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Outside of the Yogaville ashram, there’s not really any space to hold community events in that area. David Waters wants to change that, if Buckingham officials will agree. Waters went before the Buckingham planning commission with his proposal on Monday, Feb. 24, requesting a special use permit for properties located at 71, 76 and 80 The Way Road. 

The goal here is to put together a multi-use event center, which could house a monthly vendor’s market, as well as any seasonal festivals, birthday parties or other community events. Waters, who works as the administrator for the Village Sangha Association nonprofit nearby, would work with property owner Judith Evangelus to create a way for the community to celebrate events together. 

“The purpose is to have vendor markets as the primary type of event,” Waters told the commission. “There’s no real event spaces outside of the (Yogaville) ashram’s grounds and the ashram’s grounds (house) its own particular events and not general social events. So the idea is to develop an events space for community events for everything from birthday parties to life celebrations.”  

What about parking? 

Commission members didn’t have any problems with the concept, but it was the impact they were most concerned about. As Waters listed on the event a goal of drawing up to 300 people or more to these events, commission members wondered where these residents would find space to park. 

“That is not a big lane,” commission member Pete Kapuscinski pointed out about The Way. “It’s a small dirt lane. In looking at it, I can’t imagine 300 people fitting in there. You’re going to have to tell us how many cars you can accommodate.” 

Waters said they had listed the 300 number but didn’t really expect that many. 

“We don’t want to limit ourselves to a certain smaller number but we also don’t expect there to be huge crowds,” Waters said. “It would be mostly outdoor type markets. Local artisans and farms.”  

In addition to parking, commission members asked, how would you handle the impact for nearby Woodland Church? They pointed out if events are held on Sunday morning or early Sunday afternoon, that could cause problems for the Woodland congregation. Waters said they hadn’t got that far yet. 

“We have not spoken to Woodland Church about it yet,” Waters said. “We were envisioning a weekend day. We hadn’t excluded Sunday. I know they have a fairly small congregation so the Sunday traffic isn’t a large crowd. But we know there would be impact.” 

Waters also said he and Evangelus hadn’t spoken with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) about traffic impact yet. For that, you can blame Old Man Winter, as recent snow and ice storms have delayed VDOT officials coming out to take a look. The hope is to get VDOT officials out to the property at some point this week. 

A revised option near Yogaville

Taking all that into account, planning commission members made a couple recommended changes to the application, with Waters in agreement. Instead of allowing 300 or more, the property would be set up and permitted for a 150 maximum capacity, if approved by Buckingham supervisors. Also, they would be limited to just one event per month, 12 total during the year. Also, in order for the public hearing in this case to take place, Waters and Evangelus must have a VDOT report and parking plan ready to present. Both applicants said they didn’t see a problem with any of that. 

Commission members set the public hearing for Monday, March 24, beginning at 6 p.m.