Residents oppose, Planning Commission recommends denial of Sheetz (2024)

This article has been updated to show that Powell's Furniture store remains open.

After a string of residents spoke against rezoning for a proposed Sheetz gas station and convenience store during a Wednesday public hearing, the Spotsylvania County Planning Commission gave a unanimous thumbs down.

The applicant is seeking a special-use permit to build the gas station and convenience store.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to forward the proposal to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation for denial.

The proposal calls for the gas station/convenience store to be built on the site of the Powell’s Furniture store. The furniture store, which sits on a 2.63-acre parcel at State Route 3 and Heatherstone Drive, remains open and is not for sale, according to the owners.

Store owner Jim Powell said he actually wants to expand the current location but can't because the county will not allow it, citing a lack of space around the store.

Powell said Sheetz approached him about the property and he said he would consider selling at some point if the company could get it approved. He added that numerous others have expressed interest in the store site.

The store owner said he wants to either expand with a second store or move the entire operation to another nearby, bigger vacant space to operate an outlet center.

The proposed Sheetz store would have seven gas pump stations with pumps on each side and a 6,139-square-foot store, which would include a drive-thru, outdoor dining area and 43 parking spaces.

The property is bordered by Faith Baptist Church and a National Park Service plot, where a monument for the 15th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry Regiment stands, according to a county report on the proposal.

Seventeen people spoke during the public hearing. Mostly members of the church and residents who live near the location spoke against the proposal, with concerns ranging from increased traffic and gas fumes to crime and transients being drawn to the spot.

Many of the speakers specified their concern about the store being so close to the church, primarily because it also serves as a school with more than 600 students.

Faith Baptist Senior Pastor Kurt Skelly and the school Administrator Jonathan Raines echoed other speakers who have safety concerns.

Raines noted crimes, including shootings, reported at other Sheetz stores, locally and in other areas. He also said the store would make an already congested area worse, especially when students and staff arrive and leave the school, which has no buses.

Both men also highlighted their concern about a convenience store possibly drawing more of the area’s transient population.

The store would add an estimated 1,211 vehicles to the location, according to a county analysis.

The proposal partially mitigates its traffic impacts with improvements, including a right-turn lane on Route 3, according to a traffic impact study by the applicant.

But the analysis also found that the Route 3/Heatherstone Drive intersection will have an “F” level of service for the eastbound Route 3 left turns onto Heatherstone Drive. No solution was included in the analysis.

There are road improvements planned for that area of Route 3, but those are Virginia Department of Transportation projects and not related to the proposed store.

County staff recommended approval, but the Planning Commission did not.

Courtland District Planning Commission member Tim Gronau told the crowd the applicant will “get their day before the Board of Supervisors” and suggested they also show up for the public hearing for the Sheetz proposal.

He warned them the location is popular among developers looking to build gas stations there, because there aren’t many options to the west.