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The Windsor Town Council voted 5-0 with one abstention on Tuesday, May 14, to convey its continued opposition to the proposed Tidewater Logistics Center as it was being presented.

The proposed multi-warehouse complex would be located on the outskirts of town near Windsor’s Lovers Lane/Keaton Avenue neighborhood.

CHANGES TO THE PROPOSED COMPLEX

The motion to convey continued opposition came in the wake of an April 22 meeting with TLC developer Meridian Property Purchaser LLC in which the developer presented updated site plans.

As staff reporter Stephen Faleski previously reported with regard to the meeting, Tom Boylan, senior vice president of Meridian’s parent company, The Meridian Group, presented updated site plans showing an average 28-foot increase in setbacks from the version of the project presented to the Isle of Wight County Planning Commission previously.

Faleski noted that a February site plan had shown parking for roughly 30 tractor-trailers adjacent to a 42-foot-wide, 6-foot-tall landscape berm and 20-foot-wide setback, less than 100 feet from a house on Keaton Avenue. The April 22 version of the site plan shows parking for 14 trailers, down from 30, and a total 115-foot setback from the parking lot to the same Keaton Avenue house.

Faleski also noted that the updated site plan calls for a 500-foot-long sound wall at the berm area to accomplish the proffered 50-decibel limit at the property line. Originally, Meridian’s application had called for a daytime noise level of up to 80 decibels, which is just below the threshold where prolonged exposure can result in hearing loss.

In March, the county’s Planning Commission recommended denial of the TLC developer’s application for rezoning that would need to be approved by the county’s Board of Supervisors to make the complex possible. Meridian asked the county to postpone sending the matter to the board for a final public hearing and vote because the developer wanted to first hold the April 22 meeting with Windsor residents.

Following this postponement, the matter was set to come before the board on Thursday, May 16, making the Windsor Town Council’s May 14 meeting a timely opportunity for the council to convey its position on the updated TLC proposal.

THE TOWN COUNCIL’S POSITION AS OF MAY 14

Near the conclusion of the Town Council’s May 14 meeting, Councilman Marlin W. Sharp made a motion.

“I move that Windsor Town Council communicate with the local press and the Isle of Wight County supervisors that we acknowledge that changes have been made in the Tidewater Logistics Center project but that we are still opposed to the project as it is being presented,” he stated. “We believe that the changes that are being made are not adequate to meet the concerns of the residents of the Lovers Lane/Keaton Avenue neighborhood.”

Mayor George Stubbs called for discussion or a decision to support the statement for a vote.

Councilman David Adams said, “I’ll second Mr. Sharp’s motion.”

As Windsor Town Clerk Kelly N. Kuhns called the roll for the vote, Sharp, Councilman Jake Redd and Councilman Walter Bernacki each voted “yes,” but when Vice Mayor J. Randy Carr’s name was called, he asked Sharp to read the statement again “because a lot of this stuff going around here that’s been said — I’m totally not all for it,” he said.

Sharp re-read the statement, and Carr said, “I’m not voting at this time.”

Kuhns then finished the roll, with Adams and Councilman Edward “Gibbie” Dowdy each voting “yes” to bring the tally to 5-0.

Windsor’s mayor does not vote on the council unless there is a tie, but following the 5-0 vote, Stubbs did share his perspective on the message of opposition.

“My name will not go on it — I’ll make that plain,” he said. “I’m already on record as to what I said.”

He noted that he was opposed to the TLC only “the way it was originally presented, and now I’m OK with it the way it’s been presented.”

Stubbs was satisfied with the compromises relayed by the developer at the April 22 meeting.

Following the May 14 council meeting, Sharp noted that he wanted to have the council’s message of opposition to present at the Board of Supervisors’ May 16 meeting, during which the board was set to hold the public hearings relevant to the project and was expected to vote on the matter.

“The assumption that some of us are coming into this (May 16 meeting with) is that Mr. Boylan will claim that Town Council has changed their perspective simply because the mayor changed his mind,” Sharp said. “As far as Town Council’s concerned, no we’re still opposed.”

With regard to the updates to the TLC proposal shared at the April 22 meeting, Sharp said, “My perspective is that the changes that have been made are superficial.”

RESPONSE OF LOVERS LANE RESIDENT

Immediate former Windsor Mayor Glyn T. Willis, who resides on Lovers Lane, has been vocal in his concerns about the proposed Tidewater Logistics Center in all of its forms thus far. 

Speaking on behalf of Lovers Lane/Keaton Avenue residents, he shared a reaction to the Council’s 5-0 vote.

“We greatly appreciate the continued support of the majority of council,” he said. “It makes a difference to know they have our concerns and interests as a priority.”