Planning commission recommends approval for Warwick Boulevard auto-repair conditional use permit

The Newport News Planning Commission on Sept. 3 recommended city council approve a conditional use permit (CU2025Tax0006) to allow a small motor-vehicle repair and service facility at 15412 Warwick Boulevard.

Planner Saul Laceier told commissioners the applicant, Ernesto Orlando Bolanos, proposes to reuse an existing 1,900-square-foot building with four enclosed service bays (two used for storage) and operate by appointment only. Laceier said the property is zoned C-2 and that a prior conditional use (CU06198) had expired after operations ceased in 2020. "A small auto repair shop with limited capacity and by appointment only . . . can be considered a neighborhood service," Laceier said.

Staff recommended approval with 21 conditions, including submission of a Class 1 site plan, an approved landscape plan, plans showing compliance with ventilation requirements for issuance of a certificate of occupancy, removal of the northern Warwick Boulevard entrance and replacement of the southern entrance with a 40-foot commercial entrance, and no freestanding signs.

Commissioners questioned whether business-plan statements (for example, that no vehicles would be stored overnight) would be enforceable permit conditions; Laceier clarified that such business-plan commitments are not automatically permit conditions unless specified. Chase Grog of Land Tech Resources, speaking for the applicants, said the goal is "to just bring it back to how it was used in the past" and to bring the property into current standards.

Commissioner roll call produced a unanimous recommendation (8–0) to forward the permit to city council for a public hearing on Sept. 23, 2025.

Next steps: the planning commission’s recommendation will be considered by Newport News City Council at its Sept. 23, 2025 meeting.