Planning commission recommends approval of Virginia Natural Gas regulator, updates parking rules and indoor firing-range rules

The York County Planning Commission on June 11 voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve a special-use permit allowing Virginia Natural Gas to construct a gas regulator station on an easement at 100 Sentara Circle and to forward two zoning-text amendments: changes to minimum off-street parking rules and new standards and location rules for indoor firearm firing ranges.

The three actions matter to residents because the regulator station is intended to add a second feed to Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center and nearby customers, the parking amendments change minimum requirements for multiple housing and commercial uses, and the firing-range changes add administrative and safety requirements and make indoor ranges eligible in one additional zoning district by special-use permit.

Staff described the Virginia Natural Gas application as a request for a special-use permit to place a small regulator station on an easement within the approximately 83-acre Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center property. Planning staff said the easement is about 0.2 acre and sits on the southeast side of the campus along Old Moore Town Road, roughly 800 feet west of Warner Lane. Under the county’s zoning ordinance, utility facilities adjacent to residentially zoned property must provide a transitional buffer; staff proposed a Type 35 landscape buffer (35 feet wide) and additional screening conditions. Proposed conditions also require an opaque fence (no barbed wire), evergreen plantings at a minimum 6 feet in height and emergency-response signage requested by the Department of Fire and Life Safety. Staff recommended approval, calling the facility “a critical utility necessary to serve the hospital and surrounding community.”

Representatives of Virginia Natural Gas explained why the regulator station is proposed. Company representative Morgan Whalen said the hospital previously relied on a single feed and the new regulator would create an additional route to boost reliability:…