Planning Commission recommends conditional use permit for Costco fueling station at Jefferson Avenue

The Newport News Planning Commission on May 21 recommended approval, by a 9-0 vote, of a conditional use permit allowing a Costco Wholesale warehouse and an automobile gasoline supply station on a 20.23-acre portion of former Ferguson Enterprises property along Jefferson Avenue.

City planning staff told commissioners the site is within the M-1 Light Industrial zoning district, which allows a wholesale-retail warehouse by right but requires a conditional use permit for an automobile gasoline supply station. Staff reported the development would place a 163,000-square-foot Costco warehouse on about 20.23 acres of the overall 32.37-acre campus and would include a covered fueling area with 16 pumps (32 fueling positions) and on-site queuing for roughly 70 vehicles. The staff recommendation notes a traffic impact analysis prepared by Kittelson and Associates, concurrence from the Virginia Department of Transportation, and 24 conditions included in the staff report if the City Council approves the permit.

Why it matters: commissioners and staff framed the decision around traffic mitigation and visual screening. Planning staff and the applicant described multiple…