The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutSP202100003 Review Comments Special Use Permit 2021-03-05COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road, North Wing Charlottesville, Virginia 22902-4596 Phone (434) 296-5832 March 5, 2021 Bret Flory 879 Junction Dr Allen, TX 75013 bfl orv(a)crossa rch itects. com RE: SP202100003 Caliber Collision Dear Mr. Bret Flory: Staff has reviewed your initial submittal for a Special Use Permit for a body shop use along Route 29/Seminole Trail in the Rio29 Small Area Plan area. We have some questions and comments which we believe should be resolved or included as conditions of approval before your proposal goes to public hearing. We would be glad to meet with you to discuss these issues. Our comments are provided below. Comments are organized as follows: A. Comments on the Special Use Permit B. How the proposal relates to the Comprehensive Plan C. Additional comments from reviewers D. Additional information A. Special Use Permit 1. The narrative should be updated to specifically provide justification for the four "factors to be considered" for Special Use Permits per §18-33.40. It may be helpful to note that special use permits, when approved, run with the land. As such, the County evaluates these requests not specific to individual businesses but specific to the use and whether the proposed use is appropriate on the intended parcel in perpetuity. 2. Parking requirements for automobile service stations are one space per employee plus two spaces per each service stall. Your narrative has identified a total of up to 22 employees on site, plus what appears to be 12 service stalls, for a total of 46 required parking spaces, but only identifies 31 parking spaces. Please clarify in your narrative whether the 22 employees will not be on site simultaneously. Off -site parking is not permitted. B. Comprehensive Plan Initial comments on how your proposal generally relates to the Comprehensive Plan, which in this area is the Rio29 Small Area Plan, are provided below. Comments on conformity with the Rio29 Small Area Plan are provided to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors as part of the staff report. The Rio29 Small Area Plan designates this property, TMP 45-106, as a Core area. The Core designation is characterized by a highly urban and pedestrian -friendly environment. Buildings within this area are recommended to be 3-6 stories in height, built close to the street, have windows on the ground story along the street and active first floor uses. The plan also recommends pedestrian access and relegated parking in the Core area. In comparison with Rio29 Small Area Plan, the proposal is inconsistent with the recommendations of the Plan in three ways: use, street frontage design, and building form. The Rio 29 Small Area Plan explicitly states that auto service uses are not encouraged in the Core. However, the Plan does allow that these uses may be permitted by exception when the applicant can demonstrate that there will be minimal impacts on surrounding uses. The proposal is also inconsistent with the recommended street frontage design along Route 29, on which the subject property is located. The Plan designates Route 29 as a Through Corridor, prescribing an optimal street frontage design that includes a 5-foot to 25-foot frontage zone, a 14-foot shared -use path, and an 8-foot separation zone between the building face and the public street. Staff recommends the proposal work to incorporate these recommended street frontage design aspects in order to be more consistent with the Rio 29 Small Area Plan. Lastly, the proposal is inconsistent with the Rio29 Small Area Plan in that the existing building, to be utilized by the proposed body shop, does not align with the Plan's form and site design standards. The Plan recommends buildings 3-6 stories in height and massing that avoids expansive blank walls, in favor of transparent first floors to create visually interesting pedestrian environments. The existing building on this site is 1-story in height and includes expansive blank walls along the sides of the building which are visible from the Entrance Corridor. That said, since the proposed use does not intend to make significant changes to the existing building's exterior, staff acknowledges that the continuation of the existing building form is acceptable, as the current inconsistency with the Rio29 Small Area Plan is not being increased. C. Additional Comments from Reviewers Planning Comments The following comments related to planning matters have been provided by Mariah Gleason: Comments related to the Special Use Permit: 1. Please revise the application materials to include the assigned project number "SP202100003". 2. The narrative should be expanded to address the Supplemental Regulations for body shops contained in §18-5.1.31. 3. Provide information or include a site plan exhibit to show current and/or proposed buffering characteristics/aspects of the property, such as topographic changes, tree plantings or stands, fences (transparent, opaque), etc. 4. Is the subject property platted as 1.00 acres? Staff research found the parcel recorded to be 1.016 acres in size. Please review and revise if necessary. 