signs.
I have more, but I don't have time.
>> Thank you.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of
the board.
Let's get to my notes here.
Want to thank you for your time and
service to our county. I'm Luke Huddle,
District 2. This application has become
one of the most discussed issues here in
Powatan.
And while there's disagreement, there's
also real common ground.
What I've repeatedly what I've heard
repeatedly is that many people,
including some who oppose the location,
actually support the idea of a
motorsports park here in the county. If
we could take a simple show of hands
tonight, I believe you'd see how many of
us on both sides truly support the idea
in this county in the right location.
County staff has worked closely with the
applicant to create a thorough set of
conditions that protect public health,
safety, and welfare. staff has noted the
applicant's willingness to collaborate
and adjust. I can personally confirm
that. I've worked directly with the
applicant to address my own concerns and
concerns raised by others. If you
approve this application, I'm confident
that the applicant will continue working
with neighbors, outside agencies in the
county to ensure this park operates
responsibly under the conditions set.
Because most opposition centers on
location, I've looked for alternate
large parcels across Powatan.
I did not find one more balanced than
this property. It was recently logged,
meaning the ecosystem has already been
disturbed.
And a supervised maintained park could
actually help stabilize it as it
regrows. There are about 16 homes within
a onem radius of the activity area. For
comparison, there was a motocross track
that operated here in the late 90s and
2000s.
That's where I grew up riding. It had
more than 220 homes in the same radius.
With similar hours and a far higher bike
per acre density,
this property is large enough to spread
riders out, reducing density and
lowering the impact on the neighbors. In
recent months, you've approved a senior
care facility, zoning for a data center,
a highdensity multi-use development, and
you're considering a possible tax
increase coming up.
You've taken steps to support revenue
growth in our aging population which
matters. But that population resents,
excuse me, represents less than half of
Palatan. Tonight is an opportunity to do
something meaningful for the younger
generation,
something not driven by revenue,
something the broader community and our
guests can actually enjoy.
And this proposal goes beyond
motorsports. The applicant plans hiking
and biking trails to meet the
comprehensive plan's goal of providing
public access to the Appamatic River as
well. I believe they will continue
expanding low impact outdoor recreation
that appeals to families, young people,
and everyday residents who simply want
more ways to enjoy the outdoors. You
have a real opportunity in front of you.
The applicant is willing to work with
us. We simply need to be willing to work
with them. I respectfully urge you to
vote yes on this application. Thank you
for your time.
>> Thank you.
Good evening board. My name is Matt
Stevens, 311 Timber Trace Court,
Powatan.
I'm here to say that I fully support the
recommendation to deny the CUP
application for the reasons that have
already been stated. Thank you very
much.
>> Thank you.
» Hello, my name is Carl Schwenderman. Um,
I think Powatan County should use this
be this uh resoning to um ask that they
extend the pros bicycle trail along. You
know the the flood how you have the
flood plane along the Appamax River
that's 2 and a half miles long and then
you have the the main land. Could Powan
County ask them to extend the proposed
bike trail along the edge of the flood
plane along the Appamatics River for 2
and a half miles? Because Powan County
would Poutan County should use this as a
chance to have a 2 and a half mile long
bike trail and side and a pedestrian
trail along the edge of the Appamatics
and then they could extend it to the
Fighting Creek Park trail system. So I
think that Powen County should use this
chance to uh get a profer to ask for an
ease like a a small easement like 8 foot
wide easement or a a 20 foot wide
easement along the edge of the
Appamatics River flood plane for a trail
to go from a Millor road to um the to
[clears throat] um
Rocky Ford Road because next to Rocky
Ford Road at the Appamatics River
crossing there's 100 acres owned by
Chesterfield County. So, this would be a
great way to get a beautiful o to open
up the Appamatics River by asking for a
section of the Fighting Creek Park trail
system along the edge of the Appmax
River.
Thank you.
» Hi, my name is Donald May. at 3571 Pine
View Drive about a mile and a half as
the crow flies from Throttle Therapy's
proposed site. That dude, that other
dude was awesome. That's all I got to
say. My god, he was funny. I've lived on
my 10 acres for over 15 years and I feel
content and hopefully a little solid as
a solid member of the community. That
being said, pales in comparison with the
family, farmers, and residents that have
lived in this area for generations. They
had children born, families grow, and
family members die in these homesteads.
All the while being great stewards of
this land that surrounds them. Listen to
these folks who have lived there. They
all want what's good for the community.
Throttle Therapy Group lives, this is
honest, they live in Annapolis,
Maryland. And I would argue that the
endeavor they are pursuing would need
daily attention and management from the
owners. It's not a side job you can
manage via FaceTime or Skype. I don't
way back. Throttle Therapy Group has
never opened or I suspect worked at a
solely motor park facility. They've
gained their knowledge by owning an
Airbnb in Lake Anna. I'm not dogging it.
I'm just saying that's what they did. Oh
yeah. But they did have a b a dirt bike
path there if you were staying.
Their knowledge is pur purely anecdotal.
The info that they get acquire that they
acquire is not by experience but by
asking questions to folks that own
motorpark establishments or they have
owned in the past. So they're asking
these people questions and that's how
they acquire their knowledge and we get
to be their guinea pig. Nah. What people
are saying at this meeting that are
against the proposal like noise
pollution, air pollution, water
pollution, street issues are all
relevant. Please hear what they are
saying. Please take a drive the proposed
area. Please honestly visualize how this
will work. What will all the added
trucks, trailers, and cars do to these
existing roads like Rocky Ford? And that
should not be tested.
I can tell you um um throttle therapy
has pleaded and delayed this vote long
enough. So, let's move on. Lastly, I
find it interesting the majority of the
pro park folks live in other counties or
own businesses that m the majority that
own business that would make money on
this park. I listen to the owners of
Throttle Therapy. They don't answer how
this will negatively affect our property
values, which it will. They don't have
answers for sales volume or staffing.
I am glad writing has been therapeutic
for you. I'm more than grateful for your
service. My daughter's in boot camp
right now, so I feel it. To the question
of what kids can do in the county. I
will tell you this, we are building a
10,000 square foot wrestling facility at
Blackhawk Gym right now.
Thank you.
» Terry Terry Adcock, 5719 Cartersville
Road, District 5. And I'm here to
introduce the um speaker for the
Agricultural Forestal District Advisory
Committee's report this evening. He's a
Powatan County resident and a member of
our AFD advisory commission. And Dr. Dr.
James Riley is a research biologist at
Rutgers University and I'm really glad
that we've got somebody this well
knowledgeable and that can help us on
our AFD committee to help protect the
wildlife of Powatan County.
» Hi there. Um, so if we could uh uh the
point here, I'm going to go ahead and
summarize the AFTD report and um
then give you guys a chance to have
questions if you want to. Um, if you if
you could uh show or turn to page
uh 283 in the um packet.
Uh that's so I'm just going to go
through the figures here. So this is a
map of the proposed site as it was
originally presented. Um it's a there
have been a few minor changes to it but
um this is just to show um you know
there's basically two main concerns from
the perspective of the of the um AFD
relating to um how this will impact the
environmental um concern. So um it's the
direct destruction of sensitive habitats
along the Appatics River um due to
building a dense network of trails in
there and uh also from the noise given
the uh large scale of this project the
noise you know is probably going to be
considerable. So what we did was we
designed a computer simulation to um
basically simulate
placing down a whole bunch of dirt bikes
in this area and then calculating the
noise values that would propagate out
from that. Um so if you'll turn to uh
the next figure in that report
uh on page 284
um that shows the um results of the
noise simulation. Um so what we did was
we um assumed a noise value. It's a
mid-range noise value for a riding um
dirt bike. And that's all those little
um yellow dots on the graph there are um
the random placement of the simulated uh
dirt bikes on that um the different
areas that were indicated in their
proposal.
