A decision on parking spaces could clear the way for a new Lidl grocery store in North Stafford.
The county Board of Supervisors approved new rules that would require fewer parking spaces at new buildings built in the county. Discount grocer Lidl, which has a location on Warrenton Road in south Stafford, lobbied for the new rules.
As new buildigs are constructed, only four parking spaces will be required every 1,000 feet. Under the old rules, seven parking spaces were required. The new county regulations also allows loading dock areas to be smaller.
Many of the surrounding counties adhere to a parking rate of five spaces per 1,000 square feet, said Stafford officals. The reuqirement for fewer spaces also follows standards set by the Chesapeake Bay Act, which as one of its goals seeks to reduce the amount of new impervious surfaces.
The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act was enacted by the Virginia General Assembly in 1988, the act was designed to enhance water quality while allowing reasonable development to continue.
The Act recognizes that local governments have the primary responsibility for land-use decisions, expanding local government authority to manage water quality, and establish a more specific relationship between water quality protection and local land use decision making.
One resident was concenred that, with the smaller parking lots, first responders may have difficlty entering the parking lots during emergencies.
That concern was addressed by George Washington District Supervisor Tom Coen who stated that the County had sought the advice of local fire and rescue about these new ordinances. Coen also stated that fire and rescue saw no issues of entry with these new parking lot settings.
The County’s Planning Commission in July did not endorse the change in a 4-3 vote, saying the fewer number of spaces was too low.
Lidl opened its first store in the region near Manassas in 2017. In addition to it and its store on Route 17 in Stafford County, the grocer operates stores in Lake Ridge, one near Dumfries, and a store in Culpeper. It also operates a distribution center in Spotsylvania County.
The grocer has not said where in North Stafford it would open its new store, or when doors would open.
