Commission recommends Bennetts Creek nursing/rehab rezoning, 8–0

The Suffolk Planning Commission on Oct. 21 voted unanimously, 8–0, to recommend approval of rezoning request RZN2025‑0007 to allow an office/institutional (OI) conditional use limited to a medical/nursing facility at parcels on Bridge Road (including 1931 and 1975 Bridge Road). The recommendation advances the applicant’s proffers limiting future uses on the parcels to a nursing/rehab facility, committing to architectural features consistent with Colonial Williamsburg character, and including proffered road improvements drawn from the traffic impact assessment.

Staff planner Shannon Wolf told the commission the request would amend previously approved proffers for one parcel and rezone an adjoining parcel from RR (rural residential) to OI conditional for the purpose of consolidating parcels into a single medical facility site. The proffers would restrict the OI zoning so the property would not be developed for other OI uses such as hotels or general retail; the applicant also volunteered design commitments and traffic‑related proffers.

Architect Jeff Serto and Stantec engineers described the project on behalf of Sabre Healthcare, which holds a Virginia Department of Health certificate of public need for the facility. The team said Suffolk’s 65+ population is projected to grow and that the proposed facility would create about 112 full‑time jobs locally. Stantec’s traffic presentation estimated about 400 daily trips from the facility — an increase the consultants described as under 2 percent of existing traffic on the studied section of Bridge Road — and proffered intersection improvements including extended turn bays to accommodate site access. The applicant and engineers also addressed stormwater and sewer options and said the design would comply with current ordinances.

Speakers from nearby Cedar Point and other neighborhoods urged denial, citing traffic, incompatibility with low‑density residential surroundings, stormwater and notification concerns, and potential impacts on property values. Gregor Matheson, a retired Navy medical chief speaking for several Cedar Point families, called the site “incompatible with surrounding land uses” and urged relocation to a medically‑zoned corridor. Civic‑league leadership asked for more specific stormwater review and for outreach to non‑HOA residents.

Applicants and staff responded that a formal traffic impact assessment was prepared and approved by the city as part of the zoning package, that the applicant had held meetings with community groups and provided letters of support from some neighborhood organizations, and that stormwater and sewer constraints were being addressed in preliminary engineering and would be resolved in design and permitting.

The commission’s unanimous recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council on Nov. 19 for final action.