And um we assigned a decibel value of 96
dB to each of those dirt bikes which is
a sort of a conservative mid-range value
for them.
And what we've um what you can see there
is that the the noise
dissipates um out from those sources. Um
you know they sort of merge together and
add in in a mathematical way. And then
so when if you look on the on the
diagram the orange areas are the highest
noise and as it gets out toward purple
that's the lowest. Um and we uh plotted
on this figure um a contour yellow
contour at 45 dB
um which is a value that um in the
literature
uh is very important for wildlife
especially birds. Um, you know, we're
focusing on birds here because they're
very uh sensitive group of animals to
noise, you know, being uh that they they
communicate by singing and um even you
know small amounts of noise increase can
be detrimental to them. And the uh the
literature shows that 45 dB is about the
level uh where they become affected. And
um at that level they have um reduced
success with raising their nestlings.
they have um you know if you do surveys
you'll find that birds um occur in fewer
numbers and they also are fewer species
of birds in areas where they have that
um you know often these studies are
based on traffic noise. Um so that's uh
that's just showing and we have here in
this figure a version that has 100 dirt
bikes um on the left and 200 on the
right. Um you can see how how far that band extends out there.
Uh okay. So we could turn to the the
next uh figure. Um this is basically
overlaying those noise contours on
um the Powen County um priority
conservation area in purple along the
Appamatics River there. Um and the um
Appamatics AFD in outlined in green in
the north.
And uh you can see that the the 45
decibel band encompasses the whole width
of that corridor along the Appetics
River there. Um which will definitely
decrease its ability to act as a
wildlife corridor. Um and then if we
look down at the uh the bottom two
panels, this is the same but for the
state of Virginia's wildlife diversity
corridor um that's made by the DCR.
And you can see that uh they recognized
this particular area as a very sensitive
important area for um environmental
protection and um animal movement
through through central Virginia. And
this noise band does also basically
envelop their whole corridor. Um so
uh
that's and that's the gist of it. So, if
there's any questions about how we did
that or what it means.
>> No, I apprec I appreciate the
information. It's not a Q&A though,
unfortunately.
>> Okay, great.
>> Thank you.
» Cindy Booten, 4343 Bridge Road. This is
district three. I have a friend whose
property is
close to this and she's spent years
and a lot of money of her own and also
grants from government agencies
in reing,
getting rid of invasive species,
planting our native species, basically
reing over 300 acres. was very close to
this.
I think you will kill her if you approve
this. I think she will die because she
has poured her life into it.
Next point is the businessmen who have
proposed this ark talk about it as if
it's a church camp and we're going on a
church camp picnic.
I'm sorry. You saw the gentleman who
came in with his motorcycle
uh outfit and helmet. [clears throat]
How would you like 125 of those
characters next door to you
riding and revving up their motorcycles?
And are you kidding? Who wants to go on
a walking path with 125 people on dirt
bikes? I mean, I'm glad that they get
their therapy from that, but I look at
it, this is more entertainment.
And we're talking about one group's
right to have the entertainment they
prefer
and then the land owners and the people
adjacent to this, the wildlife. We're
talking about the very quality of their
life. with the wildlife and the bird
thing we just heard. We're talking about
nesting grounds, flyways,
things that affect the population.
Okay, it's two different things on a
scale. It doesn't weigh out. These are
people from another
um state coming in here to put in their
little park, their little play park. Um,
as a Palatan resident, I told you I live
about 2 thou 2,000 yard of feet from two
dirt bikes.
My right to have peace and quiet. And
I'll say, I'm a nurse practitioner. I
worked in the ER. Talk about
post-traumatic stress. From what you've
seen,
I need quiet. So do these people who
have lived on this land for generations.
There's no comparison. Tell them to go
somewhere else. I also
come from an area where they put this in
and it's a mess. My sister lives in one.
It's a mess. They go riding across the
highway in front of cars. It's
dangerous.
>> Thank you.
Good evening. Debbie Madison, 964 Rocky
Ford Road, District 2. I fully support
the planning commission's vote to deny
the applicants conditional use permit
2603 cup. Now, let's look look closely
at the access management and safety
statistics for Rocky Ford Road. From
January 2025 to June 2026, there were
262 calls to 911 on this road. 44% of
those calls were priority 1 and priority
two emergencies. What is alarming is
that 47% of those priority emergencies
occurred during the exact days and hours
the applicant wants to operate.
Furthermore, DMV Treads data shows 36%
of all incidents on Rocky Ford Road over
the last 5 years resulted in injury and
53% of all incidents were speed related.
The applicant's revised conditional use
permit calls for a traffic increase by
up to 125 vehicles per day on weekends
and federal holidays. That's a 12.5%
spike in traffic volume. Any 911 call
volume increase over 1% will negatively
impact emergency response, will increase
the demands on county services, and will
unpleasantly impact local residents days
of rest, recovery, and personal time. It
is clear the surrounding infrastructure
simply cannot handle any increase in
vehicle traffic not designed for
residential use. VOTE itself noted that
the local residential roads are not
designed for trailers, campers or other
vehicles serving in a commercial
recreational use. Moreover, there were
no safe turn lanes outlined in the
applicant's permit for Gento Rocky Ford
River Estates or Old Buckingham Roads.
Without safe turn lanes, incidents will
rise. Genito Road has ranked in the top
two or three cluster for high crash
locations for the past five years per
DMV Virginia highway safety. VOTE also
noted that the intersection of River
Estates and Rocky Ford Road may require
widening and major structural changes to
accommodate larger turning area areas
for vehicles with trailers. The top two
rural high-risk categories for our
district for the past two years include
both roadway departure and
intersections, which are common on rural
roads. Yet, the applicant completely
omitted an access management plan for
this intersection in its submission.
These unknown infrastructure changes and
geometric modifications threaten our
private property rights. County
Ordinance 0202602
requires a 10acre minimum for A10 lots.
Widening these roads could cut into
existing properties, including my
property, pushing private property
owners below the legal 10 acre limit.
While land can be taken for public
infrastructure improvements, private
land cannot be taken to benefit a
private commercial recreational
business. This conditional use permit
request has already caused an
unreasonable absorption of time and
taxpayer dollars on meetings, outreach,
foyer request, etc. It's time to say
when. I urge you to protect the
residents, uphold the unanimous vote,
and deny this conditional use permit.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Good evening. My name is Gail Nunnelly.
I live at 310 Skippers Ridge in Powatan.
I've been in this county for 30 years. I
am here to say that I fully support the
recommendation to deny case 2603
cup throttle therapy. My reason is my
daughter and I own the house at 961
Rocky Ford Road. This is the first house
on River Estates Road. When you turn on
River Estates, there she is. On
Saturday, June 20th, 2026, I was sitting
on the porch at my daughter's house when
multiple vehicles began showing up with
ATVs, motorcycles, and other off-road
vehicles. Knowing that the cup had not
been voted on at that time, we were
confused as to why they were there. I
called a few neighbors and they were not
aware of anything going on at the
location, but had also seen the traffic
coming in.
Many neighbors called the sheriff's
office to come and investigate. The
applicant did not have the courtesy to
let the neighbors know what was going
on.
We later learned the applicants had
invited people to come in and help with
a sound test.
My main concern is the traffic in front
of my daughter's house every Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, and holiday. How would
you like to wake up to the possibility
of a line of vehicles in front of your
house waiting for the park to open? How
would you like to sit on your front
porch and watch anywhere from 30 to 125
vehicles drive in and out every weekend
and holiday? Her children will no longer
be able to go outside alone due to
stranger danger. This would turn a quiet
country lane into an overrun busy throw
affair every weekend and holiday. We
have already posted no trespassing signs
to hopefully keep people off of her
property. If this cup is passed, we will
be forced to install a privacy fence in
front of her home. The driveway will
also be roped off to keep vehicles from
using it as a turnaround. Thank you for
your service to Powaton County.
