Planners give nod to tower

New Kent’s Planning Commission is recommending county Board of Supervisors’ approval of a permit request to build a 195-foot, self-supporting, lattice style cell phone communications tower on a 25-acre site about 1,000 feet northeast of the end of Topeka Road in Quinton.

Planners voted 9-0 with one abstention Monday night to forward a favorable recommendation to supervisors on the request by Richmond-based National Communications Towers and property owners R. Wade and Kathleen Moore.

The application first came before the commission in May, but action was postponed after neighbors who own land along Topeka Road, a private road, claimed access to the site had not been granted. But Monday night, county attorney Michele Gowdy and community development department head George Homewood said access is no longer an issue.

“[The applicants] must provide the county with documentation proving they have legal access, and we believe they have that,” Gowdy told commission members.

Homewood also noted there are no wetland or environmental issues that could derail the application, and added that the proposed use of the site conforms with the county’s comprehensive land use plan.

In other business, planners forwarded favorable recommendations to supervisors on a pair of rezoning applications submitted by Whitmore Chevrolet and TJ W Enterprise. The applicants are seeking to rezone three parcels totaling 2.3 acres located between Whitmore Chevrolet and Parks Road in Eltham from residential to business. The tracts are slated for the auto dealership’s future expansion, but for now there are no construction plans.

Both applications passed by votes of 8-1 with one abstention. Tommy Tiller cast the lone dissenting vote. Stran Trout elected to cast his vote with fellow supervisors.

Also Monday night, the commission unanimously gave final approval for an amendment to the Farms of New Kent Land Bay I Area Plan to allow for 30 lakefront cottages to be built on six acres adjacent to Route 249.

The cottages’ floor plans call for a minimum 1,500 square feet with sale price in the high $300,000 to $500,000 range. The cottage will face the lake, which has yet to be formed, and the planned Mirbeau inn and spa on the opposite shore.

“We feel this is a very good product,” New Kent Vineyards partner Pete Johns told planners. “It will fit the market nicely, and we’re anxious to start building.”