By Heather Michon
Correspondent
The year’s final meeting of the Board of Supervisors (Dec. 17) began on a contentious note, after Chair Chris Fairchild (Cunningham) raised a complaint he said he had received about a vendor at a recent Art in the Park event at Pleasant Grove Park being told they could not circulate a petition related to Tenaska during the county-sponsored event.
Details of the incident were not immediately clear, and County Administrator Eric Dahl and County Attorney Dan Whitten said they would be willing to discuss the matter — in closed session.
The irony of moving a discussion about a citizen’s free speech into a closed session was not lost on Tracey Smith, who raised the issue during public comment.
Smith had seen the incident at Art in the Park, saying that “some private citizens that registered, were approved, and were there with their booths in their tent, and they were told that they couldn’t talk to neighbors, collect signatures, [or] talk about any issues that directly affect the county.”
She noted this was not the first time “county employees continue to act as independent actors and just show up and insert their personal feelings just everywhere. It just keeps happening.”
Moving discussions out of public view only amplifies the problem, she said.. “To continue to want to take things to closed session and discuss them just continues to erode the trust that we’re supposed to have,” she said.
While Virginia law allows supervisors to move certain matters into closed session, including legal and personnel issues, when a motion was made late in the meeting, it was not entirely clear what specific exemption applied in this case or why the discussion could not continue in open session.
Goodson’s Auto expansion deferred
A local auto shop’s proposal to open a second location on Rt. 53 at Garden Lane sparked an extended public hearing that stretched over more than three hours, as residents raised questions about traffic, zoning, and neighborhood impacts.
The plan covers approximately 5.8 acres at the intersection of Rt. 53 and Garden Lane, where Goodson’s Auto proposes to build a new auto repair facility. The Goodsons currently operates a shop at Crofton Plaza and says it has enough demand to support a second location.
First, the property would have to be re-zoned for business use, a request the Planning Commission denied in November.
At issue is the site’s proximity to the Villages at Nahor, a retirement community of nearly 75 homes. The proposal has drawn strong opposition from residents, many of whom do not want an auto repair business operating so close to where they live.
“This is not about the Goodsons,” resident Steven Bevis told the board. “This is about protecting our neighborhood and making sure zoning decisions don’t change the character of where we live.”
Speakers also pointed to access and traffic safety, with some arguing that a dedicated turn lane from Rt. 53 should be required before the project moves forward. Several supervisors echoed those concerns, saying they wanted additional input from the Virginia Department of Transportation before making a decision.
Supervisors also wrestled with issues ranging from site access and vegetation buffers to the proposed building’s design.
Several acknowledged the importance of supporting a well-known local business, while also grappling with concerns about viewsheds, rural preservation, and the rights of nearby homeowners.
Ultimately, supervisors said they could not reconcile the competing issues in a single evening. Instead, they voted to defer the request until later in 2026, giving the Goodsons and their engineers more time to develop a proposal that could address residents’ concerns.
Zion South approved
While deferring the Goodson’s Auto request, supervisors unanimously approved the rezoning of the Zion South property from agricultural to industrial, clearing a key hurdle for the large-scale, mixed-use development planned near the Zion Crossroads corridor.
The decision advances a project that supervisors have repeatedly pointed to as central to the county’s long-term economic development strategy along I-64.
During the discussion, supervisors noted ongoing concerns about infrastructure capacity, including roads, utilities, and public services, and emphasized the importance of managing how and when industrial development occurs.
Data center restrictions
Supervisors unanimously approved changes to the county’s zoning ordinance that remove data centers as a by-right use in industrial districts.
Under the revised ordinance, data centers will instead require a special use permit, a move supervisors said would ensure greater public oversight and allow the county to weigh factors such as infrastructure demands, environmental impacts, and compatibility with surrounding uses on a case-by-case basis.
