Planning commission asks truck-repair applicant to submit revised landscape plan showing required 10% tree cover

Dinwiddie County planning commissioners on Jan. 14 declined to approve the applicant’s requested reduction of side-yard buffers as submitted and voted to require a redrawn landscape plan showing the ordinance-mandated 10% vegetative cover.

During a staff presentation, planning staff identified the case as SAE-2061, for Capek Properties at a site on the north side of Simpson Road. Staff said the property lies in the county’s Employment Center and is zoned M-1 (industrial limited). While zoning does not require side-yard buffers between like-zoned properties, the landscape ordinance requires that developed sites retain 10% tree or vegetative cover. The current, engineer-stamped site plan shows 50-foot side buffers as the means of meeting that 10% requirement; the applicant asked the commission to reduce those shown buffers to 25 feet to improve maneuverability for tractor-trailers and other large vehicles.

“[T]hey are requesting to reduce that 50 foot, side yard buffer on each side of the property … down to 25 feet,” planning staff said, explaining the operational rationale for truck-repair operations at the site.

Applicant representatives told the commission they believed the site would still meet the 10% requirement if the buffers were reduced. One applicant said the approved plan as drawn shows roughly 20% coverage and argued a 25-foot buffer on each side would still satisfy the ordinance’s 10% tree-coverage threshold.

Commissioners focused on process and plan authority. Several asked whether the 50-foot buffer on the approved plan is a binding encumbrance or simply the engineer’s way of showing where the required trees would be planted. Staff and commissioners responded that the M-1 district’s obligation is the 10% vegetative cover; trees may be sited in different locations on the lot (for example, along the rear property line facing I‑85) so long as the plan demonstrates compliance and does not adversely affect other plan components such as stormwater infrastructure.

Rather than approve the applicant’s requested 25-foot buffer as submitted, the commission voted 5–0 on a motion that the applicant return to their engineer and submit a revised site and landscape plan showing the required 10% vegetative cover, and provide that plan to county staff (Mr. Bassett) for administrative review and approval. Commissioners and staff said an updated, engineer-stamped landscape plan that meets the 10% requirement and does not impact stormwater or other approved plan elements could be administratively approved without requiring the commission to reconvene on the item.

The commission’s action does not change the underlying requirement — the developer must show that the site plan meets the landscape ordinance’s 10% vegetative cover — but it allows the applicant to work with the engineer and staff to relocate plantings on the site in ways that preserve operational space for truck maneuvering. The commission’s motion and vote were procedural directions rather than a permanent waiver of any landscaping requirement.

Next steps: the applicant is to work with their engineer to produce a revised landscape plan demonstrating 10% vegetative cover; staff will review that plan for administrative approval. If the revised plan affects other components (for example stormwater design), additional engineering work and approvals may be required.