The Mathews County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors will hold a joint public hearing on a rezoning request for the former Best Value Supermarket at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the historic courthouse on Court Street.

Sterling Hudgins, owner of Best Value, has requested that two parcels behind the former grocery store and adjacent to Southwind Drive be rezoned from residential to business in order to allow it to be used as a lumber yard and building materials storage area.

In his application, Hudgins stated that the parcels under consideration, which together total about 1.3 acres, are adjacent to commercial property and that it would benefit Mathews residents to be able to purchase lumber and building materials locally. He said the property is screened on three sides by woods and that he would maintain a 50-foot setback bordering the adjacent properties.

A letter from the Virginia Department of Transportation included with the application packet states that changes would have to b...