New Kent supervisors approve travel plaza
After several months of input, research, and negotiations over a proposed conditional use permit (CUP), New Kent supervisors approved Wilco-Hess LLC’s request to build a travel plaza just south of Interstate 64 on Route 106.
More than 30 opponents stormed out the meeting room murmuring in disbelief after the board approved the permit by a 4-1 vote last night (July 8.) The travel plaza will consist of an 8,000 square-foot convenience store and a 3,400 square-foot fast food restaurant along with a dozen fuel pumps for cars and eight more for heavy trucks on the southeast corner of the interchange. The 461-acre parcel will provide parking for more than 120 trucks. The travel plaza will also bring in an estimated $250,000 revenue to the county.
After deferring action at the May and June meetings, supervisors pieced together input received from the applicant, county residents, representatives from Pilot LLC, and MHF Dining before each spoke during the meeting.
But before supervisors weighed in with their opinions, Jay Naparlo, owner of the proposed Burger King slated to be built adjacent to the existing Pilot, voiced his opinion to the board.
“It’s your responsibility to handle this decision not for today, but for future consideration,” he said.
Timmons Group and Wilco-Hess representative Derrick Johnson reiterated his client’s intent to comply with all 18 conditions of the CUP, including a $100,000 bond for a traffic signal analysis and study if the need is warranted.
After supervisors received sufficient answers to questions involving the possible expansion of the width of roads to provide entranceways, each spoke one by one on the individual research and feedback they received.
“I looked at the other truck stops in the vicinity and I found numerous housing developments in the vicinity,” said District 1 representative Thomas Evelyn.
“I read six years ago that New Kent was not business friendly,” he continued. “We have to start somewhere and to me, this is a great opportunity. We can’t keep turning down business opportunities.”
District 4 supervisor Ron Stiers echoed Evelyn’s approach, saying that he also agrees with the proposed truck stop and that citizens he spoke to were not against the idea.
“I found zero opposition to the truck stop,” Stiers said, pointing to conversations he had with third-generation families in New Kent who he considered when looking at the idea. “I have my heart-felt opinion and I’ve done my homework [on the issue].
“These big rigs pull in, buy $1,000 in gas, buy food, pay the meal tax, and they get out the county,” the supervisor concluded.
Not all supervisors favored the idea for the development. District 2 representative Thomas Tiller, who is also the board’s representative to the planning commission, brought up conversation he had with a deputy of the New Kent Sheriff’s Office.
“My biggest concern to me is the traffic turning into the Pilot station,” said the supervisor. “I had an even split for and against it.”
However, District 3 Supervisor James Burrell said his recent vacation brought some clarification to his decision.
“Truck stops are magnets to draw business,” Burrell said in his lone statement.
Chairman and District 5 representative Ray Davis spoke after his colleagues concluded, speaking on Wilco-Hess research and approach to the company’s request for the permit.
“You don’t build truck stops if you don’t have the confidence,” said Davis. “I don’t think the man is going to build a place where people can’t get into it, point blank.”
“Truck traffic is going to increase,” the chairman continued, pointing to port traffic in Norfolk and Portsmouth being limited and redirecting traffic down the interstate. “I think they did a good job presenting and also a good job in their research.”
Neither Naparlo nor a representative from Pilot could be reached at the time of this release.