HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP202000004 Review Comments Special Use Permit 2020-03-05COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE
Department of Community Development
401 McIntire Road, North Wing
Charlottesville, Virginia 22902-4596
Phone (434) 296-5832 Fax (434) 972-4126
March 5, 2020
Nathan Holland
513 Stewart St., Suite E
Charlottesville, VA 22902
nathan.holland(&,gdnsites.com
RE: SP202000004 Wild Turkey (Cross Property) Tier III Personal Wireless Service Facility
Dear Mr. Holland:
Your application for Special Use Permit SP202000004 has been reviewed by members of
Albemarle County staff and our partner agencies. Review comments are provided below,
organized by Department, Division, or agency.
Planning
Staff has not yet received a completed application with the outstanding application materials
identified in staff s letter dated February 5, 2020. These materials, as well as the following
requirements and comments will need to be addressed:
• Section 5.1.40 (b)(1)(e) Grounding rod. "A grounding rod, whose height shall not exceed two
feet and whose width shall not exceed one inch in diameter at the base and tapering to a point,
may be installed at the top of the facility, the eligible support structure, or the existing
building." Please add a note to Sheet C-5 indicating the diameter of the grounding rod.
Section 5.1.40 (b)(12) Placement of cables, wiring, and similar attachments. "Metal
monopoles shall be constructed so that vertical cables, wiring and similar attachments are
contained within the monopole's structure." It is unclear from the tower elevation diagram on
Sheet C-5 whether these elements will be contained within the monopole's structure. Please
add a note to Sheet C-5 indicating if vertical cables, wiring and similar attachments will be
contained within the monopole's structure.
Comprehensive Plan
Initial comments on how your proposal generally relates to the Albemarle County
Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) are provided below; additionally, comments regarding
conformity with the Comp Plan will be provided to the PC and BOS as part of the staff report.
Strategy 10e: Continue to ensure that personal wireless facilities are provided in accordance with
the County'spersonal wireless service policy.
The County's Personal Wireless Service Facility policy, which was adopted in December 2000,
states:
"The most important principle for siting personal wireless service facilities in Albemarle
County is visibility. Albemarle County should require that sufficient information be
submitted with the application to enable the County to measure the visibility of a facility.
The less a personal wireless service facility can be seen, the more likely it is that it will
be approved. "
Relevant principles from this policy include:
• Personal wireless service facilities should not be located in Avoidance Areas.
• Applications for personal wireless service facilities in Avoidance Areas should be denied
unless mitigated, sited, located and designed so as to minimize visibility.
Avoidance Areas have been identified by Albemarle County. These are areas that have resources
of significance to the County and where the unwise siting of Personal Wireless Service Facilities
could result in adverse impacts. Per Section 3.1 of the Zoning Ordinance,
"Avoidance area" means an area having significant resources where the initial siting of
personal wireless service facilities could result in adverse impacts as follows: (i) any
ridge area where a personal wireless service facility would be skylighted; (ii) a parcel
within an agricultural and forestal district; (iii) a parcel within a historic district; (iv)
any location in which the proposed personal wireless service facility and three or more
existing or approved personal wireless service facilities would be within an area
comprised of a circle centered anywhere on the ground having a radius of 200 feet; or
(v) any location within 200 feet of any state scenic highway or by -way.
In addition to being one of the County's Entrance Corridors, Route 250 West is a State Scenic
Highway and this proposal is located within an Avoidance Area. The design of the tower is
consistent with a "treetop tower" design standard. During the balloon test, the balloon was not
visible from Route 250 except for the portion of the right-of-way immediately adjacent to the
site. The presence of trees between the site and the right-of-way provides screening.
The following objectives and strategies in Chapter 5, "Historic, Cultural, and Scenic Resources"
are relevant in the review of this proposal:
Objective 7: Maintain or improve the visual quality of all of Albemarle's roadways.
Obiective 8: Maintain the visual integrity of Albemarle's Entrance Corridors.
Strategy 8b: Continue to use the Entrance Corridor design guidelines to help maintain the
integrity of Entrance Corridors in Albemarle County.
2
Route 250 West is an Entrance Corridor as well as a State Scenic Highway. Per Section 3.1 of
the Zoning Ordinance, locations within 200 feet of any state scenic highway or by -way are
classified as Avoidance Areas. Maintaining the visual quality of Route 250 is therefore a
critical element of this review, and this proposal was reviewed by Design Planning staff and
the Architectural Review Board under "Entrance Corridor".
Community Meeting
Since the Community Meeting required of all special use permit applications has not yet taken
place, additional comments regarding impacts to neighboring properties may be forthcoming.
