The Fauquier County Planning Commission voted Oct. 16 to forward special-exception SPEX-25025102 and a related Category 14 special-permit amendment for Warrenton Equipment LLC to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation of approval. The commission’s recorded action was 3–2 in favor.

Staff said the property at the intersection of Beach Road and U.S. Route 29 has a long commercial history dating to the 1950s–1960s and is currently zoned rural residential. The applicant requested a Category 32 special-exception amendment for a contractor’s office and storage configuration, and a Category 14 amendment for farm equipment sales, rental and service. The current application seeks to remove the contractor storage yard, relocate parking, formalize an outdoor farm-equipment display area along Route 29 and revise the front-yard landscaping from canopy trees to a single row of shrubs where an overhead power line restricts tree planting.

Staff and the applicant said the property has operated with overlapping commercial uses, and that site work and landscaping required by prior approvals were not completed. The property has two earlier approvals: a 2017 Category 32 special exception permitting the contractor’s office and storage yard and a 2021 Category 14 special permit for farm equipment sales and rental; staff said the site remains in violation because construction and required landscaping had not been completed and an as-built plan had not been filed.

Applicant representative Jim Carson and the property owners attended and described the recent construction activity and the rationale for substituting shrubs for trees where overhead lines limit growth. A staff-recommended condition would prohibit mechanical service or bodywork of automobiles, trucks or heavy equipment outside the garage and would require removal and revegetation of gravel or fencing within 10 feet of property lines.

During deliberations, some commissioners said they were inclined to support the revised approvals because the application would remove the contractor storage yard and reflected historic commercial use at the site; others said they were reluctant to reward noncompliance and said they lacked confidence the new conditions would be followed. One commissioner said they intended to vote ‘‘no’’ because of perceived willful noncompliance with prior approvals. The commission ultimately approved the recommendation to forward the amended approvals to the Board of Supervisors by a 3–2 vote; the chair instructed staff to include the record and conditions for the Board’s review.

The Board of Supervisors will receive the Planning Commission’s recommendation and the staff packet, including proposed conditions that limit outside servicing and require revegetation within 10 feet of property lines. If the Board approves the amendments, the county will monitor compliance with the site-plan and landscaping conditions and pursue enforcement actions if conditions are not met.