Washington Board Rejects Love’s

ABINGDON, Va. – The crowd broke into applause Tuesday when the Washington County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 to turn down a Love’s truck stop proposed for Exit 24.

Board Chairman Kenneth Reynolds turned the gavel over to Vice-Chairman Jack McCrady so he could make the motion that killed the controversial project; in June he voted against the same motion.
“At that point [in June] I was still learning and still listening, and I did right up to tonight, really,” Reynolds said. “I got a lot of calls today.”

Reynolds, McCrady, Dulcie Mumpower and Tom Taylor voted to deny the re-zoning and special exception permit needed for the truck stop; Odell Owens, Phil McCall and Paul Price voted to grant them.

The controversial project, on which Love’s has spent several years and a considerable sum, would have placed a truck stop at Exit 24, about 1,000 feet from Meadowview Elementary School.

The project has divided the community, pitting neighbor against neighbor over the need for jobs, concerns about traffic and air quality, and competing development priorities.

Reynolds, whose vote ultimately blocked the project, said he didn’t really change his mind and there was no one specific thing that led to his decision; it was based on his overall evaluation of the information.

“I made this motion because we just have so many unknowns that we haven’t been able to address,” Reynolds said during the meeting. “We have unknowns expressed by so many people.”

Rick Shuffield, spokesman for Love’s Travel Centers, said the vote came as a surprise.

Asked whether he’d consider a different Washington County location, and whether he would sue the county over Tuesday’s decision, he said: “We’re just going to explore our options at this point in time.”

Meadowview residents who favored the project had no comment; opponents called it a victory for the children of Meadowview.

“I hope the Board of Supervisors can sleep well tonight because they did the right thing,” said Celeste Gaia, one of the most outspoken project opponents.

“I’d prefer the truck stop go in simply because there are too many people in this county that need jobs,” said Joe Straten, who favored the project and is running for McCrady’s seat on the board.

As board members spoke their piece during the meeting about the meaning of their votes, their discussion was peppered with personal comments.

“They have done everything we’ve asked them to do, and … I don’t think we have a right to deny this permit,” Price said of Love’s. “What kind of message are we fixing to send to people who want to bring business to this county when we’ve got a business that never came with their hand out asking for a penny to create jobs?”

Mumpower said there is no way to know if exhaust from the trucks would float toward the nearby school, but the issued had to be considered.

“The question is, are we willing to sacrifice the health of a child not knowing one way or the other,” she said.

Taylor said the truck stop is “the right use and the wrong location.”

Reynolds and McCrady said the board would likely look more favorably at the project locating at nearby Exit 22, an alternative suggested by opponents many times during the process.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” Reynolds said. “I hope they’ll look at other options [besides Exit 24].” McCrady said he believes the board would “absolutely” be favorable to locating the project at Exit 22.

Now that the decision has been made on Exit 24, Price said, he’s hopeful that Meadowview can heal its divide and move forward.

“I hope after the vote tonight that neighbors can go back to being neighbors,” he said.

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