5. In Section 1 of the Application Narrative, it looks as though there might be a clerical error. Revise the fourth sentence of the Project Narrative section to state "special use permit" instead of "special exception". 6. Section 1 subsection (b) of the Application Narrative suggests that the building may be added onto 'Bldg SF: 9,200 (proposed)". Is this the case? If not, staff recommend removing the parenthetical "proposed" and replacing it with "+/-" if the exact building square footage is not known. 7. Section 3 of the Application Narrative suggests Caliber Collision is already an existing business in the area. Please clarify whether this a relocation or an expansion of an existing business. 8. In Section 4, include all planned exterior changes to the site, for example, the 6- foot screening fence and a swinging gate(s). 9. In the Application Narrative, please clarify why a swinging gate is being added to the travelway along the northeastern side of the building. 10. Expand on the planned updates/enhancements to the site landscaping mentioned in Section 4. 11. Please keep in mind, approval of the special use permit in no way implies approval of a site plan or any modifications to any standards. 12. Should the special use permit be approved, development of the site and building cannot commence without an approved site plan and appropriate building permits. Comments related to a future site plan: 1. Staff have concerns with the location of the proposed handicap parking space. Staff understands that section 4.12.15 of the County Code requires handicapped parking spaces to be located in a way that provides direct, unobstructed access to buildings by the shortest practical route, eliminating the need to cross vehicular access aisles wherever possible. However, staff is concerned that the proposed configuration may cause vehicular conflicts at the site entrance and is a difficult position for vehicles to maneuver into/out of due to sight lines and the relative building location and existing bollards in that area. 2. Make it clear how vehicular circulation around the building will work, particularly with the gated travelway along the northeastern side of the building. Please be aware, per section 4.12.17, two-way access aisles must be a minimum of 20 feet in width. 3. The proposed dumpster pad shown on the site plan does not appear to meet the County's minimum design standards for dumpster pads. Please reference section 4.12.19 for more information. Zoning The following comments related to zoning matters have been provided by Lea Brumfield, Ibrumfield(a)albemarle.org: 1. Concept plan a. Identify the outdoor lighting on the concept plan, with location, height, and lumens clearly labeled. 2. Conformity with the Zoning Ordinance a. Lighting. Full cutoff luminaires are required for all lighting over 3,000 lumens. Full cutoff luminaires are defined as an outdoor light fixture shielded in such a manner that all light emitted by the fixture, either directly from the lamp or indirectly from the fixture, is projected below the horizontal plane. For equivalency of wattages, see section 4.17.4 of the Zoning Ordinance. These requirements do not apply to security lighting controlled by sensors which provides illumination for 15 minutes or less. b. Noise. Per section 4.18.04, maximum sound levels for a commercial receiving zone is 65 dBA, both during the daytime and at night. Noise from the repair services at the site may not exceed that dBA. Additionally, noise levels at the nearest residential district boundary, at TM 04500-00-00-10100, to the rear of the site beyond the self-service storage facility, may not exceed 60 dBA during the daytime and 55 dBA at night. c. Supplementary regulations. Per section 5.1.31, "No vehicle awaiting repair shall be located on any portion of the site so as to be visible from any public street or any residential property, and shall be limited to locations designated on the approved site plan." Due to the topography of the site, the applicant's proposed 6' tall wood fence on the southwestern border of the property, will likely screen vehicles from Seminole Trail to the south of the property. However, the parking spots in front of the property may not be used for vehicles awaiting repair. Engineering The County Engineer, Frank Pohl, fpohl(c-)albemarle.org, has provided the following comments: 1. The minimum travelway width for two-way access aisles shall be 20-ft where the travelway is not adjacent to parking spaces [18-4.12.17.c.1]. 2. The access aisle around the building is 16-ft on the south side of the building and only 12-ft when entering the gate on the north side of the building. Provide a 20-ft wide access aisle where two-way travel is proposed and indicate one-way travel around the building where 20-ft cannot be provided. 3. The minimum travelway width for one-way access aisles shall be 12 feet, with the exception that 16-ft may be necessary to allow for bypass traffic [18-4.12.17.c.2 and 3]. Additional signage may be necessary if both one-way and two-way aisles are proposed. 