The Buckingham County Planning Commission on Nov. 24 tabled a special use permit application for Indigo Acres, a proposed retreat and event center near 1048 Rock Island Road, after a four-hour hearing that produced sharply divided testimony from neighbors and supporters.

The applicants told the commission they had reduced earlier, larger attendance proposals and were offering new limits and site commitments. "We are reducing our numbers to 6 events per year at 750 attendance at no more than once per month, and we would also like to have 18 events per year at 325 maximum attendants," owner Cara Smariga told the commission, and she said the family had agreed to work with the building and health departments and to move the entrance farther from a dangerous curve following VDOT guidance.

Opponents pressed for more technical review and tighter limits, citing traffic and road-safety risks on narrow local roads, potential groundwater contamination from on-site composting or porta-johns, inadequate emergency response times and possible noise and property-value impacts. "This is not the location for this size of a proposal," said James A. Wood Jr., a lifelong resident, who asked for traffic and environmental studies and noted unmarked gravesites on the property.

Commissioners focused their questions on three core items: vehicle access and VDOT approval of a new entrance, a wastewater/septic plan acceptable to the health department, and a credible crowd-management and emergency-response plan (security/EMS). Staff read a VDOT comment into the record noting that the existing access ‘‘is not located and constructed to serve the proposed use’’ and that a new entrance must meet VDOT agritourism guidance and be evaluated for access improvements.

Members expressed a preference for a conservative, phased startup rather than immediately allowing the largest attendance figures proposed. Commissioners discussed comparable approvals in the county and suggested starting conditions in the lower range; the chair and several members said a beginning cap in the range of 250–500 attendees for larger events (with smaller caps for other gatherings) was more consistent with recent approvals. The applicant signaled willingness to reduce numbers to make the project workable for neighbors and regulators.

Because several technical questions remained unresolved, including VDOT documentation, documented health-department approvals and a detailed traffic/parking plan, the commission voted to table the Indigo Acres case to the next meeting and asked the applicant to return with the requested studies and written agency responses. The commission recorded an informal consensus toward lower starting capacities but took no final vote on specific numeric conditions before tabling.

Next steps: Indigo Acres must provide the commission with VDOT verification or a finalized entrance plan, health-department sign-off or a septic/perk analysis, and a clearer phased event schedule and crowd-management plan before the commission will forward a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.