Revived application for Windsor warehouses imminent, county says

Published 5:02 pm Tuesday, November 19, 2024

The developer of the rejected Tidewater Logistics Center multi-warehouse complex could submit a scaled-back version of the controversial project within the next few days, according to Economic Development Director Kristi Sutphin.

Isle of Wight County’s Economic Development Authority remains under contract with Meridian Property Purchaser LLC to sell an EDA-owned 83-acre parcel fronting the four-lane Route 460 on the outskirts of the town of Windsor despite county supervisors voting 4-1 in June to deny Meridian’s application to rezone 154 acres of farmland and forestry for industrial use. The acreage includes the EDA-owned land and two non-EDA parcels owned by Hollowell Holdings LLC.

Twenty-seven days after the vote, Meridian submitted two revised conceptual plans to the county, each dated July 10, showing four warehouses instead of the five originally proposed, but hadn’t as of that date formally submitted a new application for industrial zoning.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

“The developer has told us that they’re planning to resubmit for comp plan and rezoning applications really any day now,” Sutphin told county supervisors on Nov. 7.

But those applications hadn’t arrived as of Nov. 19, according to Community Development Director Amy Ring, whose department reviews applications for rezoning and permits.

Under state law, if a rezoning application is denied, the project developer must wait at least one year before submitting another application seeking the same zoning for the same land. County supervisors have the option of granting a waiver if they determine the application is sufficiently different from what was previously proposed.

One of the two revised site plans submitted in July had shown four warehouses totaling 709,220 square feet. The other showed the four warehouses totaling 725,960 square feet.

According to Sutphin, the nearly 726,000-square-foot version is the one expected to be included in Meridian’s resubmitted rezoning application. The most current version of the conceptual plan, Sutphin said, also now includes a community walking trail.

Both of the July 10 versions had shown a 42-foot-wide, 6-foot-tall berm set back 50 to 250 feet from the nearest house on Keaton Avenue, creating at least a 280-foot buffer between the neighborhood and the closest warehouse.

The warehouse complex’s proximity to neighborhoods on Keaton Avenue and Lovers Lane, and the expected noise and traffic, had been sticking points for opponents of the project ahead of the June vote.