4. Where the travelway is adjacent to perpendicular parking spaces, the access aisle width must be either 20-ft wide or 24-ft wide, depending on the parking space width [18-4.12.16]. Entrance Corridor/Architectural Review Board (ARB) The following comments related to the Entrance Corridor Guidelines have been provided by Khristopher Taggart, ktaggart(a)albemarle.org: The ARB does not recommend approval of the Special Use Permit as proposed because screening issues have not been resolved and it is not clear that the visual impacts can be sufficiently mitigated. The applicant should return for a work session with the ARB to review alternate fence designs that are more coordinated with the building, and options for mitigating the view of the new rooftop equipment, including but not limited to: alternate equipment locations, paint color, and/or landscape screening. Fire/Rescue The Fire/Rescue reviewer, Howard Lagomarsino, hlagomarsino(a-)-albemarle.org has no objections to the special use permit but has provided the following comments that will need to be addressed during the site plan review process: 1. Please provide ISO needed fire flow for the structure's intended use. 2. Please provide ACSA available fire flow test. 3. Knox Box will be required. Please place a note indicating this on the plan. The location of this can be coordinated with the Fire Marshal's Office. 4. An unobstructed path of 20ft is required for emergency vehicle and fire apparatus access so that all portions of grade level are within 150 ft of the emergency vehicle and fire apparatus while on access road. 5. Gate on north side of building is two narrow and restricts access of emergency vehicles and fire apparatus. Width is required at 20 ft, unobstructed. 6. Clarify locations and distances to closest hydrants. 7. Clarify square footage of space and determine need for fire suppression sprinkler system (if required, fire department connection needs to be within 100 ft of a fire hydrant and on address side of building) Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) The VDOT reviewer, Adam Moore, adam.moore(a)vdot.virginia.gov, has no objections to the special use permit proposal but has provided comments that will need to be addressed with a site plan review. Please see the review letter attached. Building Inspections The Building Inspections reviewer, Betty Slough, bslough(a)-albemarle.org, has no objections to this proposal. Albemarle County Service Authority (ASCA) The ACSA reviewer, Richard Nelson, rnelson(a)serviceauthority.org, has no objections to this proposal, but offers the following information/comments: 1. Water pressures in the area are high. This building should already be served by a PRV. 2. Fixture counts will be required, once available, to confirm the existing meter size is adequately sized. Natural Resources The Natural Resources Manager, Kimberly Biasiolli, kbiasiolli(a)-albemarle.org, has no objections to this proposal. Additional Information SP Conditions Staff has not fully drafted conditions to date for this special use permit, due to the potential changes and additional information requested. Once conditions are drafted, staff will send them to you. Summary of potential proposed conditions: 1. Development of the use must be in general accord (as determined by the Director of Planning and the Zoning Administrator) with the concept plan exhibit provided on Sheet SP1.0 in the plans titled "Caliber Collision (Building Renovation)", prepared by Bret Flory, dated January 16, 2021. To be in general accord with the concept plan exhibit, development and use of the site must reflect the general location of the parking area for vehicles awaiting repair. Permitted modifications may include those required by ARB and those to make the site layout more consistent with the recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan. Action after Receipt of Comments This application has been tentatively scheduled for Planning Commission public hearing for May 4, 2021, which is within 90 days after submittal. However, staff recommends that you resubmit your application, which would require deferral. Staff will work with you to choose a Planning Commission date for public hearing. Resubmittal If you choose to resubmit, please use the attached form. There is no fee for the first resubmittal. The resubmittal date schedule and other related resources are provided for your convenience online at: https://www.aIbemarle.orq/government/community-deveIopment/apply-for/planning-and- site-development-applications Notification and Advertisement Fees Additional notification fees will not be required unless a deferral takes place and adjoining owners need to be notified of a new date. Community Meeting Prior to requesting a public hearing with the Planning Commission and Board, a community meeting must be held in accordance with Zoning Ordinance Section 18- 33.37. Feel free to contact me if you wish to meet or need additional information. My email address is mgleason(a)albemarle.org. Sincerely, kdu4* Mariah Gleason Senior Planner, Community Development Department enc: Att. 1: VDOT Comment Letter Att. 2: Action After Receipt of Comments Att. 3: Resubmittal Schedule Att. 4: Resubmittal Form COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Stephen C. Brich, P.E. 1401 East Broad Street (804) 7862701 Commissioner Richmond, Virginia 23219 Fax: (804) 7862940 February 11, 2021 County of Albemarle Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road Charlottesville, VA 22902 Attn: Mariah Gleason Re: Caliber Collision — Special Use Permit SP-2021-00003 Review # 1 Dear Ms. Gleason: The Department of Transportation, Charlottesville Residency Transportation and Land Use Section, has reviewed the above referenced plan as submitted by Bret Flory, Architect, dated 16 January 2021, and find the special use permit generally acceptable; however the following comments will need to be addressed through the initial site plan submittal. 