>> Thank you.
» Good evening. My name is Samantha Piper,
4301 Old Buckingham Road. I would like
to speak on the environmental impact of
Throttle Therapy's proposed business, as
I believe that impact was minimized to a
large extent in both the presentations
for the park and in the planning staff
report. The site lies within the upper
Appamatics River corridor directly
across from the Amelia Wildlife
Management Area and includes mature
forests, wetlands, and streams that
support diverse wildlife, including
migratory birds. As previously
mentioned, while a physical trail may
take up little space itself,
environmental disturbance involves
broader surrounding areas in the natural
landscape. This business would impact
not just this propert, but all of the
previously mentioned surrounding
properties in addition to all of the
homeowners. Ample research has
demonstrated a clear negative impact
from off-road vehicle trail use on
entire ecological systems. Wildlife is
harmed and displaced. Vegetation is
damaged or altered. And the land itself
is irreparably degraded. Many studies
have found profound impacts on
vegetation. Effects include vegetation
loss, reduced height, greatly reduced
cover, and increased injury to
vegetation itself. These effects can
facilitate the spread of invasive
species such as kudzu, which can easily
and aggressively take root in freshly
disted ground. I don't know if you know
how hard kudzu is to deal with, but it's
a nightmare. Besides wildlife and
vegetation, the actual land itself is
negatively impacted. Off-road vehicle
activity leads to soil compaction, soil
penetration resistance, and altered soil
chemistry. Physical alterations to the
soil structure occur, resulting in
erosion, and changes to hydrarology.
Runoff said sediments into streams,
degrading water quality, and damaging
habitat critical for fish spawning and
freshwater muscles. These impacts have
been shown to occur even when no new
trails are constructed and even under
sporadic use. Recently, a motorsports
park in Pennsylvania County was shut
down partially due to the considerable
effect they were having on the soil. It
is also significant that Powatin's
comprehensive plan designates all of the
property as priority conservation area
or otherwise protected land. The county
already knows this land is particularly
vulnerable and worth protecting. This
significant environmental impact clearly
conflicts with the intent of priority
conservation area designation. The plan
also notes that property zoned A10
within these areas should not be
reszoned to a higher intensity zoning
classification. It seems clear that a
motorsports park inviting hundreds of
riders a day, as stated in their cup,
would absolutely lead to higher
intensity use than what is intended. In
my opinion, granting this use in this
location would lead to profound
irreversible negative impact on the
local environment and essentially amount
to approving a loophole circumventing
the intent of a zone zoning. A10 zoning
powatin's rural character and natural
resources are among its most valuable
assets, and once lost, they are
impossible to restore. I respectfully
ask you to consider the long-term
environmental impacts and the
incompatibility of this intensive
commercial use within this sensitive
environmental setting and vote to deny
recommendation. Thank you for your time
and for your service to Powatin County.
>> Thank you.
» Good evening, chair, members, and the
board. My name is Eric Burr and I reside
at 12554 Gento Road in Ameilia
Courthouse, Virginia. My home is located
approximately 150 ft from a proposed
trail.
Um, the property lies I'm not here to
discuss my concerns. I'm here to talk
about the ones that don't have a voice,
and that's the wildlife. This property
lies within the Appamatics River
Preservation Corridor and migration
for a wide variety of species. This is a
thriving ecosystem.
One species of particular concern is the
northern long-eared bat, which is
federally listed as endangered. Under
the Endangered Species Act, the
Appamatics River Corridor is a known
habitat for these bats and they depend
on roosting, breeding, and raising their
young. The US Fish and Wildlife Service
and the Virginia Department of Wildlife
Resources recognize the protection of
maternity colonies and roost habitat as
a critical conservation priority. The
Northern Long Ear bat relies on quiet,
undisturbed horse habitat to roost,
forage, and successfully rear its young.
Disturbance during the maternity season,
generally from midmay through August,
can interfere with breeding and pup
rearing activities and raises serious
concerns under the Endangered Species
Act when habitat supporting endangered
bats is adversely affected. The
Endangered Species Act prohibits the
unauthorized disturbance of all
endangered species such as the northern
long-eared bat. Migatory Bird Treaty Act
prevents protects na native migatory
birds, their nest, and their eggs. The
bald eagle bald and golden eagle
protection act prohibits disturbing bald
or golden eagles in ways that interfere
with breeding, feeding, sheltering,
productivity or cause nest abandonment.
The Clean Water Act prevents protects
wetlands, streams, and waters connected
to the Appamatics River. This is not
simply a land use decision. It's a
decision about whether we protect a
critical wildlife corridor or place it
at risk. We can build recreation
facilities elsewhere. We cannot recreate
an endangered bat's habitat. We cannot
replace wetlands once they are damaged.
And we cannot restore wildlife corridor
once its ecological
function is lost. The Endangered Species
Act, the Matory Treaty Act, Matory Bird
Treaty Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle
Protection Act, and the Clean Water Act
exist because we have learned that once
critical habitat is lost, the species
that depend on it often disappear as
well. Violations can result in
substantial fines, criminal penalties,
imprisonment, or both. Future
generations will never ask why we
protect an endangered species, clean
water, and wildlife habitat, but they
will ask why we failed to protect them
when we had the chance. For the northern
long-ear bat, migatory birds, bald
eagles, hawks, the Appamax River, its
wetlands, and the natural heritage of
both Palatan and Ameilia counties, I
respectfully ask you to vote no and deny
this application. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
Good evening, chairman and members of
the board. My name is Katherine
Freedomire and I am from district 1. I'm
here tonight asking that you deny the
conditional use permit for proposed
thyrotheral therapy motor sports and
campground. I want to be clear that I am
not opposed to motor motor sports or
responsible development in Palan. My
concern is whether this isn't the right
use for this specific location.
This proposal is approximately 711 acres
of motorsports and campground RV use if
that is allowed to be done in the
future.
Assessed from the end of RIP access from
the end of River Estates Road about 3/4
of a mile from Rocky Ford Road. The
county's comprehensive plan designates
this area as rural areas and natural
conservation. That designation matters
because the impacts of the property of
this scale do not stop the at the
property lines. Every vehicle, trailer,
RV, employee, and visitor must travel
our rural road network to reach the
site. These roads were not designed for
this level of traffic or intensity. This
is not just inconvenience. It's a matter
of public safety. Increased traffic from
high volume recreational use increases
the risk of serious accidents. And when
incidents occur, who must we must ask
who responds?
Pouty and Fire and Rescue already serves
a growing county with limited resources,
handling more than 9,000 emergency 911
calls and over 60,000 total calls
annually. According to last report, our
emergency personnel cannot be everywhere
at once and they must still travel these
same rural roads to reach this site. In
an emergency, minutes matter. We must
also consider the surrounding community.
This area includes established farms and
a strong ecoin community. Horses depend
on a calm and predictable environment.
Motorsports activity induces constant
engine noise, sudden acceleration, and
increased traffic. A frightened horse is
not a minor issue. It can result in
injury to the animal, the rider, or
those handling it on the ground. That is
a real and legitimate safety concern.
I've been a horsewoman for over 40
years. I have been injured multiple
times, had falls at shows in Palatan
County, broken bones, and at that time
rescue was not available due to being
called out for another accident
somewhere else. A frightened horse is
not I'm sorry, we must also produce
protect our water and environment. This
property lies within anatics river
wershed, includes environmentally
sensitive areas. Any approval must
ensure strong enforceable protections
for wetlands, storm water, erosion,
runoff, and groundwater before
development occurs, not after the sorry
after impacts are realized. Finally, I
want to address the county zone process.
When motorsport parts was considered in
the zoning ordinance, the paneling
commission voted against the amendment,
noting the need for stronger standards.
