Sheetz in Blue Ridge Approved by Board of Supervisors

Sheetz would invest $7 million in order to bring a gas station and convenience store to the intersection of Laymantown Road (Rt. 659) and Blue Ridge Blvd (US 460). The Board of Supervisors approved multiple changes to the zoning and to the county’s 2010 Comprehensive Plan’s Sewer and Water Infrastructure Map and the Future Land Use Map in order to allow the development, with conditions.

The Board met on June 27, 2023 at the Botetourt County Administration Building at Greenfield in Amsterdam. The facility received a 4-1 vote, with Blue Ridge District Supervisor Billy Martin opposed.

Sheetz would absorb the cost of running a sewer line down US 460 to its development, county planning staff said. An additional line would be laid at the same time and capped in anticipation of potential use by other development, including existing structures that currently operate using a septic system, such as businesses at the strip mall where Food Lion is located.

The new Sheetz would be developed on a 3.5 acre site at the intersection corner directly across from Carilion Clinic. County staff noted that the Virginia Department of Transportation has plans to reconfigure the intersection and replace a bridge there at a future date. Sheetz would have an entrance from Blue Ridge Blvd. and another off of Laymantown Road.

Sheetz would have six gas pumps but no high flow diesel for trucks. The convenience store would encompass about 6,100 square feet of space. Its design would be similar to the new Sheetz located at Orange Avenue and King Street in the City of Roanoke.

Several people objected to the project during the public hearing, citing concerns such as damage to the existing waterway along US 460, traffic congestion, and impact on other small businesses in the area.

                                                                                          — Anita Firebaugh, Special to The Botetourt Bee