Page County board tables rezoning for 9-acre Battle Creek parcel after safety and use concerns

The Page County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to table consideration of a rezoning request for a roughly 9–10 acre parcel off U.S. Highway 340 in the Battle Creek area until a meeting when all supervisors can attend. The board took the procedural step after several residents raised concerns about traffic safety, community character and unspecified future commercial uses.

The rezoning request was filed by Flower View Hundred LLC and seeks to change the parcel’s zoning from agricultural (AG) to commercial. At a public hearing, the applicant, Mr. Reed, told the board the site has an existing VDOT-approved entrance and permits from the health department for well and septic work. Reed said the property “has frontage on the US Highway 340” and that Race Engineering (transcript variants: RACI/RACY Engineering) produced entrance designs that VDOT reviewed. He said the applicant’s short-term plan is “some sort of self storage type facility,” but acknowledged the rezoning would allow a wide range of commercial uses and would eliminate one by-right use that exists today — a micro/farm distillery.

Why it mattered: Nearby residents said the location is unsafe for additional commercial traffic. “This will not make it safer,” resident Judy Painter told the board, referring to vehicle speeds and a recent fatal crash near Newport Road. Other speakers raised concerns about water-supply impacts to wells, potential ‘spot zoning,’ and skepticism that rezoning alone guarantees the tax revenue or jobs proponents described.

Board members questioned both the applicant and staff about the lack of a specific, binding development proposal and about VDOT’s sight-distance findings. Supervisor Vaughn said the community needed time to evaluate the site and moved to table the request until a meeting when all members — including the supervisor for the district that contains the parcel — could attend site visits. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

What was presented: Planning staff summarized the application packet and said adjoining property owners were notified as required by the Code of Virginia and that most relevant agency reviews (VDOT, Health, Building) were included with the application. Reed said a farm-distillery permit, allowed under the existing agricultural zoning, is already in place and can be acted on immediately unless the property is rezoned.

What happens next: The board set the matter for further consideration at a full board meeting on Feb. 2 to allow members to visit the property and to give the district supervisor additional time to participate. No vote on the rezoning itself was taken; the request remains pending.

Quotes and attributions are drawn from the public hearing and question-and-answer exchange recorded in the meeting transcript.