The board instead chose a conditional
use permit process so conditions could
be applied to individual projects. But
conditions cannot fix fundamental
incompatibilities. If the roads cannot
safely handle the traffic, the emergency
access is insufficient and other reasons
behind at any case they will need to do
the same conclusion and please do not
approve the cup.
>> Thank you.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman and members
of the board. My name is Matt Escobar,
975 Rocky Ford Road, and I'm asking you
to deny the condition conditional use
proposed for Throttle Therapy
Motorsports Park. I want to make
something clear at the offset. This is
not a debate whether motorsports are
good or bad. People should have places
to enjoy these activities. The question
before you was much narrower. Is this
the right for this particular property
in Palatan County? I believe the answer
is no. And I am not alone in reaching
that conclusion. After reviewing this
proposal and hearing from the public,
the Palotan Planning Commission voted 50
to recommend denial. That unanimous vote
deserves significant weight. Five
commissioners considered this proposal
and not one voted for approval. I won't
spend my limited time repeating
everything the planning commission
discussed, but the concerns they
identified, including traffic, public
safety, demands on resources, ingress
and egress, noise, pollution, and impact
of the neighboring properties have not
been resolved. I would also like to
address some of the arguments being made
in support of this project. We have
heard suggestions that there that the
alternative to this proposal could be a
data center or a housing development.
There are no such proposals before you
tonight. We've also heard that this
project is needed to pro provide trails
and access to nature. But directly
across from the river more than 2200 acres of public land in the Amelia
Wildlife Management Area. Those
arguments should not distract you from
the question before you. Is a commercial
motorsports park an appropriate use for
this property? Property rights matter,
but so do the property rights of the
people who actually live nearby, own
land, and operate businesses. A
landowner's right to use private
property should not automatically
outweigh the effects that an intensive
commercial use may have on the
surrounding property owners and
characters of the comm character of the
community. Throttle therapy may be a
worthwhile concept somewhere, but that
does not mean this is the right place
for it. The planning commission has done
its job. It's reviewed the proposal,
considered its impacts, and unanimously
recommended denial. Now, the decision is
yours. I respectfully ask that the board
follow that recommendation. Protect the
residents, businesses that are already
there, protect POW's rural character,
and deny this conditional use permit.
Thank you for your time and your service
to Powan County.
>> Thank you.
» Good evening, and thank you for your
time. My name is Melissa Christian at
1950 Pine Creek Ridge Terrace. I live on
District 2. Um, so I do want to be
clear. I am not opposed to motorsports.
We have our Harleyies, we have our
Jeeps, and we love outdoor adventuring.
However, we do not think this is the
right location for this particular
activity. I've repeatedly heard that
there is nothing out to do in Powatan
for families, and that's just simply not
true. We have a beautiful state park. We
have the James River where there's
hiking, biking trails, kaying, fishing,
boating, horseback riding, hunting, and
many other ways to enjoy the outdoors.
And motorsports are not prohibited here.
People with sufficient acreage can ride
on their own property. The question is
whether a commercial motorsports park
belongs on this particular 718 acres of
land that are surrounded by residents,
farms, and businesses that depend upon
the rural character and relative peace
of this area while also raising
legitimate concerns about wildlife,
waterways, noise, dust, and increased
traffic. I've also heard, would you
rather have houses or a data center? And
that's just a false choice. There's no
data center proposal before you tonight.
And housing and a powersports park are
not equivalent. Housing is a basic human
need. A powersports park is recreation.
You cannot have a growing population
while insisting housing never grow with
it. Taken to its logical conclusion, if
we truly want no additional homes in
Powatan, we'd also have to stop having
children.
So obviously that is not uh realistic
nor desirable. Housing growth should be
managed responsibly, but a family's need
for a home is fundamentally different
from someone's desire to have their
recreational hobby closer to home. And
that brings me to the riders themselves.
The people participating in this sport
bought their bikes, trailers, and
equipment before the idea of this of the
park ever existed. They chose this hobby
already knowing that participating might
require owning enough land to ride or
traveling to an appropriate riding
facility. The riders chose their hobby
knowing its requirements. The neighbors
chose their homes knowing the existing
character of the area. The neighbors
aren't asking riders to change their way
of life. The proposal is asking the
neighbors to change theirs. I understand
that driving an hour to ride is
inconvenient, but your convenience
should not come at your neighbor's
permanent burden. And equally important,
you don't get to divi define what is or
isn't burden for somebody else. If you
won't be living beside the noise,
breathing the dust, dealing with the
additional traffic, or experiencing
changes to the peace and character of
your property, you cannot tell people
what their that their concerns are not
significant. Power 10's rural character
isn't simply the absence of houses. It's
our farms, horses, wildlife, waterways,
open spaces, neighbors, and peace and
quiet. Not I'm not asking you to reject
motorsports in Powan. I'm just asking
you to reject this location. Thank you
for your time.
>> Thank you.
» Good evening, Mr. Chairman. Um my name
is Wanda Escobar, 975 Rocky Ford Road.
For almost 35 years, I have operated
Saddlebrook Stables. I am asking you to
deny the conditional use permit for
throttle therapy. For me, it isn't an
abstract discussion about land use. This
is my home, my farm, my livelihood, and
something I have spent nearly 35 years
building. My property would be one of
the largest tracks directly affected by
this proposed motor sports park. Anyone
who has spent time around horses that ex
understands that they can be extremely
sensitive to sudden unfamiliar sights,
sounds, a frightening horse is a danger
to everyone around. That's why placing a
motorsports parked next to an
established horse farm concerns me so
deeply. For decades, I have invested my
time and money into creating a safe
environment to keep, ride, and care for
horses and to teach other um young
children and adults how to ride their
horses. The repeated sound of
motorcycles and ATVs accelerating and
operating nearby would introduce
something completely different from the
normal sounds of rural agricultural
life. I've heard a great deal about what
can be done to make this new business
work. I want to ask you to consider the
business that's already there. Me, I did
not move next to a motorsports park.
They are asking permission to move next
to my farm. I have operated legally and
responsibly on this property for nearly
35 years. I should not have to change my
operation, accept new safety risk, or
potentially close my farm because the
county approves an incompatible
commercial use next door. Agriculture
isn't something we just talk about
preserving in Powatan. These are real
people operating real farms who depend
upon the rural character of this county.
The supporters say they need a place to
ride. Well, so do I. I ride and I need a
place to ride on my property and so do
the hundreds of folks who have come
through my property. My therapy is the
horses.
I respectfully ask you to deny this
conditional use permit and allow me to
continue doing what I have done here for
almost 35 years.
>> Thank you.
» My name is John Schlicking. District 4.
Um,
I spoke at the planning commission
meeting regarding the potential impact
this proposed motor park could have on
the property values of the surrounding
homes. At that meeting, I explained that
my concern was not hypothetical.
My home is currently for sale and
prospective buyers who viewed the
property specifically raised the
proposed motor park as a concern and a
reason they were not interested in
pursuing the purchase. Since that
meeting, the situation has become even
more concrete. We have now had another
prospective buyer cancel a scheduled
showing because the proposed motor park.
