The Mathews County Planning Commission unanimously voted on Tuesday night to support a request by a local restaurant for a conditional use permit to allow flexible residential and business use at the restaurant, which is served by a private septic system.

The commission also supported a zoning ordinance change to allow such usage in the off-water business district (B-2) throughout the county. Currently, mixed business and residential use is permitted by right for a professional office and with a conditional use permit for other businesses on parcels served by public sewer, which currently exists only in the Village Mixed Use District in the Court House.

The decisions followed a joint public hearing held by the commission and the Mathews County Board of Supervisors.

James F. and Judith Carson of Virginia Beach and Hartfield, owners of the building housing Cobbs Creek Diner, which is located at the corner of Linden Avenue and Buckley Hall Road, applied for the zoning amendment and the...