Residents warn Tractor Supply could harm safety and local businesses

During the public hearing, a string of residents urged the board to deny the Tractor Supply conditional use permit or to attach conditions to protect neighbors and small businesses. Dara Tucker, whose family owns the adjacent 4 Locust Farm—a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Virginia Century Farm—asked the board to vote no and, if the permit were approved, to require a monument sign, full-cutoff lighting and a substantial landscape buffer to preserve the rural viewshed.

"When commercial development is placed beside farmland and a family home, we need to make sure it's done responsibly and with respect to what's already there," Tucker said. Other commenters raised traffic-safety concerns for tractors and wide farm implements entering and exiting the property; Tom Garnett warned that driveway alignment as presented could create a "safety disaster" and cited examples where similar layouts led to fatal crashes. Local small-business owners, including Katie Biggers, cautioned the board that a large national retailer could draw customers and staff away from established local firms, potentially forcing closures or staff reductions. Community members asked the board to require stronger landscaping, lighting controls and signage restrictions to reduce harm to adjacent properties.