Planning commission recommends Acton Academy site for conditional use, adds safety and landscape conditions

The Goochland County Planning Commission on Feb. 19 voted 4–1 to recommend approval of a conditional use permit for Acton Academy to operate a private, learner-led school on about 7.09 acres at Broad Street Road and 3 Chopped Road, subject to tightened lighting and landscape buffers meant to reduce visual impacts and address traffic-safety concerns.

Assistant Planning Director Carrie Ragland summarized staff's recommendation and the proposed conditions, describing a two-phase plan that would use existing buildings in phase one and add an 11,500-square-foot and a 5,000-square-foot building in phase two. Ragland said staff capped enrollment at 85 students for phase one and 125 students overall and recommended measures including dark-sky-compliant lighting, a six-foot privacy fence, additional perimeter plantings and a traffic management plan to keep school pickup times outside PM peak traffic.

Caitlin Allsup, the applicant and operator of Acton Academy, told commissioners the school currently serves 49 learners and 28 families and that the proposal was narrowed after community meetings. "We reduced the educational building footprint by 5,000 square feet and changed our entire business plan'which is a huge financial loss for us, but we're willing to do it to make this dream happen," Allsup said, adding that more than half of the seven acres would remain undisturbed and that the school has no regular athletics program on site.

Supporters, including parents and students, said the school brings educational choice and local economic ties. John Rich, a parent and resident, said Acton reuses an existing barn and helps keep parcels intact rather than subdividing them. "Reusing existing structures and preserving open space is preferable to intensive subdivision," he said.

Opponents and adjacent landowners focused on traffic and safety at the intersection of Broad Street and 3 Chopped Road, sight-distance limits, and potential impacts on wells, septic and rural character. Kevin Joyner, who lives adjacent to the property, urged the commission to deny the application, saying the site "is simply not appropriate for a project of this scale" and citing accident history and proximity of buildings to neighboring yards. Several speakers noted a FOIA request that yielded dozens of crash reports in the corridor.

The applicant, joined by land-use counsel Mark Kronenthal, defended the proposal. Kronenthal said the county's comprehensive plan encourages adaptive reuse and that the ordinance permits schools on A2 (agricultural limited) land through the CUP process. He and the applicant also pointed to the traffic impact analysis and VDOT review; Allsup said the school's pickup and drop-off are controlled and that the school is willing to conduct additional environmental testing and add plantings to mitigate impacts.

Fire Rescue Chief Eddie Ferguson told commissioners the department will require code compliance for any development but expressed concern about existing sight lines and crash history at the nearby intersections. "I do have safety concerns with those intersections as they are today, with or without additional development," he said.

After extended discussion, commissioners amended staff conditions: they replaced a fixed "lights off by 9 p.m." requirement with a dynamic limit—no later than two hours after sunset—and added a requirement for a staggered double row of evergreen trees (minimum 6 feet at planting, maximum 10 feet spacing) adjacent to identified neighbors where no trees exist. Commissioners also retained the requirement that school events of 250 or more people require a special-event permit and that the Plan of Development must address internal circulation, fire access, and traffic stacking.

Commissioner Dean cast the sole dissenting vote, citing unresolved safety concerns at the intersection. The motion recommending approval as amended passed 4–1. The commission's recommendation will be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for a public hearing; no date for that hearing was specified in the record.

The planning staff noted that additional technical reviews (VDOT, fire and rescue, and a plan of development review) and any further condition language would be addressed as the application proceeds to the Board of Supervisors.