The Mathews County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission will hold a joint public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday on a proposed rezoning of the East River Boat Yard. The meeting will be in the historic courthouse on Court Street.

Located at 502 Mill Lane Road, the county-owned boat yard is zoned waterfront residential, although it was used commercially for many years. The county is proposing to have it rezoned to waterfront business.

Supervisors voted to consider rezoning the site after receiving a request last month from Billy Hooper of the Williams Wharf Oyster Company asking that he be granted a seven-year lease in order to develop the site for use as an oyster hatchery. He would also like to set up on-site cold storage in an existing building and extract his aquaculture product from the water there.

Hooper has also applied for a conditional use permit to run the aquaculture business from his residential property, which is across the East River from the boat yard, on Williams Wh...