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Board recommends conditional use to add automotive sales on 1.6-acre section of Mispa Church Road property
Summary
The Planning Board voted June 8 to recommend a conditional-use amendment that would add automotive sales and rentals as a permitted conditional use on a 1.6-acre portion of a Highway Commercial Conditional District near 1401 Mispa Church Road; staff will check whether an adjacent 0.86-acre frontage wedge can be included for commissioners' consideration.
Angela Farmer Jones, who lives at 1401 Mispa Church Road, told the Rockingham County Planning Board on June 8 that she is applying for a dealer's license to start a small automotive sales business with her son and that the operation will be by appointment only and not open to the public.
Planning staff presented case 206-09, a conditional rezoning that would add 'automotive sales and rentals' as an additional conditional use limited to a roughly 1.6-acre section of an existing Highway Commercial Conditional District. Staff recommended approval with that single added use and noted the rest of the parcel would remain under its existing conditions.
"I'm starting a small business, with my son... we're not gonna be open to the public... by appointment only," Jones said, describing plans to run a low-traffic operation and pointing out existing tree screening between the site and the road.
Board members asked whether the addition applied only to the 1.6-acre area, how driveway access and split zoning might affect future sale or parcel division, and whether other automotive uses should be allowed. Staff said the applicant requested only that one additional use and that limiting the request helps address neighborhood concerns; staff and members noted commercial uses already exist across the road.
Board members also discussed a small wedge of Residential Agricultural (RA) frontage the applicant now owns that appears carved out on the zoning map; the applicant said the wedge is roughly 0.86 acres and would be desirable to include in the commercial zoning. Staff told the board it could either approve the request as presented and then research possible mid-process boundary additions before the commissioners, or require the applicant to submit a new or amended application. The applicant indicated she preferred staff to explore adding acreage before commissioners.
A motion to recommend approval of the conditional-use amendment as presented passed. The planning board's recommendation will be forwarded to the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners; staff will follow up to determine whether additional acreage can be added to the application packet prior to the commissioners' hearing.
