Warrenton planning panel OKs McRoberts Motorsports conditional use, adds prior conditions

Warrenton City’s Planning and Zoning Commission on June 12 approved a conditional use permit for McRoberts Motorsports to operate a 4,860-square-foot UTV sales, service and repair business at 602 Progress Parkway and approved the site plan for the same property.

The permit was approved with conditions matching those on the applicants’ adjacent property, including limits on the number of service bays, restrictions on outside storage and requirements about vehicle storage and tire disposal. The commission also discussed and recorded that the parking area will remain gravel initially but the applicants plan to pave it; the commission did not attach a firm deadline for paving. The approvals passed 8-0 and the matters will go before the Board of Aldermen on June 17 for final action.

The commission’s staff report, presented by Bart Corman of Lewis & Beatty, recommended approval and stated that the application met site-plan and conditional-use requirements under the city code. The applicants, Scott and Melanie McRoberts, said they plan to use the existing building (formerly an auction house and several prior businesses) for retail sales and mechanical servicing of UTVs and to separate UTV operations from their adjacent auto-sales facility. Scott McRoberts said, “it’s gonna look better than anything around there,” and described plans to upgrade the property’s appearance.

Commissioners reviewed a set of conditions originally imposed in 2022 on the McRoberts’ neighboring property and considered carrying them forward to this site. Those prior conditions (read into the record by staff) included: vehicles not for sale must be kept in the fenced area; no disassembled vehicles on the lot; the parking lot must be paved; no parking on the grass north of the sidewalk and UTVs parked on grass only during business hours; storage of discarded tires inside the building; and no more than four vehicle bays, three of which may have lifts. The applicants said they are currently meeting those conditions at their existing location and would not object to the same conditions on the new property.

Commission discussion focused on the parking surface and a proposed on-site test track. The applicants described a small test-course area on the lot for customer test drives, and the commission clarified the intent that test drives remain on private property and would not constitute racing. A city attorney present, Pryor, cautioned that placing a condition without an associated timeline can complicate enforcement, saying, “that may be a difficult enforcement mechanism” if no deadline is set. Commissioners agreed they did not want to impose an immediate, burdensome deadline for paving but noted the city code requires parking areas be maintained in a “dust-free” condition; staff said properly maintained gravel can meet that standard in the near term.

The commission’s motion to approve the conditional use permit (moved by Grenell, seconded by Cullum) carried unanimously, 8-0. A separate motion to approve the McRoberts site plan (moved by Cullum, seconded by Hadden) also passed 8-0. Both approvals will be forwarded to the Board of Aldermen on June 17 for final consideration.

The commission closed the public hearing and moved on to other agenda items.