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Board approves Columbia Gas special‑use permit for Smith Station district station
Summary
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors approved a special‑use permit for Columbia Gas to build a small district station near Smith Station Road, with conditions for screening, a sidewalk and tree‑clearing timing to protect bats; staff said the station will serve about 3,500 customers and improve system reliability.
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted to approve SUP23‑006 on Aug. 27, allowing Columbia Gas of Virginia to build a 0.64‑acre district station at 5515 Masponics Church Road to tie into the utility’s existing distribution system.
County planning staff told the board the Planning Commission had recommended approval by a 7–0 vote and that staff found the proposal consistent with the comprehensive plan so long as recommended conditions were met, including an 8‑foot privacy screen, 35‑foot landscaping buffer, no site lighting, installation of a 5‑foot sidewalk on Smith Station Road and a prohibition on tree‑clearing from May 15 through July 31 to reduce impacts to potential bat habitat. Staff cited local zoning standards (chapter 23, section 4.7.05) and Code of Virginia §15.2‑2232 in framing the review.
Petrina Jones Robleski, representing Columbia Gas, said the project would improve continuity and reduce outage risk for roughly 3,500 existing county customers. “This will allow us to deliver on our commitments and make improvements to our system, so that we can maintain that continuity, and service, and reliability, but also minimize the risk of an outage to the system,” Jones Robleski told the board.
No members of the public spoke in opposition during the hearing. After staff and the applicant answered questions on screening, access and wildlife mitigation, the board moved to approve the permit with the stated conditions.
The approval includes the planting and maintenance requirements and the annual tree‑clearing restriction intended to avoid significant impacts to identified bat species. The applicant will be required to develop the site according to the approved generalized development plan dated Oct. 17, 2023 (last revised June 13, 2024). The board recorded the motion as passing on an 6‑yes vote.
The county will monitor compliance with the conditions and any required permits before construction begins.
