Planning commission reviews adaptive reuse plan to convert New Baltimore fire hall to contractors’ office and technical school

Planning staff presented a two-part application to adapt the former New Baltimore Fire Hall at 5303 and 5317 Lee Highway for combined uses: a contractor’s office/shop and an indoor/outdoor technical training school, plus a special permit to allow a business office in the adjacent former residence.

Ms. Worley, planning staff, described the parcels as 3.68 acres in the village of New Baltimore within the R-1 residential zoning district. She said the fire hall’s first floor (visible from Lee Highway) would be used as a contractor’s office and storage for Brothers Mechanical Services with an 08:30–20:00 Monday–Saturday schedule and four full‑time employees. The basement level facing Grays Mill Road would be used as a technical school with two daily class sessions (a daytime and an evening session); each class, she said, would separate a 4‑hour lecture and 4‑hour lab, with up to three instructors per session and a future goal of up to 25 students per session.

Worley said the applicant proposed 10 parking spaces for the office, 23 for the school and 6 for the adjacent business office (39 spaces total), and planned three 15‑passenger vans to provide student transportation to reduce on‑site parking demand. She said the applicant would abandon private well/septic and connect to Fauquier County Water & Sanitation Authority public utilities.

Commissioners raised several substantive concerns. Questions focused on whether outdoor training and storage areas could be effectively screened from residential neighbors above the site, the proposed “covered” outdoor training structure (its size and whether it would be a new structure vs. an adaptive‑reuse expansion), and whether adding a new covered structure is permissible under the county’s adaptive‑reuse rules. Worley noted the zoning ordinance permits a 30% expansion of the existing building but that the proposed covered training structure appeared to be a new structure and would not qualify as adaptive reuse unless handled as an approved addition. Commissioners asked staff to confirm the structure’s dimensions; Worley said the outdoor structure footprint discussed was about 2,450 square feet and that 30% of the fire hall would be about 2,239 square feet, raising questions about compliance.

Other items for the commission’s consideration included closure and revegetation of two existing gravel entrances (leaving a single concrete entrance to be brought up to VDOT standards), site screening along Lee Highway required by the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Scenic Byway guidance, noise compliance under the noise standards of the zoning ordinance, limits on outdoor activities to 8 a.m.–8 p.m. with no outdoor lighting for labs, and requirements that parking be screened from neighboring residences. Staff recommended conditions limiting instructors and students to the levels shown in the staff‑recommended condition (up to three instructors and 25 students per session), limiting business‑office visits, and requiring a site plan and security gate capable of accommodating the largest expected vehicle outside the public right of way.

Worley told the commission that screening could be difficult because neighboring residences sit higher than the subject parcels and suggested conditions or alternate siting to reduce impacts. The transcript records follow‑up questions about existing above‑ground fuel containers on site and whether those should be removed as a condition. Several commissioners noted a site visit and asked staff to include clear plat annotations for unpermitted features and for staff to confirm final locations and dimensions before a future decision.

Ending: Staff asked the commission to provide feedback and recommended conditions; commissioners requested clarification on the status of a proposed covered training structure, parking layout, screening plans and confirmation of utility connections prior to final action.