I think that it is important for the
board to consider. We don't have to
speculate about whether the possibility
of a motocross facility can affect
nearby homeowners. We are already seeing
an effect before the facility has even
been approved. And the financial impact
does not stop with individual
homeowners. If surrounding property
values decline, those decreases will
eventually be reflected in property
assessments. Lower assessments mean
lower real estate tax revenue to Powatan
County. So, when considering the
economic benefit this product project
may bring to the county, I believe the
board should also consider the potential
economic loss created by declining home
values and of the existing tax base
surrounding it. My family and other
homeowners in this area made significant
investments in our properties based on
the existing character and use of this
community. We should not have to absorb
a reduction in the marketability or the
value of our homes so that the private
commercial venture that this private
commercial venture can operate in a
location that may simply be incompatible
with the surrounding residential
properties. The planning commission
voted unanimously 5 to zero to recommend
denial of this cup. I respectfully ask
the board to consider not only the
noise, traffic, environmental, and other
concerns that have been raised tonight,
but also the very real financial
consequences for the families who
already live here and ultimately for
Powatam County itself. Please protect
the investments existing Powatam
homeowners have made in this community
and deny this cup. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Hello, I'm Danielle Stevens. I'm at 3116
Timber Trace um Court District 2. Um I
wasn't planning to speak today um as
I've already written those letters that
you've already received. I don't like
speaking in public. I get very very
nervous but I wanted to stand up today
to speak to you. Before I get into my
personal reasons for standing up, I
wanted to say that I agree with that
what others have already stated about
environmental impacts, infrastructure
and public safety, noise and property
values. I wanted to also speak about the
noise. I'm one of those people um that
those gentlemen um at Thought of Therapy
have talked about. I grew up with a mom
that had schizophrenia, bipolar, and
multiple personality disorder. My
husband and I moved to Powatan for the
peace. I didn't grow up in a safe um
household. My home in Powatan is the
first time I've ever felt safe. Um it is
a sanctuary for me where I enjoy most
weekends um sitting on my front porch
listening to the quiet of the wildlife.
This is my therapy. Um, we could clearly
hear them on Sunday, May 17th, and
Saturday, June 20th. So, please don't
take away my sanctuary, my therapy.
Please deny the coat. Thank you for your
time.
>> Thank you,
» Heather Escobar, 975 Rocky Ford Road.
Good [clears throat] evening, board. I
am speaking tonight to ask that you deny
the proposed throttle therapy cup. I
spoke at the planning commission meeting
in regards to the environmental concerns
that I have as a National Geographic
certified educator and conservationist.
However, tonight I would like to make
this more personal and express my safety
concerns towards our family presented
from this whole process. After politely
discussing concerns that I had for our
family horse farm located at 975 Rocky
Ford Road, um I was met with threats and
cussed out on social media. social media
by supporters of throttle therapy. Our
family keeps to ourselves and are very
private in regards to our daughter's
successful horse riding career. In 2023,
she represented the USA for region 1 at
the North American Youth Championships,
otherwise known as the Junior Olympics.
She participated in the Parade of
Nations and competed against riders from
countries as far away as Argentina. She
travels to different states to qualify
for this competition and we knew this
first when we purchased the horse and we
don't complain about it. Um she is
currently training a young horse to
represent the USA again at the same
competition and trains out of the family
farm with international trainers. She
also trains with high-profile trainers
including George Williams who is the
president of the United States DR
Federation and the USA Youth Coach. If
this motorsports park were to be placed
directly next to our horse farm, she and
many others would be unable to continue
training at this location and clinics
that are currently held at our farm
would be unable to continue. Horses are
bred for a variety of reasons and while
the supporters will mention seeing
videos of horses and dirt bike riders
riding side by side, Dr. horses are
different. They compete in a quiet
environment with minimal distractions.
Even if you watch the Olympics, you'll
see DR horses spooking in the ring, even
when it's quiet. Due to this very public
process and our safety concerns after
being threatened online, her horse is
now no longer located in Powatan. Now I
ask you why our daughter's training as a
previous and soontobe again member of
the USA D team at our family farm which
has been here for 35 years my
mother-in-law just spoke should be
ceased in order to accommodate a
motorsports park supporting mostly out
of town visitors including the owners of
the proposed site.
You have a junior Olympian with a bronze
medal using a farm here in Powatan to
train. If you approve this cup, Powatan
will lose this honor as she will no
longer safely be able to train on the
family farm that she will inherit in the
future. Thank you for your time and your
service.
>> Thank you.
» Dr. Nicole Shot, aologist, 7:30
Appamatics Trace. Tonight, I
respectfully ask that you deny the
throttle therapy cup. Throughout this
process, we have repeatedly asked one
fundamental question. What will a fully
operating motorsports park actually
sound like to the people who live around
it? Following throttle therapy sound
demonstration, I contacted Dr.
Robertson, a professor whose work
includes physics and acoustics of
motorcycle noise. I provided him with
the existing track layouts, land survey,
demonstration methodology, and a
photograph of the sound level meter and
its settings. His conclusion should
concern this board. Using standard sound
propagation calculations, Dr. Robertson
estimated that a dirt bike producing
approximately 96 dBA at the half meter
could produce roughly 70 dBA at 150 ft
under flat reflective conditions. He
also modeled a 100 dirt bikes operating
simultaneously near the center of this
complex at approximately 1 half mile. He
calculated potential maximum of roughly
80 dBA at the property boundary. He
acknowledged that terrain vegetation
could reduce that level, but ultimately
stated that he strongly suspects nearby
residents would be impacted by track
noise and that the facility would be
plainly audible. That matters in an
exceptionally quiet rural environment.
Dr. Robertson explained that the ambient
sound here could be as low as 30 to 35
dBA. Against that background, even
approximately 50 dBA would be clearly
discernible. Dirt bike noise also
contains low frequency components that
can travel significant distances, and a
single broadband measurement does not
fully characterize how intrusive that
sound would be. His analysis helped
explains what residents experienced
during that demonstration. The reported
number suggested one thing. While
residents standing on their own
properties could clearly hear the dirt
bikes. Additionally, there were
significant limitations in that demo,
including no documented calibration
information, measurements primarily in
one direction, no established ambient
baseline, limited monitoring, and no
meaningful analysis of the frequency
characteristics. Even the planning
director's report acknowledges that the
demonstration was not a formal
acoustical study and was not intended to
establish compliance with the noise
ordinance. And tonight, you're not
considering that limited demo. You're
considering a long-term facility
allowing up to 150 riders during regular
operations and up to potentially 500
participants during special events.
Palatan's ordinance asked whether dirt
bike noise is plainly audible at 150 ft.
Yet, we still don't have an adequate
independent independent acoustical study
demonstrating the full operations of
this cup. These concerns all converge.
Residents heard the the dirt bikes. The
Palatan AFDAC independently raised
concerns about sound extending beyond
the property and a neutral third-party
review reached many of the same
conclusions. Noise is more than an
inconvenience. Chronic environmental
noise is associated with sleep
disturbance, stress, hypertension,
cardiovascular risk, impaired
concentration, and diminished quality of
life. It will also disrupt wildlife
communication, breeding, and habitat
use. These families chose this rural
community for its peace and quiet. They
should not have to sacrifice that first
and then spend years filing complaints
trying to get it back. The burden should
be on the applicant to demonstrate
compatibility before approval, not on
residents to prove the harm afterward.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Hello. Um Ken Jamerson, uh 910 River
States Court, District 2. Um it's going
to be a bit of a surprise to my I'm in
opposition of the of the cup. First off,
I had a whole speech planned for the
non-traditional sports that uh Palatan
offers. Um, and my kids excelled at, but
my consciousness got the best of me. So,
I felt the need that I needed to uh
write a new speech and present it and
hopefully it'll make the point. And I'd
like to start off by saying I want to
apologize to the writing community for
the statements that were made earlier.
As you've already heard from the
applicant tonight, and because of the
plethora of misinformation and false
narratives that we have been subjected
to in the past four months, it's vitally
important that this be stated on the
record. I believe that I speak for
probably every member of the opposition
of the cup, with the exception of maybe
one. I wish to be perfectly clear that
in no way, shape, or form, do we ever
condone the injury, whether by accident
or purpose, as a means to resolve policy
disputes. Wishing physical harm to
anyone for any reason, is never
acceptable to resolve community
differences.
I believe that this process should be
honored and respected to manage the
county in an orderly and responsible
manner.