Zoning
No comments were received from zoning reviewers.
Engineering
The following comments related to engineering have been provided by Frank Pohl:
• Cover: Provide date and source of the topographic information. [18-32.6.2]
• Existing Conditions:
o Show all existing easements (access, drainage, sight, sanitary easements, etc.)
with deed book references, locations and dimensions. [18-32.6.2]
o Show existing critical slopes (see County GIS overlay). Critical slopes are not to
be disturbed, unless a waiver or exemption has been granted for the disturbance.
[18-4.2, 14-304]
o Existing property features not shown (building with address 408, road extensions,
stream buffer, flood plain) on Site Plan (C-1).
• E&SC/SWM Plan —Disturbance appears to be under 10,000sf and not part of a common
plan of development; therefore, the land disturbance is not subject to the VESCP or
VSMP.
Inspections
The following comments related to building codes and inspection have been provided by Michael
Dellinger:
• Add the following note to the general notes page: Building and electrical permits are
required for the tower, any structure greater than 150 sgft housing equipment, and the
electrical service. Other than this no objection.
Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)
The following comments related to transportation have been provided by Adam Moore of
VDOT:
9 VDOT has reviewed the application and finds it to be generally acceptable.
Entrance Corridor
This application was reviewed by the Architectural Review Board on February 3, 2020. The
following comments related to the Route 250 / Rockfish Gap Turnpike Entrance Corridor have
been provided by Khris Taggart (attached).
Albemarle County Service Authority (ACSA)
The following comments related to ACSA have been provided by Richard Nelson:
SP202000004 Wild Turkey (Cross Property) - Tier III Personal Wireless Service Facility is
outside the ACSA jurisdictional area. There are no comments.
Fire/Rescue
The following comments related to Fire/Rescue have been provided by Shawn Maddox:
• No objections.
Action after Receipt of Comments
After you have read this letter, please take one of the actions identified on "Action After Receipt
of Comment Letter" which is attached.
Notification and Advertisement Fees
There is currently an outstanding balance of $220.00 for this application. Please include payment
of $220.00 with your other materials to resolve this balance prior to Planning Commission public
hearing.
Please contact me with any questions and/or requests for assistance you may have. I can be
reached at aknuppelgalbemarle.org or 434-296-5832, ext. 3313.
Sincerely,
Andrew Knuppel
Planner
Planning Division
CC:
Lori Schweller
File
ME
4
COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE
Department of Community Development
401 McIntire Road, North Wing
Charlottesville, Virginia 229024596
Phone (434) 296-5832 Fax (434) 9724126
February 4, 2020
Nathan Holland
GDN Sites
513 Sewart Street, Suite E
Charlottesville, VA 22902
RE: ARB-2019.156: Wild Turkey (Cross Property) Tier II PWSF (TMP: 05700-00-00-0411-0)
Dear Mr. Holland,
The Albemarle County Architectural Review Board, at its meeting on Monday, February 3, 2020,
completed a preliminary review of the above -noted request and took the following actions.
Regarding the Special Use Permit, the Board by a vote of 5:0, forwarded the following
recommendation to the Planning Commission:
The ARB finds that the proposed location will sufficiently minimize the visibility of the
monopole from the Entrance Corridor, based on continued existence of trees in the right-of-
way.
&aardina the Certificate of Apropriateness for the ground equipment and base station:
The ARB recommends approval of the Certificate of Appropriateness with the following
condition:
Eliminate visibility of ground equipment. Fence height must be the shortest height
that will provide screening. Demonstrate lack of visibility.
Reaardina recommendations on the plan:
1. Correct and coordinate information on tree removal.
2. Correct discrepancies with the Drawing Index.
Please provide:
1. Two full sets of revised drawings addressing earn of the comments listed above. Include
updated revision dates on each drawing.
2. A memo including detailed responses indicating how each condition has been satisfied. If
changes other than those requested have been made, identify those changes in the memo
also. Highlighting the changes in the drawing with "clouding" or by other means will facilitate
review and approval.
3. The attached "Revised Application Submittal" form. This form must be returned with your
revisions to ensure proper tracking and distribution.
When staff's review of this information indicates that all conditions of approval have been met, a
Certificate of Appropriateness may be issued.
If you have any questions concerning any of the above, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Khris Taggart
Planner
cc: Robert L. Cross & Jeanne K Cross
Trustees of the Living Trust
C/O American Tower, Property Tax Dept
P.O. Box 723597
Atlanta, GA 31139
File
COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE
Department of Community Development
REVISED APPLICATION SUBWrTAL
This form must be returned with your revisions to ensure proper tracking and distribution. County
staff has indicated below what they think will be required as a resubmission of revisions. If you need to
submit additional information please explain on this form for the benefit of the intake staff. All plans
must be collated and folded to fit into legal size files, in order to be accepted for submittal.
