New Zion Baptist Church will add an additional Sunday School area and parking to the building after a 4-0-1 vote, with Powhatan Supervisor Andy Bradshaw abstaining, from the James City County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Two eco-friendly modular units totaling about 1,600 square feet will be added to New Zion Baptist Church at 3991 Longhill Road to accommodate the youth Sunday School classes. Also, 21 additional parking spaces will be added and evergreen shrubbery will be planted to shield the view of the new units to neighboring land owners.
Bradshaw is an attorney and he abstained from voting because the church is one of his clients. The board hosted a public hearing Tuesday on the proposal, which had no speakers.
A proposal to expand the showroom at Shops at Carolina Furniture, 5425 Richmond Road, was scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday, but the store owner amended his request for the addition from 3,000-square feet to 4,500 square feet. Joseph Steele II, the owner, also plans to put an 18th-century façade on the entire building and update the roof, as indicated in his original proposal.
The change in size requires the proposal to go before the James City County Planning Commission again. If the commission recommends approval of the larger addition, the board will have to host another public hearing before voting on the project.
The supervisors added consideration of the Carolina Furniture application to its April 9 agenda to allow Steele the opportunity to start the project in April as originally planned.
Carolina Furniture Owner Joseph Steele II owns two adjacent pieces of property where Carolina Furniture is located: one along Richmond Road and one farther from the road. The two lots are separated by the Moose Lodge but are connected by a strip of land. County staff recommended the two properties be joined by eliminating the property line.
The two buildings are too close to the property lines under current ordinances, which require a 20-foot buffer. Merging the two properties will create at least a 20 foot buffer between the buildings and property line.
Steele has entered into a signed contract with the Moose Lodge owner to share the lodge’s parking spaces. County regulations would require Carolina Furniture to have 132 parking spaces once it expands. Combining Steele’s two parcels creates 111 available parking spaces, though the contract with the lodge will make 183 spaces available.
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