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BZA grants setback variance for Firefly broadband hub on Madison County parcel
Summary
Madison County Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance to reduce the required front setback so a 10-by-20 prefabricated building, generator and propane tank for a Firefly broadband hub can be installed on tax map 24-31I.
The Madison County Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday approved a variance allowing Central Virginia Services Inc., doing business as Firefly, to place a prefabricated 10-by-20 building, a generator and a propane tank 40 feet from the centerline of a private access road on property identified as Madison County tax map 24-31I instead of the ordinance’s usual 100-foot front setback.
The applicant, Massie Saunders, a surveying and engineering contractor who said he has worked with Firefly since 2018, told the board the company needed to site the hub near existing distribution lines so it can connect to Rappahannock Electric’s overhead lines. Saunders said Rappahannock Electric required space in the southeast corner of the parcel to expand a substation, which left the southwestern corner as the only feasible placement for the hub’s small building, generator and propane tank.
“The only place we had to work was in the southwestern corner of the property,” Saunders said. He described landscaping and bollard placement to protect equipment and said the measured distance from the centerline to the hut location is “between 60–70” feet when scaled from the plan, and that the requested 40-foot setback would cover all equipment proposed.
County staff also commented in favor of allowing the location, noting the county is pursuing universal broadband and has allocated ARPA funding to broadband deployment. Jonathan, a county staff member, said the county views the hub installations as essential to serving rural areas and listed several electric cooperatives and utilities Firefly is coordinating with, including Dominion, Rappahannock, Southside Electric and AEP.
Board members asked about neighbors served by the private access road and about landscaping buffers. Saunders said there are at least three dwellings served by that road and that the immediate area behind the proposed site is open with small trees and grass; he offered to modify the landscaping to low-growing evergreens to preserve sight lines and avoid interference with overhead lines.
A motion to grant the variance as presented was made, seconded and approved by the board. The transcript records the action as approved; a roll-call tally was not specified in the meeting record.
The applicant was told they could expect further contact from county staff in the coming weeks to proceed with permitting and site work.
