Board defers Shell Brothers residential rezoning after neighbors raise stormwater and tree-preservation concerns

The Henrico County Board of Supervisors on April 8 deferred a conditional rezoning request from Shell Brothers for a nine-acre site at the northeast corner of Pouncey Tract Road and Shady Grove Road to its May 13 meeting, after area residents objected to proposed grading, a stormwater basin and what they described as insufficient tree preservation.

Planning staff described the site as wooded and adjacently bounded by single-family neighborhoods. The applicant proposed rezoning from A-1 to R-5AC to allow up to 26 single-family homes with a single access point on Shady Grove Road, a stormwater basin (BMP) at the northeast corner of the parcel and swales along the northern and eastern property lines. Staff said the proposal generally matched the site's 2026 comprehensive-plan designation of Urban Residential and that the planning commission had recommended approval following community meetings.

Residents who spoke at the public hearing asked the board to require stronger protections. Thomas George, a Mason Park Way resident and homeowners-association board member, said the neighborhood already has a nearby detention pond that produces persistent ponding near a playground; he urged the applicant and staff to account for seepage and to place the basin farther from adjacent backyards. He also requested additional tree buffering of 8 to 10 feet (and, later in the hearing, a 25-foot buffer recommendation for properties touching the BMP) and asked the board to reexamine the speed limit on the stretch from Pouncey Tract to Twin Hickory Road.

Another resident, Sean Law, told the board the subject property functions like a wetland after rain and urged preservation of a 25-foot mature-tree buffer around the proposed basin, citing the trees' contribution to infiltration and neighborhood stability. Staff and the applicant told the board the basin size and a DPW-required 20-foot maintenance easement around the BMP will constrain the ability to preserve trees in all locations, but the developer said it will coordinate with Public Works (DPW) and attempt to protect trees where feasible; the applicant also offered to plant evergreens or other screening where preservation is not possible.

Applicant representative said they reduced proposed density from the 61 units that the comprehensive plan allowed to 26 homes, proffered sidewalks, fencing around the basin and potential landscape mitigation, and worked with traffic staff on the Shady Grove access. Planning staff cautioned that final tree-preservation decisions will be made during plan review and engineering once final grading and basin dimensions are established.

Supervisor Rountree moved to defer the rezoning to the board's May 13 meeting; the motion was seconded and carried. The board directed staff and the applicant to continue outreach with neighbors and for the applicant to coordinate tree-preservation and DPW easement details prior to the board's May 13 decision.