TO:
PROJECT NAME:
DATE:
Submittal Type Requiring Revisions () indicates County Project
Submittal Code Number
# Copies
Erosion & Sediment Control Plan E&S)
Mitigation Plan MP
Waiver Request WR
Stormwater Management Plan SWMP
Road Plan
Private Road Request, with private/public comparison
PRR
Private Road Request — DTMLojEnent Area PRR-DA
Preliminary Site Plan PSP
Final Site Plan or amendment FSP
Final Plat FP
Preliminary Plat PP
Easement Plat EP
Boundary Adjustment Plat BAP
Rezoning Plan RE
Special Use Permit Concept Plan SP-CP
Reduced Concept Plan R-CP
Proffers P
Bond Estimate Request BER
Draft Groundwater Management Plan D-GWMP
Final Groundwater Management Plan F-GWMP
Aquifer Testing Work Plan ATWP
Groundwater Assessment Report GWAR
Architectural Review Board ARB
1
Other: Please explain
(For staff use only)
Submittal Code
# Copies
Distribute To:
Submittal Code
# Copies
Distribute To:
ARB
1
K. Taggart
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
ACTION AFTER RECEIPT OF COMMENT LETTER
FIRST SET OF COMMENTS
Your project has been scheduled for a public hearing by the Planning Commission for May 5, 2020,
which is 90 days from the date your application was accepted for review. State Code requires a 90-day
review by the Planning Commission unless the applicant requests deferral. As you will read in this
comment letter, staff recommends changes to your project to help you achieve approval. Without
these changes, staff cannot recommend approval to the Planning Commission.
To maintain the 90-day schedule with a recommendation for approval, revised plans must be
submitted by April 6, 2020. If you need more time to make these changes, and if you prefer to move
forward to the Planning Commission with a recommendation for approval, you must request deferral,
and you must submit revised plans by April 6, 2020. If you choose not to request deferral, staff will take
your project to the Commission as originally submitted, but without a recommendation of approval.
Instructions for requesting a deferral are outlined below.
Within one week, please do one of the following:
(1) Resubmit in response to review comments by the date noted above
(2) Request deferral, as required by Section 33.521, in these instances:
a. If you will not be resubmitting by April 6, 2020.
b. If you will resubmit by April 6, 2020, but would like to receive comments on the
revised submittal, and understand the Planning Commission date will be later than
May 5, 2020
(3) Proceed to Planning Commission public hearing on May 5, 2020
(4) Withdraw your application
(1) Resubmittal in Response to Review Comments
Please resubmit on or before April 6, 2020. Please note that no additional information, revisions,
documents, etc will be accepted after your resubmittal. Be sure to include the resubmittal form on the
last page of your comment letter with your submittal.
Revised 9-17-19 MCN
The application fee which you paid covers staff review of the initial submittal and one resubmittal.
Each subsequent resubmittal requires an additional fee. (See attached Fee Schedule.)
(2) Deferral requested
To request deferral, you must submit a request in writing to defer action by the Planning Commission
and Board of Supervisors. The request may be made by email. You may request a deferral for up to 36
months from the date your application was accepted for review, which is February 4, 2023. However,
all outstanding information necessary for Commission action must be submitted by October 7, 2022,
according to the published schedule. (See Section 18-33.52 of the Albemarle County Code.)
(3) Proceed to Planning Commission Public Hearing on May 5, 2020
At this time, you may request that your application proceed to public hearing with the Planning
Commission on May 5, 2020. With this option no additional documents will be accepted, and staff will
take your project to the Commission as originally submitted, but without a recommendation of
approval.
(4) Withdraw Your Application
If at any time you wish to withdraw your application, please provide your request in writing.
Failure to Respond
An application shall be deemed to be voluntarily withdrawn if the applicant requests deferral pursuant
to subsection 33.52(A) and fails to provide within 90 days before the end of the deferral period all of
the information required to allow the Board to act on the application, or fails to request a deferral as
provided in subsection 33.52(B) or (C).
Fee Payment
Fees paid in cash or by check must be paid at the Community Development Intake Counter. Make
checks payable to the County of Albemarle. Do not send checks directly to the Review Coordinator.
Fees may also be paid by credit card using the secure online payment system, accessed at
http://www.albemarle.org/department.asp?department=cdd&relpage=21685.
Revised 9-17-19 MCN