The Mathews County Planning Commission on Tuesday night voted 4-2 to recommend that the board of supervisors not approve a rezoning request made by the board itself for the East River Boat Yard.

In January, the board applied for a permit to rezone the county-owned property at the end of Mill Lane Road in Bohannon from waterfront residential to waterfront business. A joint public hearing was held, during which a number of Mill Lane Road and nearby residents objected to the rezoning, citing issues such as environmental impacts, noise and an access road that frequently floods. 

The supervisors’ application followed a request by Billy Hooper of Williams Wharf Oyster Company that he be allowed to use the parcel for his oyster aquaculture business. However, in seeking the zoning change, supervisors said that the change was not for the benefit of that particular business, but would be beneficial to the county for a variety of other by-right business uses that might be made of the...