The Mathews County Board of Supervisors had a public hearing marathon during its meeting on April 17, holding eight public hearings, including the two on the FY2026 county budget and tax rates previously reported in this newspaper.

At the top of the agenda was a public hearing on an application by Joe Perdue of Port Haywood for a conditional use permit to place an aviation facility—a grass landing strip—on a piece of land he recently purchased near residential development on Fickle Fen and Peach Point roads. The hearing, which was the second one to be held on the matter, was interrupted early by supervisor Dave Jones, who told planning and zoning administrator Bobby Andrade that a new application was required because the property had changed hands since the application was heard the first time.

“This application is now not correct,” he said. “It needs to be put in the property owner’s name.”

Andrade said he hadn’t wanted to make the owner fill out a whole new application, but Mathews County Attorney Andrea Erard said that Jones was correct and the zoning application had to be in the proper name. The public hearing was thus canceled and rescheduled for May 20.

Golf carts in Sail Cove

After holding the two budget public hearings, the board heard an application for an amendment to the subdivision ordinance to allow golf carts on the public roads in the Sail Cove Subdivision in Hallieford. Sail Cove residents made brief remarks about the quiet nature of the neighborhood and the need for aging property owners to have a means for neighborhood transportation other than their cars, after which the board unanimously approved the request.

Verizon facilities at Station 2

An irrevocable license for Verizon to co-locate wireless facilities at Bohannon Station 2 for a period of up to 25 years was also approved unanimously by the board. The initial amount that Verizon will pay the county for the license is $28,800, with annual increases of 1.5 percent.

Broadband advisory board chair Judy Rowe said the contract amounts to $1 million over the next 25 years and the county doesn’t have to do anything “except watch the checks come in.”

Richard Hicks of North was less thrilled, stating that, while the annual increase is 1.5 percent, everything else is “going up 2 percent, 3 percent, 5 percent” and that Verizon will pay its bill by charging Mathews customers who have Verizon cell phones.

Supervisor Tom Bowen said that bringing broadband to Mathews “is probably going to have the greatest economic impact over the next five years … It’s a huge economic driver for our county.”

Pump and Haul General Permit

The board voted unanimously to amend the county code to establish a Permanent Pump and Haul General Permit through the Virginia Department of Health that will allow property owners who have septic issues to use pump and haul as a long-term means for sewage disposal.

Jones and supervisor Mike Walls initially expressed opposition to the permit because the proposal included adding the county’s property at 384 Old Ferry Road, better known as the Hole in the Wall Waterfront Grill, to the permit as part of the vote. They said it appeared as though the county was making an exception for a single property.

Board chair Tim Doss said he knew a property owner who was forced to make expensive upgrades to their property because there was no such permit.

Supervisor Tom Bowen moved to adopt the permit without the addition of any specific property, and it passed unanimously. He then moved to add 384 Old Ferry Road to the list of permitted properties, and that motion passed unanimously, as well, with Walls saying, “As long as the ordinance is countywide, I don’t have any problem with adding 384 to the list.”

Fee schedule

The board then held a public hearing on the county’s schedule of fees that covers everything from the cost of a 911 address plate to an application to rezone property. No one from the public commented on the fees, and the revised fee schedule was adopted unanimously.

Among the fees that changed were: after-the-fact application, from $150 to $300; appeal of a zoning matter, $275 to $350; application for a conditional use permit, $200 to $350; and application to amend zoning, $250 to $350.

The largest increases by percentage were to the plan of development, which jumped from $75 to $200, and the land disturbing permit, which went from $50 per acre for the first acre plus $25 per additional acre disturbed (for residential property) to $250 per acre for the first acre plus $50 for each additional acre disturbed.

Rezoning request

The board went against the planning commission’s recommendation by unanimously approving a request by Alandus Jermaine Ware of Cobbs Creek to rezone his 0.59-acre property at 10541 Buckley Hall Road (formerly Joyce’s Pack & Ship) from Village Mixed Use to Business so he could establish an equipment and pod rental business there. The property was used in the past as a moving and storage company and a packing and shipping enterprise.

The planning commission had suggested that Ware apply for a conditional use permit for his business rather than ask that the property be rezoned, but Ware said that a conditional use permit would mean that he would have to come back to the county for any future changes.

Jones pointed out that several parcels in the vicinity of the business are zoned Business, and that as long as he’s lived in his nearby home, the property under consideration had been used for commercial purposes. Walls said that a rental business is “something we desperately need.”

Speaking in favor of the application during public comment were Douglas Forrest and Sharon Frye, both of Mathews.

In other matters, the board voted unanimously to

—Adopt a memorandum of understanding with the Mathews County School Board to take over maintenance of the schools, and

—Adopted a resolution establishing an easement for the cell tower at Bohannon Station 2 in agreement with Verizon.