New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 28, 2024

Pilot CUP approved; New Kent supervisors concerned about regional radio grid

By Andre Jones | October 29, 2014 10:25 pm

New Kent supervisors have approved a 10-year conditional use permit (CUP) for Pilot LLC.

Action took place during the Oct. 29 board of supervisors work session after being deferred from the Oct. 14 regular monthly meeting. During the regular meeting, last minute additions to the permit raised concerns for supervisors, causing action to be halted until the work session.

Pilot representative Jack Wilson reiterated the additions that include allowing Pilot to address parking concerns with a parking study and allowing the company to add at least 15 new spaces at its location on Route 106 (Emmaus Church Road). Those additional spaces will help reduce traffic backups on the road during peak hours, he said.

After the brief review, supervisors questioned Wilson about Pilot’s intention, specifically pointing to a willingness to meet county code as expressed earlier by representatives of Wilco-Hess and Love’s. Wilco-Hess is slated to build a travel plaza next door to Pilot while Love’s is in the planning stages for a truck stop on the opposite side of Route 106.

Wilson responded that if the additional parking spaces do not help alleviate traffic, Pilot will conduct an additional study. Still, Wilson’s comments did not satisfy at least one supervisor.

“What would happen if we granted this CUP?” asked District 5 representative Ray Davis. “We know even with the 15 additional spaces, traffic will increase when these other travel plazas move in.

“I would like to see more of a long-range plan from Pilot,” concluded Davis.

Supervisors approved the permit 4-1, with Davis casting the lone dissenting vote.

In another matter, supervisors have expressed concern since verbally agreeing to join a regional communications grid in September.

New Kent representatives commented on their worries since agreeing to join the grid with Gloucester County, York County, and Williamsburg-James City County. While New Kent supervisors are expected to enter into a contract on Nov. 30, delays and lack of action by the aforementioned counties have now put the officials’ decision in jeopardy.

County administrator Rodney Hathaway said other localities are currently working to get financial numbers completed to finish the process. While Hathaway said that those numbers may be completed by Nov. 7, District 1 representative and supervisors’ chairman Thomas Evelyn was not pleased, to say the least.

“They [representatives of York, Gloucester, and Williamsburg-James City] were pushing us to join in on this network and now it seems like they are switching up and making us wait,” said a distraught Evelyn. “I am very concerned about this because it is a lot of money that we’re talking about.

“We need to start to look at other options,” he continued. “I don’t want our taxpayers to suffer because of this.”

Joining the network will cost New Kent $6.7 million, with a buy-in rate of $700,000. Financing options for the project were presented at the work session, but supervisors agreed that those numbers will probably change with the other localities still adding up numbers.

In one final issue, supervisors have set a public hearing date to increase the net combined financial worth limit in tax relief for the elderly and disabled program.

Commissioner of Revenue Laura Ecimovic recommended that the limit be raised from $75,000 to $150,000, adding that many applications have been denied due to the limit. Ecimovic also pointed out that surrounding counties have a limit of $150,000 or more. The public hearing is tentatively scheduled for December.