North Stafford residents may be getting a new Lidl grocery store.
On Wednesday, the Stafford County Planning Commission unanimously recommended a rezoning classification, from R-1, Suburban Residential Zoning to the B-2, Urban Commercial Zoning on just over two acres at the intersection of Mine Road and Greenspring Drive.
Should the county’s Board of Supervisors approve the reclassification, it would clear the way for a new Lidl store to be built on a now-vacant lot near a Walmart store. It’s unclear when Supervisors will hear the rezoning case.
According to plans, the front of the store would face Mine Road, but drivers would enter the parking lot at the rear of the building, from Wicomico Drive. Planning Commissioners wrangled with attorneys for Lidl over access to the site, hoping to limit access from congested Route 610.
Jonelle Cameron, of Walsh Colucci, of Prince William County, an attorney representing the grocer, presented Planning Commissioners with a plan to show a planned parking layout for the store. Lidl has been in talks with the owners of neighboring restaurant Pancho Villa to expand the number of parking spaces in its lot while closing the off access to the restaurant from Route 610.
If the restaurant owner agrees, both its patrons and Lidl customers will use Wicomico Drive to access both businesses.
“I have concerns about traffic in the area,” said Garrisonville Planning Commissioner Laura Sellers. “I’ve been here my entire adult life, and as we see it grow, and you have multiple cuts off Garrisonville road, and that only increases traffic.”
Eliminating the curb cut into Pancho Villa would improve traffic flow on Route 610, a major feeder road to Interstate 95. It would allow crews to extend a sidewalk in the area, added Sellers.
The store is expected to attract about 3,000 cars per day. Lidl would join a crowded market of grocery stores in the area, like Giant, Shoppers Food Warehouse, Walmart, Target, and Lidl’s closest competitor, Aldi.
Lidl operates a store at 1175 Warrenton Road [Route 17] in southern Stafford County, about 15 miles from the proposed North Stafford location.
“I’m excited about the prospect of having Lidl and not having to go down to [Route] 17,” said Rock Hill District Planning Commissioner Kristen Barnes.
