Warren County planning commission forwards two conditional use permits and approves 2025 annual report

The Warren County Planning Commission on Feb. 11 recommended that the Board of Supervisors approve two conditional use permits: a short-term rental at 927 Bowling Green Road and an accessory dwelling unit at 82 Pilgrims Way. The commission also accepted its 2025 annual report and heard a public comment raising concerns about data centers and local water capacity.

Planning staff presented the first application (identified in the record as CUP 20 26 0 1 0 1), a request to operate a short-term tourist rental in the apartment above an attached garage at 927 Bowling Green Road. "The applicant is requesting a conditional use permit for a short term tourist rental for the property she purchased in December 2024," planning staff (identified in the record as Miss Wall) told the commission, noting the owner would live on-site and serve as the property manager. Staff said the dwelling was built in 2020 and that a Warren County health department operation permit approves a maximum of eight occupants for the four-bedroom dwelling. The applicant requested a waiver of the usual 100-foot separation from neighboring dwellings to allow the existing approximately 50-foot setback; staff recommended five conditions, including compliance with Warren County health and building inspections and the Virginia statewide fire prevention code, annual well-water testing, septic servicing every five years, and issuance of a zoning certificate only with approved health department records.

The chair opened the public hearing; no members of the public spoke. The chair said he would "normally find 50 feet a little bit tight, but if the next door neighbor is signed off and doesn't mind, and also, too, if she is the property manager, I'm sure she'll be there." After brief discussion, a commissioner moved to forward the application to the Board of Supervisors with the conditions recommended by staff; the motion was seconded and the commission approved sending the recommendation to the Board.

The second public hearing was for CUP 2026-01-02, a request to construct a detached accessory dwelling unit at 82 Pilgrims Way so the owner's wife's parents could live on the property. Planning staff explained a boundary line adjustment increased the lot to 3.8464 acres to meet the minimum lot size for a detached ADU, that septic permits have been modified to accommodate the additional dwelling, and that the proposal met size constraints. Staff recommended conditions including compliance with county building and health regulations, a final zoning inspection before issuance of a certificate of occupancy, a maximum number of occupants per the health department permit, a prohibition on constructing more than one accessory dwelling unit on the subject property, and a ban on rentals for periods under 30 days.

No members of the public signed up to speak on the ADU. A commissioner moved to forward CUP 2026-01-02 to the Board of Supervisors with staff conditions; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The chair said items forwarded from the commission typically appear before the Board of Supervisors in about a month.

The commission then reviewed and accepted the Planning Commission's draft 2025 annual report and voted to forward the report to the Board of Supervisors for review. During the meeting commissioners requested more detailed tracking of short-term rental activity — for example, aggregate counts of permits approved, active operations, and dropouts — and staff agreed to prepare a count of issued certificates of zoning and business licenses to help distinguish active short-term rental operators from incomplete applicants.

During an unscheduled public comment a resident said they were "recently made aware" of an "onslaught" of data centers being proposed in the region and raised concerns about whether such projects could come to Warren County. A commissioner and the chair responded that the county does not have water capacity to support large data centers and that the Board of Supervisors had not indicated support for them. The commission also paused to note that Mr. Williams announced that his next Wednesday would be his last day and that this was his final Planning Commission meeting.

Next steps: the two conditional use permits will be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for consideration (the chair estimated it would be about a month before the Board hears them). The commission adjourned after completing the agenda.