Supervisors said no to text amendment to “Convenience Store, Highway” at Exit 162

There will be no “Convenience Store, Highway” use added to the Botetourt County Zoning Code, the Board of Supervisors decided at the April 26, 2022 meeting.

After putting off a decision on a February request for a text amendment to create a new use that would allow truck-stop like facilities around the county’s four Interstate 81 interchanges, the Board agreed that the text amendment change was not appropriate.

Buchanan District Supervisor Amy White, who made the motion to deny the request, said that Interstate 81 is a “problem” for the county. “Truckers need a place to stop, and a place to rest,” she said. “I’m not sure that’s a problem Botetourt County can solve alone.”

She also cited environmental, lighting, and traffic concerns as reasons for the motion to deny the text amendment.

Additionally, she stated that the county is “a community, and we need to address things like this with a community focus. At the end of the day, I want us to be a community.”

No project had been put forth, but much speculation about a proposal at Exit 162 had been bandied about the community and at the Supervisors’ meetings.

“Because this is so unclear, that’s where I have the biggest hang up now,” White said. “I want it with a project and a proposal, not an open door.” Her motion to deny the request was seconded by Valley District Supervisor Mac Scothorn and passed 5-0.

The initial text amendment request, an application from Buchanan Crossing, LLC through its attorney, Jon Puvoc with Gentry, Locke, Rakes & Moore in Roanoke, asked to allow uses in a Business District B-2 under a new category of “Convenience Store, Highway.” This use would have been permitted only by a special exception permit and subject to supplemental regulations. The major portions of the change would require the property, which must be at least 10 acres, to be located within a half mile of radius of an I-81 interchange.

Additionally, tractor trailer parking would not be allowed in the front of the facility but instead would be removed to the sides and rear of the convenience store. Lastly, a traffic impact analysis would be required.

At the public hearing in February, four people spoke against the proposed text amendments to the zoning ordinance, and one person spoke in favor of it.

There was no word on when or if the project may return before the Board.

                                                                           — Anita Firebaugh, Special to The Botetourt Bee