Henrico planners oppose 2 of 3 development proposals scheduled to be considered by planning commission Aug. 13
The Henrico Planning Commission will consider three rezoning requests at its Aug. 13 meeting, including two industrial proposals in the Varina District that county planning staffers do not support and a Fairfield District commercial proposal that has won staff support after its developer revised the plan.
Despite the county’s focus in its new Comprehensive Plan on preserving the rural and agricultural character of Eastern Henrico, one of those proposals before the commission this week (from Ace Investments LLC) seeks to convert a 73.6-acre parcel of land in the Varina District into industrial uses.
The site (which sits on Pocahontas Parkway, about 410 feet east side of its intersection with Monahan Road, and extends up to Charles City Road) would house an expanded hydroseeding supplies and equipment operation and then add new industrial uses, including a 16,000-square-foot office and shop, a large gravel storage yard and space that could be leased to other industrial users that have not yet been identified. Some of the existing trees would stay as well, due to environmental limitations.
The parcel is surrounded by a few single-family homes and wooded land. The specific new industrial uses that would be added are not indicated. Henrico planning staffers do not support the proposal, pointing to a lack of information about how the site will be used, buffer zones to neighboring property, a possible connection to Charles City Road, building elevations, and lack of public water and sewer service.
Although the county's comprehensive plan designates the property for planned industry usage, staffers concluded that the proposal does not sufficiently meet the county's goals for coordinated industrial development. Staffers also raised environmental concerns about the large gravel storage area and possible effects on private wells surrounding the property. The site contains or may contain floodplain, streams and wetlands. Traffic officials estimate the proposed development could generate about 841 weekday vehicle trips.
A case returning to the commission involves an outdoor storage and truck trailer parking facility in Varina, on a 6-acre site at the intersection of Darbytown and Miller roads. A portion of the site isn’t zoned for this use and the owner (DRB III Trucking LLC) wants to rezone it, having been cited for the violation twice since he opened the facility in 2020, most recently in 2025. The owner also claims that he received a verbal approval for the use from the county when he bought the property.
The Planning Department continues to recommend denial because, in its estimation, the site plan would over-intensity the property, would reuse older commercial and residential buildings, wouldn’t connect to sewer service, and wouldn’t sufficiently address its concerns about the proposed uses, hours, fencing, and other conditions. The owner claims that connecting sewer service is impossible and that the recommended site changes are prohibitively expensive, which would force him to close the business.
The commission deferred the case in July for additional discussion. Staffers later suggested that the applicant consider scaling back the proposal, but the company opted to continue seeking rezoning of the entire property.
The third case before the commission involves the former Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles property at Brook Road and Magellan Parkway in the Fairfield District.
Imperial Investments Group LLC is seeking to conditionally rezone 2.202 acres to permit commercial access and related commercial uses. The property includes the vacant 7,157-square-foot former DMV office and borders residential development.
Planning staffers initially recommended denial, citing uncertainty about the property's eventual commercial use and possible effects on neighboring homes.
The applicant subsequently expanded the rezoning to include an adjoining two-acre commercial parcel and offered additional restrictions on how the entire property could be used.
Those changes led staff to reverse its position. Its revised analysis concludes that the proposal now is reasonably consistent with recent development in the area and supports the request.
The applicant has agreed to prohibit a number of potentially intensive uses, including drive-through restaurants, gas stations, hotels and motels, automobile sales and repair businesses and towing operations, and generally would limit operating hours to 6 a.m. to midnight.
The case has been deferred twice at the applicant's request, and planning staff reported receiving two emails from residents expressing concerns about the proposal.
The planning commission is expected to make recommendations on the rezoning requests that it hears Thursday, with the Henrico Board of Supervisors ultimately responsible for deciding whether to approve them.
All three cases are scheduled to be heard at the commission's Aug. 13 meeting at 6 p.m. in the Board Room of the Administration Building at the Western Government Center (4301 East Parham Road). Members of the public who wish to attend in person or via livestream can find details at henrico.gov/planning/meetings.
