The Peninsula Pentecostals of Newport News are closer to being able to build a church on a piece of industrial land in James City County following Wednesday’s Planning Commission meeting.
On a 4-2 vote with Rich Krapf (Stonehouse) and Tim O’Connor (At-large member) opposed and Al Woods (Powhatan) absent, the commission voted to recommend approval of the proposed changes to the Board of Supervisors with an amendment to keep churches as a permitted use in industrial zones.
Robin Bledsoe (Jamestown) and Mike Maddocks (At-large member) were concerned about the way county staff had handled the situation regarding the church’s intention of locating on the industrial land.
Bledsoe said she has the utmost respect for the county’s planning staff, but wondered why the church wasn’t told there was an issue with the ordinances in April.
“There’s something going on here and I don’t like it,” Maddocks said. He went on to say he supported the motion to approve the zoning changes with keeping churches as a permitted use in the industrial district.
Krapf said he consulted the statement of intent for the district, which explains the district was meant for industrial uses which are not compatible with residential or commercial uses. Because Krapf considers churches to be compatible with residential areas and doesn’t support putting an inappropriate use in a zoning ordinance to fix a grievance, he voted against the amendment.
Beyond the issue of churches being allowed in the industrial zones, the board’s vote addressed a set of ordinance changes that added about 20 uses back to the industrial district that had been deleted, and deleted about 40 uses that the county said had accidentally been added during the last round of changes in early 2012.
One of the 2012 changes included adding churches as an allowed, by-right use in the industrial district, which county staff called an error. Peninsula Pentecostals has a contract on 40 acres of industrial land where it intended to construct a new church and daycare, following the existing zoning rules, which would have allowed construction of both.
The new changes to correct the 2012 errors first went before the Planning Commission Policy Committee on May 31 then before the commission itself June 5. At that meeting, the commission sent the changes back to the committee for a June 12 meeting.
At the June 12 meeting, the committee determined the proposed changes to the industrial district to be consistent with the intent of the industrial district and sent them back to the commission for approval at Wednesday’s meeting.
The decision was a matter of public hearing, where seven people, including Kaufman and Canoles Attorney Tim Trant, who represents the church, spoke in favor of keeping churches as an allowed use.
Trant said conversations church representatives had with the county during April led them to believe they could proceed by-right with the church. He said the church was not trying to fit through a crack in a window, but county staff was telling them there was a crack in the window they could go through.
The commission members were conflicted but ultimately decided to approve the proposed changes but allow churches to remain by-right uses in the industrial district.
The issue will next go before the Board of Supervisors for a decision.
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