Isle of Wight County’s Planning Commission on April 22 unanimously recommended approval of a water tower that would be built adjacent to the new Riverside Smithfield Hospital.

The county’s Public Utilities Department is seeking a special use permit to allow the 750,000 gallon tank to exceed the maximum allowed height for its zoning.

The land where the tower would be built is zoned rural agricultural conservation, or RAC, which allows up to 35 feet, or three stories, for most structures. The county code contains an exception for water towers that allows them to exceed the limit by 100 feet, but anything beyond that requires the Planning Commission and ultimately the Board of Supervisors to approve a permit.

In this case, the tower would exceed the maximum allowed height by 30 feet. It will be similar in design but larger than the one erected behind Hardy Elementary, which holds 500,000 gallons.

Utilities Director Use Weindel said the 750,000 gallon capacity should be sufficient to provide flow for the hospital sprinkler system and the current needs of the adjacent 776-home Benns Grant subdivision, as well as future growth.

“We try to go ahead and develop for the future,” Weindel said.

The extra height is needed to provide sufficient pressure for the hospital sprinkler system, Weindel said.

Isle of Wight received $1.2 million in federal funding for the project last year earmarked in the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act approved by Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden. U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., traveled to the hospital to present Isle of Wight officials with a ceremonial check last summer.

County Administrator Randy Keaton said last year that the federal funding will be combined with $1.6 million proffered by East West Communities, the developer of the 776-home Benn’s Grant subdivision next to the hospital, and another $1.6 million from water and sewer tap fees the county has collected from Benn’s Grant, for $4.7 million in total. The tower will provide increased water pressure for the 50-bed hospital and surrounding community via a water line that runs parallel with Benns Church Boulevard from Smithfield High School to the Isle of Wight-Suffolk line.

Plans for the water tower have been in the works for roughly two decades. Isle of Wight solicited bids for the project on Feb. 21, giving a due date of May 15.

The exterior of the 50-bed hospital is on track to be largely complete this summer, according to senior project manager Russell Parrish. It’s set to open in January. The detached 27,000-square-foot Jamison-Longford medical office co-located on the 30-acre campus with the hospital is on track to be complete by early June and open by August.

Weindel said a temporary fire pump will be needed when the hospital opens to operate the sprinkler system until the tank is completed. Construction of the water tower, he said, should take a year to 18 months.

“We’re hoping to actually have it done at least in the substantial completion stage probably just prior to the spring of next year,” Weindel said.