Infrastructure for a Sheetz at 460 and Laymantown moves forward to Planning Commission
The Planning Commission will consider amendments to the Botetourt County Comprehensive plan in order to amend the document for extension of public water and sewer down US 460 to Laymantown Road. The Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to move a request for the public water and sewer extension forward through the planning process at its March 28, 2023 meeting at the Botetourt County Administration Center at Greenfield in Amsterdam.
The request for the amendment came from Four H Investments, LLC and Sheetz, Inc. and concerns three parcels at the intersection of Laymantown Road and US 460. The requested amendments, if approved, would establish a Commercial Future Land Use designation upon the parcels and also show them within a sewer and water service area.
That change would allow for public sewer and water to be extended to the property.
At a future date, a rezoning application for a 6,139 square feet Sheetz store with a six-pump island canopy for gas sales would be forthcoming. The request would not include high-flow diesel sales.
The existing house on the property would be demolished and removed. In addition to a rezoning request, the proposal would require Special Exception Permits (SEP) to allow for a convenience store.
A letter from Sheetz indicates the company went to extensive lengths to find a way to install a septic system on the 3.43 acres that would work for the gas station and store. However, the soil study and drainfield analysis indicated poor soil conditions that would not allow for a septic system of any kind. “. . . the only option we had left was to extend public sewer service to the site,” the information provided to the Supervisors read.
The public sewer line would go down US 460 in the Virginia Department of Transportation right-of-way.
Blue Ridge District Supervisor Billy Martin said a Sheetz in Blue Ridge, “would be good to have” and would be of service to the community. He noted that the Sheetz in Daleville had worked with the county to improve the intersection at US 220 and Catawba Road and wondered if a similar deal could be worked out for the intersection of Laymantown Road and US 460.
County Zoning Administrator Drew Pearson said the developer has been working on a traffic analysis and discussions about traffic would take place at a later date if the supervisors agreed to move the public water and sewer proposal forward to the Planning Commission for review.
The proposed project must go through site reviews, traffic analysis, and other examinations before it returns to the Board of Supervisors.
— Anita Firebaugh, Special to The Botetourt Bee