On a personal note, I'm truly upset
about the comment as well. Since the
beginning of this application, I've
worked to minimize the risks in our
community and tried to convey the most
truthful information that I could. I
lost a close friend as a child to a dirt
bike accident. I don't want to shed pain
on anyone else. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Good evening, chairman and supervisors
of the board. My name is Karen Dinardy.
I live at 3289 Sparrow's Place in
District 4. I come to you with some
experience as a prior mortgage
underwriter and current compliance
adviser in the banking industry. There
is a process for anybody who purchases a
home, refinances a home, takes out a
home equity loan that will involve the
banking the bank determining if an
appraised value of the home is required.
Through this process, there is an option
that will result most likely with the
proposed motorsports park in a negative
valuation in comparison to other sales
in the area. It will be dependent upon
proximity to the pro property and where
the prior where the comparable sales
are. Given that our property is within
about a mile of the proposed property,
there is most likely a detriment to our
property value. That is not what I want
to see. I've worked very hard to obtain
what I own. I have lived in this county
for 18 years now. I call this my home. I
feel safe here. I moved from a home that
was burglarized.
This place made me feel safe again.
On a second note, there are choices. We
made a choice to purchase a property and
build a house in an area that was zoned
as residential and agricultural.
There's a difference between moving into
a location like that versus moving into
a location that already has a proposed
motorports park or already has a
motorsports park. The addition of a
motorsports park changes the landscape
of the area.
I ask and recommend that you agree with
the planning department and the planning
commission in denial of the cup. Thank
you for your time and service.
>> Thank you,
» Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I'm
Teresa Kelly, um, District 2. My husband
and I have enjoyed living our peaceful
in our peaceful neighborhood for 29
years this month. First, I want to thank
you for your dedication and service to
our county and for the unimaginable
amount of time, energy, and effort and
that you and the county staff have spent
on this application. I fully support the
recommendation to deny this request, and
I hope you do. Also, um I'm concerned
about potential accidents and increased
calls to our emergency services. While
motorsports park, powers sports parks
take precautions and put safety measures
in place and riders know the risks and
they sign waiverss. However, accidents
still happen at the Lake Anna location.
Track and trail use is strictly limited
to on-site renters, maxing out at 23
people. The owners hold an annual day
riding event over two days with 130
riders each day. Assuming the property
is rented at full capacity on average
four days a week for 51 weeks and they
hold the annual day event, it could see
5,472 riders per year. For this proposed
park, the applicants want to be open
Friday through Sunday for 42 weeks plus
seven federal holidays, maxing out at
150 riders per day. Plus, they want to
have three special events with
approximately 500 riders each day for
two days. That is 22,950
riders per year, a 400% more compared to
Lake Anna. In the past year, they've had
two emergency service calls to the
property. I reviewed the emergency logs.
One was a sidebyside rollover involving
two people, one with a head injury. Both
were transported toos to the local
hospitals. The other one was a call. It
was a head-on four-wheeler con collision
involving a 5-year-old. My heart sank
when I read this.
The dispatch record noted that someone
was screaming in the background, excuse
[clears throat] me, and the child
suffered lacerations to the forehead,
arms, legs, and behind the ear and bru
bruising and lacerations around the
chest area. That child was transported
to the hospital. I sincerely hope
everybody in each of those accidents
fully recovered. I mentioned these to
bring attention to the fact that safety
measures were in place. Precautions were
taken yet accidents still happen. How
many will happen here? Will poutine
emergency service have the capacity to
not only address an increase in calls on
local roads but also this park? For
these reasons and those that have
already stated, it is my hope that you
will also support the recommendation to
deny this request. Thank you again for
your dedication and service to our
county.
>> Thank you.
Good [clears throat] evening, chairman
and members of the board of supervisors.
My name is Matt Fischer. I live in
District 2. I own Plat 10, 945 River
States Court, and I'm here to
respectfully oppose case number 26-3 cup
as currently conditioned.
My concern is straightforward. The cup
appears to require the loss or
dedication of more than an acre of my
private property. So, a private
commercial motorsports facility can
obtain roadway access it does not
currently have.
That is significant burden on one
landowner for the benefit of a private
applicant.
I understand my plat states that the
land is subject to public dedication,
but that language should not be treated
as a blank check to compel the transfer
of private property whenever a
commercial project needs infrastructure.
Any taking or dedication should serve a
legitimate public purpose, follow a
clear legal process, include
compensation where required, and be
proportional to the proposed use.
Because the dedication of my property
appears to be a requirement of this cup,
I requested a step-by-step explanation
of how the county attends to acquire it
for a public road to be adopted by VOTE.
I have not received a response.
that raises serious concerns about
notice, due process, public purpose,
compensation, and whether this condition
is legally supportable. I don't know.
The impact is real. If the dedication
occurs, I lose more than an acre of
land. I fall below the 10acre threshold
for my A10 zoning. I lose acreage,
property value, future land use,
flexibility, and the zoning expectations
that existed when I purchased the
property. At the same time, nearby
residents in the county will absorb the
impacts of use increas incre increased
traffic, roadware, noise, emergency
response demands, enforcement concerns,
and neighborhood disruption with no
clear showing that the public benefit
offsets those burdens.
This also creates a dangerous precedent.
If the county can condition approval of
a private commercial project on the
transfer or loss of neighboring owners
land without first providing a clear
legal process and justification, any
rural land owner could face the same
situation when an applicant needs access
to infrastructure.
I respectfully ask the board to deny
case number 26-3 cup or a minimum remove
any condition that depends on taking
dedicating a burden in my property for
the private commercial use. If the
project cannot function without
acquiring adjoining land and damaging
existing property rights, it has not met
its burden for approval. Private
property should not be the price of
admission for a private motorsports
park. Please protect Powatan land owners
A10 zoning and my property rights by
refusing to let the cup move forward on
the assumption that my land can be taken
or used for access without a clear legal
process and lawful public justification.
Thank you for your time, your service,
and your consideration.
>> Thank you.
» Hello, I'm Milton Weatherhead at 935
River Estates Court.
Um,
last month in the uh committee meeting,
there was a jaw-dropping moment.
Okay. somebody that we didn't know from
Palatan that attended that meeting and
he shared with us that um his house, his
trees, okay, were receiving bullets from
across the river uh from Amelia Wildlife
Refuge.
Now,
I don't know any parent that wants to
see,
you know, a child, even though it's a
family event, you wounded or or shot
down or or killed. I don't know of a of
a government official that would like to
set something up, the risk of a child or
some adult being killed. And when I saw
the maps today and how close that was, I
thought it was important that you
understand that uh they've already
cleared out many of the trees.
So those bullets from the hunters and
Amelia that missed the deer are going
straight across the river into that
area. Okay, this it's a this is in some
cases a life or death decision and I I
oppose the uh proceeding
for this this uh whatever they call it.
But uh thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Good evening. Peter Shrivever, 916 Rocky
Ford Road, District 2. I oppose the uh
cup as it's been put together at this
point. It strikes me as being a little
bit like some of these bills in
Washington where you have to pass the
bill to figure out what's actually in it
because we don't really know how we're
going to access the property. There
seems to be some questions that we just
heard from the previous gentleman's. We
have questions about the road
conditions. We've talked to VOD a little
bit about it, but we don't know is Rocky
Ford Road going to be a safe turning
access onto River Estates Road from
either direction. I pull a 30-foot
camper and I live on Rocky Ford Road. I
always make a left turn no matter what
direction I'm my final direction is
going to be to my destination. But I
make a left turn, get down to Jennato
Road, so I can use roads like Dorset
Road that are a little bit less twisty
and turny than Rocky Ford just for
safety. I think I can keep my trailer on
Rocky Ford Road on the correct side of
the road. Seems to be some people in
Powatin that have a little difficulty
with that once in a while.
