Board approves exception to Commerce Corridor rules to allow bay doors on proposed warehouses with added landscaping

The New Kent County Board of Supervisors voted April 13 to approve an exception (R-14-26 R1) to a Commerce Corridor Overlay District design rule that normally prohibits bay doors facing public rights-of-way.

Patrick Silva, the countys principal planner, told the board the applicant (represented by Kimley Horn) is seeking the exception because site constraints — riparian protection areas (RPAs), wetlands and varied topography — limit buildable areas and make orienting large warehousing buildings away from rights-of-way difficult. The conceptual plan shows one proposed building of about 257,000 square feet and another roughly 534,000 square feet.

To reduce visual impacts, the applicant proposed to retain an existing 50-foot vegetation buffer along Route 30 and Route 33, add supplemental evergreen plantings (Nellie Stevens hollies, arborvitae and Leyland cypress) totaling roughly 15% more landscaping than the ordinance requires, and use facade accents to make bay doors more aesthetically pleasing, Silva said. The Planning Commission had unanimously recommended approval with those conditions.

During questions, planners and the applicant explained that additional berming on the southern frontage was either unnecessary because of existing topography or would require clearing screening vegetation and would therefore be counterproductive. The applicant said VDOT and county reviewers have seen conceptual materials; formal traffic and queuing analyses and required turn-lane determinations would occur during the site-plan review stage.

Supervisor Moyer moved adoption of resolution R-14-26 R1 to approve the exception with the Planning Commissions recommended conditions. The board polled and the motion carried with recorded aye votes from Ms. Pearson, Ms. Stewart, Mr. Abellon, Mr. Moyer and Mr. Steers.

What the approval means: Granting the exception allows the applicant to proceed with final site-plan design that could include bay doors facing the right-of-way, provided site-plan level reviews (traffic, stormwater, VDOT access approvals) are satisfied and conditional landscaping/aesthetic measures are implemented.