Stor Moore will be allowed to expand its business thanks to a decision from the York County Board of Supervisors that went against a recommendation from the Planning Commission to reject the application.
After a long discussion and a public hearing that had 12 supporters and one opponent speak, the board voted unanimously to rezone land at 131 White’s Road near Route 17 to allow an industrial business. The land was zoned for residential use.
In August, seven people spoke against and one person spoke for the proposed project before the Planning Commission, which voted 3-1 to recommend the supervisors reject the rezoning.
Prior to voting Tuesday, supervisors asked questions about the project and addressed each complaint raised at the Planning Commission meeting. Most of the complaints dealt with noise from the storage facility, including from a helicopter and barking dog, noise from a construction equipment storage lot and the buffer around the property.
Supervisor Don Wiggins said York-Poquoson Sheriff J.D. “Danny” Diggs wrote a letter in reference to the barking dog to say the department received one complaint in 12 months about a dog barking, which had ceased by the time officers arrived. Wiggins said it was possible an unauthorized person was on the property.
In reference to the helicopter flight noise, Wiggins said he researched Stor Moore owner Dale Moore’s flight plan and found very few flights.
Moore said he has taken eight flights in the past seven months and flies within a 5-mile restricted airspace of the Newport News Williamsburg International Airport. He said he flies when he knows he won’t wake people up because he would not want someone to wake him up with a helicopter. Also, he said his helicopter is small and has relatively small blades, which don’t create much noise.
Additionally, Wiggins received a letter from Moore’s attorney in reference to construction noise. Moore’s construction business has not engaged in business since February so the machinery has not been in operation since then; it could not have caused any noise.
To mitigate the issue with the property buffer, Moore will be including a 75-foot buffer around the storage facility expansion, which will have a fence on the inside of the buffer. He offered up the 75 feet to the residents surrounding the storage facility to use as a piece of backyard for which they won’t have to pay taxes — as long as they don’t cut down any trees.
The first speaker, Cassandra Dillard, at Tuesday’s public hearing opposed the rezoning request. Dillard said she invested hard-earned money into her home and she wanted the property around it to be kept residential to protect her investment.
Following Dillard were 12 people who said his businesses are quiet and make for the best neighbors.
Echoing the sentiment about Moore’s businesses being quiet, Supervisor Thomas Shepperd said just because a property is zoned for residential development doesn’t guarantee peace and quiet. In his district, most noise complaints are from one resident about another.
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