Uh then we also have the impression that
sometimes it seems like we're going to
have Granny from uh uh what was the
show? But anyway, Granny who was always
you sort of like this little meek mild
lady driving a four-wheeler on the
property and it's going to be a nice
quiet little activity.
The problem I have with that analysis is
although they have to keep very careful
records of the number of vehicles on the
property, they don't have a check-in
procedure that says we're going to
enforce. And I suspect that and and
trust the applicants will at some level,
but it says that there'll be no modified
exhaust systems. It'll be manufacturer
specifications. I did a quick check on
Amazon for motorcycle aftermarket
motorcycle exhaust, found 945 and just
hitting it once. So, how do you make
that determination? Is there an exhaust
or is there not? Now, I'm sure without
the exhaust, you'll know it quick.
But is the enforcement going to be
calling up the county police sheriff's
office and saying, "Hey, we think
there's some noisy vehicles down there.
Apparently, there's no requirement at
this point that you do recordkeeping on
that. And we all need therapy. I agree
with that. Obviously, I need some
uh I do it by pulling it going out of my
driveway, making a left turn, running up
the road, using my two feet. I do it by
going over to the power tan pool and
swimming. I also do it every morning.
The dogs jump in bed and say, "Come on,
Dad. Let's go for a walk out in the
field. And we walk around my 6 and 1/2
acre field that I fenced in one post at
a time. And that's some of my therapy. I
can hear the traffic on Janitor Road.
Every morning when I'm doing that,
that's how quiet the area can be. I will
hear throttle therapy.
My footsteps aren't that noisy. Thank
you.
Good evening. Kelly Crockett, District
5, Carterville Road. I'm here tonight to
ask you to deny this conditional use
permit. If this cup application is
approved, even with the proposed
condition requiring upgrades to the road
and bridge to VOTE standards, you are
essentially permitting a property rights
dispute and exposing the county to
litigation.
Additionally, Powan County's current
noise ordinance reads in part, "Sound
produced by any motorbike, motorcycle,
ATV, or by any other machine or device
in such a manner or with such volume or
duration that it is plainly audible at a
distance of 150 ft or more from the
sound source, or inside the confines of
a dwelling unit, house, or apartment of
another person, or plainly audible
within a
business or place of worship
is prohibited.
Um, I'm so excited for this to end
tonight.
Please deny this application. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Howdy. I'm [clears throat] just some guy
from District 2. Um, I have a a thing
I've been listening to everybody talking
tonight is there it sounds like there um
is a lot of things that would that come up
to me as progression risk to be able to
think through of um a proven something
like this like a a lot of um downstream
effects that would happen not only now
but over the next proposed um 15 years.
I I can only assume that these were
things the um planning committee had
gone over. I've tried to look online and
it says like I'm citing noise and
environmental concerns. Um this is
somewhat of a um a question. I don't
know if anybody here could point me in
the right direction. Is is there any
actual like report that they've put
together that would have this kind of
compiled this information. It's the same
concerns seen coming up over and over
where it's been kind of thought through
and say this is our um you know this is
what we hear as what your concerns are.
um this is the impact that it would
have. This is what we would plan to do
on to mitigate it. These are things that
are still outstanding. These are things
that we just don't know. Like is there
anywhere that this has been compiled to
where this information would be
available
anybody in I mean I'd be willing.
» No. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, thank
you. If anybody's got that information,
I would be more than ask.
» Mike Chris, District 4.
Uh,
I work in Mechanicsville.
I started watching this when it started.
When this issue was brought up, I sat
there and I watched the gentlemen come
up and made their passionate plea.
But everything I've watched and listened
to on the hour drive back here.
If you're a Washington politician,
approve it.
But if you are listening to your
constituents,
the people that put you where you are
now,
and you have not lied to them,
then deny this request.
>> Thank you.
» I don't public speak either, so bear
with me. My name is Judy Carter, 969
Rocky Ford Road. My driveway is the
access road. My house can see the access
road. I hear every vehicle that goes
down that road. I heard the hunters that
went down that road. And that's when the
ground was fully covered with trees. I
heard the loggers. I heard them all. The noise that they produced on their
test runs was unbearable. The dust that
will come my way will be unbearable.
I'm asking you to deny this. I've lived
in this county all my life and on that
property 40 years. Lots has changed and
things will change, but this is not the
right change. And signs have disappeared
on ours too saying no motor parts. So,
nobody's picking up signs and they're
probably just kids acting out. But the
fact of the matter is my therapy on my
property is quiet.
I don't mind an occasional car. I will
hear 150 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,
and on holidays. That is not fair to me.
Please vote no.
>> Thank you.
Curtis Gaunt, 3285 Sparrow's Place. My
neighbor Karen's over there. My other
neighbor John's over here. Worried about
property values for sure. We heard a lot
about their presentation about uh you
know, making memories and families and
that type of thing. And I think that's
what the lady just said right here. This
is our families. This is our memories
and our weekends and our holidays and I
have Thanksgiving in my house and
everybody comes and they marvel at Look
at everything. It's quiet out here. It's
so quiet. This is great. Look at the
animals out here. This isn't right. I'm
in the blast zone, not circle or we're
just outside, right? Depends on who's
drawing the lines. But I don't want to
hear it. I don't want to smell it. I
don't want to drive around the traffic
that that road can't handle. I don't
want to have it in my water. Um, I don't
have anything against ATVs or the people
that ride them. Uh, I don't have
anything about uh people making
memories. I'm all about that. That's why
I'm here. That's why we're in Pow Town.
Um, I'm all for freedom like that guy
said. But this is not the right place.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
My name is Lori Malcolm. I'm Judy
Carter's sister, Betty Jane's cousin,
and we're from the heritage of how this
whole property got started. There are
about 50 of us still that live in the
county, still have raised their children
in the county, some have stayed in the
county, some's gone to surrounding
counties, but just as the previous
customer or client or taxpayer, whatever
we're called, um, has stated, we have
our holidays here. We have our children
here. We stand, Judy and myself stand to
inherit property right next to our
father owns property still there that we
jumped off of a rope into the creek into
the Applamics River and our memories are
here. We know that things change. We
know that you as representatives see
change and we know it's getting to be a
late night. I thought that my father of
85 was going to come up and close the
meeting, but I think he's probably said
things in other meetings that I haven't
been able to stay to meet. He is the
oldest of our family heritage right now
and he is here tonight. However, he
probably feels like it's all been said.
What I don't think has been said is all
of us that were born in this county have
lived in this county. We want the county
to remain as country as it can for as
long as it can. And of course, all of
us, as previous people spoke, I'm a big
motorcycle rider myself and horses and
every other outdoor activity. Water is
my friend. I we we have a lot of things
going on in this county that I don't
think the throttle therapy group knows
about because obviously they didn't
listen to the beginning of the meeting
of all the wonderful outings that we
have available to the county. I think
it's a wonderful idea but not for this
county. Thank you for your service.
>> Thank you.
» Yes, Daddy.
[laughter]
>> He'd like to speak from back there.
» [laughter]
>> Understood.
» Anybody else?
>> Yeah, I'll try.
>> Get up.
» I hate speaking. I'm nervous. My name is
David Kelly. I live at 925 River States
Court with my wife who's here tonight.
sure by now that the board is well aware
of all the many concerns that have been
presented concerning the proposed
motorsports park noise in the traffic
and all the other things that have been
mentioned. So I do not want to address
that. What I do want to talk about is
the people who have expressed these
concerns concerns that they're very
passionate about
uh the individuals who will be affected
in inconvenience the most by this park
on a daily and an hourly basis. These
are people who choose to live where they
built their homes because of the peace
and tranquility of Palatan County. Many
of them have lived on their properties
for decades. Some of the lands been
passed down through generations.