1. Please provide trip generation data. 2. The southern proposed entrance does not meet the minimum entrance spacing (565') for a 45 mph Principal Arterial road. An Access Management Exception is required. 3. Please provide right turn lane\taper warrant, and if required turn lane and taper must be provided. Please see VDOT's Road Design Manual Appendix F-pg., F-96, for turn lane\taper warrants and required geometry. 4. Intersection sight distances must be shown on the Site Plan and profiles provided. 5. Entrance geometry must be provided on the Site Plan. Note that the minimum radius for a commercial entrance without a separate truck access is 42 feet. 6. Note that the final site plan must show conformance with the VDOT Road Design Manual Appendices B(1) and F, as well as any other applicable standards, regulations or other requirements. Please provide two copies of the revised plan along with a comment response letter. If further information is desired, please contact Willis Bedsaul at 434-422-9866. A VDOT Land Use Permit will be required prior to any work within the right-of-way. The owner/developer must contact the Charlottesville Residency Transportation and Land Use Section at (434) 422-9399 for information pertaining to this process. Sincerely, Adam J. Moore, P.E. Area Land Use Engineer Charlottesville Residency VirginiaDOT.org WE KEEP VIRGINIA MOVING VirginiaDOT.org WE KEEP VIRGINIA MOVING 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 4, 2021, 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. 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. 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) Request deferral, as required by Section 33.52(A)1, if you will resubmit, but would like to receive comments on the revised submittal, and understand the Planning Commission date will be later than May 4, 2021 2) Proceed to Planning Commission public hearing on May 4, 2021 3) Withdraw your application (1) 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 3, 2024. (This is based on the Board of Supervisors' September 5, 2018 action.) However, all outstanding information necessary for Commission action must be submitted by October 6, 2023, according to the published schedule. (See Section 18-33.52 of the Albemarle County Code.) (2) Proceed to Planning Commission Public Hearing on May 4, 2021 At this time, you may request that your application proceed to public hearing with the Planning Commission on May 4, 2021. 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. Revised 9-17-19 MCN (3) 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 2021 Submittal and Review Schedule Special Use Permits and Zoning Map Amendments Mandatory Preapp must be held no later than this day to file application by Deadline for Deadline for Filing (3 P.M.) First Set of Written Comments Due to Applicant EITHER Planning Commission Public Hearing if No Resubmittal is Necessary OR Resubmittal Deadline" PLEASE SEE THE RESUBMITTAL SCHEDULE Monday Monday Friday Tuesday Monday Jan 04 Tue Jan 19 Mar 05 A r 06 Feb 01 Feb 15 A r 02 May 04 Mar 01 Mar 15 A r 30 Jun 01 "* A r 05 Apr 19 Jun 04 Jul 06 "* Ma 03 Ma 17 Ju102 Auq 03 "* Jun 07 Jun 21 Aug06 Sep 07 "* Jun 28 JUI 19 Sep 03 Oct 05 "* Aug02 Aug16 Oct 01 Nov 02 "* Aug30 Sep 20 Nov 05 Dec 07 "* Oct 04 Oct 18 Dec 03 Jan 11 2022 "* Nov 01 Nov 15 Dec 30 Feb 01 2022 "* Nov 29 Dec 13 Jan 28 2022 Mar 01 2022 ** Dates with shaded background are not 2021. SPs for offsite or electric message signs follow the Variance schedule for the BZA. 2022 dates are tentative. Board of Supervisors' worksess ions and public hearings will be scheduled after the Planning Commision's action on applications. "" Resubmittals are accepted on ANY resubmittal Monday listed after the date of the written comments to the applicant. The PC public hearing date is the earliest date at which the request may be heard after the corresponding resubmittal deadline date. These schedules provide basic information. Please consult with the Planning Division for more details regarding schedules and processing FOR OFFICE USE ONLY SP # Fee Amount $ Date Paid By who? Receipt # Ck# By: Resubmittal of information for Special Use Permit PROJECT NUMBER THAT HAS BEEN ASSIGNED: Owner/Applicant Must Read and Sign I hereby certify that the information provided with this resubmittal is what has been requested from staff Signature of Owner, Contract Purchaser Date Print Name Daytime phone number of Signatory FEES to be paid after application For original Special Use Permit fee of $1,075 ❑ First resubmission (TO BE PAID WHEN THE RESUBMISSION IS MADE TO INTAKE STAFF) Free ❑ Each additional resubmission (TO BE PAID WHEN THE RESUBMISSION IS MADE TO INTAKE STAFF) $538 For original Special Use Permit fee of $2,000 ❑ FirSt resubmis5lon (TO BE PAID WHEN THE RESUBMISSION IS MADE TO INTAKE STAFF) Free ❑ Each additional resubmission (TO BE PAID WHEN THE RESUBMISSION IS MADE TO INTAKE STAFF) $1,075 County of Albemarle Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road Charlottesville, VA 22902 Voice: (434) 296-5832 Fax: (434) 972-4126 Revised 11/2/2015 Page 1 of 1