The Henry County Board of Supervisors approved a request to rezone approximately 8.1 acres of Ward Road in the Iriswood District from suburban residential district to agricultural district.
William Hitt, the applicant, plans to build a home on the property and use the land for agricultural purposes, including keeping animals.
Director of Planning and Zoning Lee Clark said the property is on the southwest side of the road.
“From a public hearing both the Planning Commission and the staff recommend the approval of this request,” he said.
Jessie Ward, who lives right across from the rezoned property, said she’s worried about the potential smell from the animals.
“They were talking about sheep and things like that, I am a farrier and I work with all kinds of animals. And oh my gosh, they smell so bad,” she said.
Ward said Hitt plans to put a house in the back of the property with everything else, including the animals, being in front of her property.
“To put that so close to coming up through there, it’s a lot of smell to that. I work with him sometimes, and you have to wash your clothes twice,” she said.
Justin Hitt, William Hitt’s son, said his mother works with wool and wants a workshop area for that.
“The agricultural zoning is required for them to have the animals and to have a workshop, and to have the proper shelter for the animals. It’s likely going to be a large building,” he said.
Hitt said his parents currently have a similar setup in Colorado and will certainly be good neighbors.
“The intention is for people to not even notice, other than maybe some wildflowers and gardens,” he said.
Mark Winfield also lives on the road, and said he’s concerned about the impact of being side by side with a farm.
“What’s that going to do to the adjoining neighbors, to the ballfield, to the club, and to our property, the creeks, the environment,” he said.
Clark said the planning commission believed and trusted Hitt’s proposal.
“The planning commission considered” the farm’s distance from other properties, he said, adding it is “pretty reasonable considering on both sides of the property. The farrier’s (property is) on one side, the Ruritan Club’s on the other side, and the ball field that was mentioned.”
Clark said the ball field has lights that are used during nighttime hours and attracts several children.
The planning commission “really felt that given the property is across the street from industrial uses, that it fit quite well. The fact that the pipeline runs through the property means there’s a good portion of property that can’t be built upon that might only be good for farming and/or grazing animals on it,” he said.
Joe Bryant, of the Collinsville District, said he’s a member of the Mt. Olivet Ruritan Club.
“We had a meeting on this subject, and we were concerned about it as anybody would be with somebody new coming into the neighborhood per se. I’m going to hope that Mr. Hitt would hold it to a high standard” and be considerate of “neighbors that’s been there quite some time,” he said.
In other matters, the board:
*Approved the items of consent.
*Heard the monthly report on the delinquent tax collection efforts from Treasurer Scott Grindstaff.
*Approved a proclamation recognizing April 23-29, 2023, as National Library Week.
*Approved the appropriation of $665,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission to go towards the creation of part of the Dick & Willie Trail passage.
*Approved a resolution in support of the Henry County Public Schools application to the Virginia School Construction Assistance Program in the 2022-2024 biennium.
*Appointed Stu Warren to the Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC) Board for an unexpired term ending June 30, 2024.
*Issues a refund of business license fees for the years of 2021 and 2022 to Roochi Traders Inc., for a total amount of $20,468.25 to be paid from the county’s General Fund balance.
*Scheduled a public hearing for a siting agreement with Vesper Energy for April 17 at 7 p.m.
*Heard from Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Resident Engineer Lisa Price-Hughes.
*Recognized Boys Basketball teams Mt Olivet 1, coached by Lex Hairston and FC 5, coached by Robert Kent.
*Approved a change to the Henry County Code of Ordinances to allow for lifetime dog tags.
*Approved a request to rezone approximately one acre of the Reed Creek District from agricultural district to commercial district.
*Approved a request to rezone approximately five acres of the Reed Creek District from suburban residential district to agricultural district.
*Heard from Trey Lopez, of Vesper Energy, about the Axton Solar’s special use permit.
“One of the conditions for the project is to put in place a citing agreement with the board of supervisors. We have formally submitted the draft citing agreement, and just ask for consideration to be given to the contents within the citing agreement,” he said.
*Heard from Jim Roberts, of Stanleytown, who urged the board to consider strengthening the solar panel ordinance.
“Among them are the deficiencies that have already been found by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). We got nothing in our ordinance that addresses this kind of situation where” there’s an issue “but our state of governing has found deficiencies that have resulted in fines,” he said.
“There’s nothing to stop us doing business with these kinds of endeavors that are not abiding by the laws and regulations,” he said.
*Heard from Mark Winfield about the need for more speed limit signs on Ward Road.
