Planning Commission Recommends Rezoning for West Strasburg Road, Approves Salvation Army Mural

Two items came close to home on the evening of Wednesday, September 18, in a regular Front Royal Planning Commission meeting. Beginning at 7 p.m. in the Warren County Government Center at 220 North Commerce Avenue, the meeting covered applications for rezoning and a special use permit, both of which were forwarded to the Town Council with recommendations for approval. In what is often a long and involved process, both applicants became one degree warmer in terms of reaching their goals. Following presentations by staff as well as the applicants, these items were discussed by the commission, and although not unanimously in each case, were granted favorable passage to the next and final stage of their journey.

The Planning Commission for the Town of Front Royal is preparing to go into a regular meeting on Wednesday, September 18. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

Several parcels on West Strasburg Road, parallel to Duck Street and located close to the intersection of West Strasburg Road with Route 522, have long been classified as commercial, although no commercial use has come to fruition. Applicant Karen Alexander, who was present at the meeting to represent her application for the rezoning of a vacant parcel in that area from C-1, Community Business District, to R-3, Residential District, told the commission that she and her husband have owned the property since the eighties and have never seen a commercial use materialize there or in the adjacent parcels. These parcels, some of them previously owned by the Alexanders and featuring homes, and some of the adjacent parcels having succeeded in being zoned residential, reflect a gravitational pull in that vicinity to residential use, which by all testimony seems to be the most natural use, despite the current orientation of the comprehensive plan which conceives of that area as commercial.

Deputy Zoning Administrator John Ware presents to the commission two items of business to be voted upon.

To rezone this parcel would require an amendment to the comprehensive plan, which Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke testified at a past work session can go forward independently of and simultaneously with the rezoning request. In other words, the rezoning can be granted prior to any amendment of the plan. The discrepancy between how that area is imagined by the comprehensive plan and the reality of what is there or is even possible there reflects an oversight on the part of the Town. In voting on this item, Commissioner Gary Gillispie maintained his posture at a past work session that the comprehensive plan needs to be amended before the rezoning is granted. He equated this to keeping the horse in front of the cart. At the same time, he recognized the value inherent to the application and said that otherwise, he would vote in favor of it. Comments from Allen Neel, Connie Marshner, and Megan Marrazzo, all voting in favor of a recommendation of approval, reflected that the applicant, having gotten this far, should not be inconvenienced by something that should have been resolved earlier. The consensus among the three who carried the vote was that the issues should be kept separate.

Applicant Karen Alexander addresses the commission concerning her application for rezoning a vacant parcel on West Strasburg Road.

The motion to recommend an application by the Salvation Army for a special use permit to paint a mural on an exterior wall of their building at 296 South Street received a unanimous yes. Because the mural would exceed sixty square feet, a special use permit is required. The mural would feature two bears and the Salvation Army shield, bordered by Virginia bluebells. Captain Ann Hawk was present at the meeting. She spoke to the commission, reflecting on how this property has needed improvement in the past and how this proposed improvement would be in keeping with the spirit Front Royal wishes to project. She spoke warmly of Justin Proctor, a member of the Advisory Committee for Environmental Sustainability, who has already done landscaping work to improve the exterior of the building and stands as one among many who make the continued existence of the Salvation Army at its Front Royal location a positive thing.

Captain Ann Hawk with the Salvation Army addresses the commission regarding the Salvation Army’s application for a special use permit to paint a mural exceeding sixty square feet on the exterior surface of the building at 296 South Street.

After hearing a report from Kopishke in which she encouraged the commissioners to prepare themselves for a continued discussion of a zoning ordinance rewrite, with no other business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned before 8 p.m.

Click here to watch the Front Royal Planning Commission Meeting of September 18, 2024.