Most of the people expressing these
concern live within a two-mile radius of
the proposed location.
It will most definitely have a severe
effect on their daily lives. My entire
neighborhood is well within this 2-m
radius. There are also two businesses
currently operating in close proximity
that will surely suffer if this park is
allowed. I believe there are somewhere
in the neighborhood of well over 350
individuals who have signed a petition
opposing this park. Most live within
this two-m radius. Several surrounding
neighborhoods have also come together
with a powerful voice in opposition.
This includes residents in the county of
Amelia as well.
The message of many is always the same.
This type of activity in our rural area
of Palatan will jeopardize the solitude
of quiet country living. It will surely
destroy some of it. I know there are
those who would love to have this become
a reality. I wonder how many of these
live in this two-mile radius. I wonder
if they would still welcome it if it
also inconvenience their daily lives.
I've heard that the applicant was quoted
as saying that sometimes there has to be
sacrifices. Yes, we all have to have
sacrifices in our lives.
My question is why should the residents
of this quiet community sacrifice what
we have all come to work for and love is
home. I and many others think that there
is any sacrifice to be suffered here, it
should not be the residents of this
community.
I would hope that as board members you
will take into consideration the human
factor in your decision making. Is this
proposal right for Palatan County? Is
this a right choice for the residents of
Palatan? Thank you.
>> Thank you.
My name is Bob Wolf. I live in Palatan.
I have no idea what zone I'm in. I was
riding my a bike tonight and I saw the
bunch of cars outside. I came to
complain about flock cameras. Instead, I
saw this. Gentlemen, I personally
believe I'm not affected by this at all,
but I personally believe that if you
pass this thing and let that motorports
thing go, you're out of a job. Thank
you.
>> Thank you.
» Anybody else?
» All right. With that, I'm going to close
the public comment period and open up to
board comments. Uh, I don't want to
steal anybody's thunder. I know District
2 and District 4 representatives have some things to say. U, but, um, I
want to thank you all for for being
civil. Um, it's a passionate topic and I
know a lot of people are very
uh,
a lot of strong opinions, a lot of
strong ideas and and thoughts about the
issue. So, so thank you for that. And
it's a it has been a long road. Um,
[clears throat]
there sometimes I wish I could just take
all of all of the comments and just kind
of bald it into to one statement and
just say ditto, but I I can't do that.
So, uh, my background is is is very
purely focused on on safety and, uh, I
look at I look at traffic and I look at
the impacts there. Um, that's that's my
biggest concern. Um, but more than that,
I care about what brings you peace.
That's what's important. We talk, we
talked about a lot of impacts. We talked
about environmental impacts. We talked
about all sorts of different impacts,
but more than anything, it it's what
brings you peace.
Um, and for me, that's that's what was
heard more than anything tonight. Uh, so
thank you for that.
Any other board [clears throat]
comments,
>> Mr. Chair? Go ahead.
>> I'll go first since I'm two and four.
So, it looks like most of the people
that uh are up here are district two and
I represent y'all. So, I will never go
against y'all. Um apologize to throttle
therapy for putting y'all through this
and apologize to the my my constituents
Palian County for the suffering y'all
went through for the past three or four
months. Um I'm going to keep it short
and sweet. All my district two people
were here and they were spoke violently.
I mean I think it was one person from
district 2 that approved this. So I will
be totally against this. I will be a
vote no. And I would also like to make a
second motion after this motion to
remove
uh motorsports park from A10. So
go ahead Mark. Any
other board comments?
» Mr. Chairman,
>> George,
» thank everybody from District 4. I've
had to play counselor. Um, I've gotten a
lot of phone calls, a lot of emails, got
to have some heart-to-he heart
conversations with some people, and I've
enjoyed every minute of it. One of the
hardest, and there's two things since I
got elected that I will never do. I will
never not listen to my constituents and
I will do everything I can to protect
the rural character of this county. You
know, I have a lot of feelings about
this. I live on Rocky Ford as well along
with a lot of you folks. But the one of
the hardest things a supervisor has to
do is when he makes a motion,
he has to set the feelings aside and he
has to look at the review standards of
the conditional use permit and does the
applicant demonstrate the proposed
conditional use.
So one, the applicant has not
appropriate. It's not an appropriate
location.
It's not compatible with the genital
character of the surrounding lands.
It does not avoid significant adverse
odor, noise, glare, vibration impacts on
surrounding lands regarding refuge
collection, service delivery, parking
and loading signs and lighting. It does
not avoid significant deterioration of
water and air resources, scenic
resources and other natural uh
resources. It does not maintain a safe
and convenient ingress and egress and
traffic flow into and through the
vehicles by and pedestrians and safe
road conditions at the site. So with all
that in mind, I make a motion that we
deny the motors parks part C based on
those review standards.
>> Second.
>> Any other any other comments before we
move to a roll call vote?
>> Sure.
>> Um I want to thank everyone here. It
it's it's been interesting over the last
three years to deal with passion. Um,
and I appreciate it and I appreciate the
passion you all have shown this evening
for your positions and mostly the fact
that you've been able to express your
passion civily and I I genuinely
appreciate that. Um the standards of the
cup that my colleague just just read
really speak to um the whole concept of
property rights and the fact that um we
have to respect them until these sorts
of standards are not being lived up to.
These are called externalities and we we
can't tolerate
uh externalities being imposed on others
by virtue of a property right. So, um,
for that reason, for all these
standards, and for all that I've heard
today, um, I I also concur with my
colleagues. I will not be supporting
this cup.
>> Dr.
I
» I find that regardless of what the
applicant has said, there's nothing
there's not a lot to back it up
that we would um see growth as I pointed
as they said in um our hotels.
We don't have a hotel. It would be nice
if we did, but we don't. um that it
would have a positive economic
um
uh stream of money to the county. They
don't have that in there. We have no
idea what it would make from the
planning commission that I viewed. They
don't know what their staffing would be.
I think this I think the business plan
is too loose at this point in time.
um if I was going to start something, I
would have that laid out and the
resources and what would be laid down.
That's just me. Um I for all the other
reasons, mine is I don't see the
business plan in operation
and I think there's too many holes where
there shouldn't be.
>> Thank you. We'll take a roll call vote,
please.
>> Mr. McClung
>> I
I'm sorry. Nay.
>> No. It's a motion to deny.
>> Oh, the motion to deny. So,
>> yes.
No.
>> Yes.
>> Feel like I'm at home.
>> We're good.
>> Mr. Powers.
>> Uh, yes. No.
[laughter]
>> Hi. Thank you,
>> Dr. Brown.
>> Hi,
>> Vice Chair Kenny. I
>> chairman Dennady
>> I
All right, that'll break bring us out of
the uh public hearing. Um
[clears throat]
that
>> we're laughing now.
>> County Attorney comments.
>> County Minister comments. I
>> just want to say thank you to uh Mr.
Lian Webb. He's he's migrated to the
back of the room, but uh Ligins accepted
an opportunity in another another
locality, but he went out of his way to
make sure he guided us through tonight's
meeting. So, wish you well and thank you
very much.
» Board comments,
>> Mr. Chair.
>> Good. like to ask staff to prepare an
amendment to bring to the next meeting
to begin the process to refer to the
planning commission to remove
motorsports park from HM
» is a motion that you
» second.
>> All in favor? I I
>> Any oppose?
>> Hearing none, that passes 5. Any other
board comments?
>> I just have one. I just I again want to
thank everybody that reached out to me
via email and phone call. Um it was a
true pleasure getting to meet every one
of you and um and if you need anything
again, just give me a shout. Thanks
again.
>> Yeah,
>> I will uh I'd like to mention that um
Lian Webb, thanks so much for for your
time and thank you for finishing strong.
>> Thank you.
>> Like a pro. Yeah. Any other comments?
Meeting adjourned.