The Mathews County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission held a joint meeting Tuesday night in the Harry M. Ward Auditorium at Mathews High School to listen to public hearings on two conditional use permits, both of which the planners voted to recommend denial for at the end of the meeting.

The first CUP request was for a community operated park with an emphasis on maritime history, applied for by the Mathews Maritime Foundation. The vacant 1.95-acre property is located at 897 South Bay Haven Drive on Gwynn’s Island in a Residential-1 neighborhood. The property is currently county owned.

Josie Thorpe took the podium first to express her support of the proposed park. “We have so many wonderful opportunities in Mathews and this is one of them,” she said.

Thorpe, who works with the Mathews Historical Museum, said that this would be a place where people could go to learn about the Battle of Cricket Hill and learn more about the history of Mathews County.

“I see potentia...