HomeMy WebLinkAboutVA199700005 Review Comments 1997-06-03 STAFF PERSON: Jan Sprinkle
PUBLIC HEARING: June 3, 1997
STAFF REPORT VA-97-05
OWNER/APPLICANT: Preston O. Stallings
TAX MAP/PARCEL: 56/110A
ZONING: HC, Highway Commercial and RA, Rural Areas
ACREAGE: 17.113
LOCATION: The south side of Rt. 250 approximately 1 mile east of its
intersection with Rts. 635 and 240.
REQUEST:
The applicant seeks relief from Section 21.7.2, which states (among other things), "No
portion of any structure, excluding signs, shall be located closer than fifty feet to any
residential or rural areas district." A variance of 50 feet is requested to decrease the
setbacks on three sides of the HC portion south of the creek from 50 to 0 feet for the
construction of a pole barn to be used for building material storage. The current shape of
the HC zoning area creates a usable area within the setbacks that is 65 feet by 300 feet
to be used for the pole barn. A rectangular building of those dimensions could then be
constructed and accessed from all around by using the setbacks as accessways. If the
variance is granted, the space available for the pole barn would open up to 165 feet by
350 feet, thus allowing the use of a "U-shaped" building where the access would be inside
the "U" and the outside of the building could be sided.
The applicant's justification includes the following:
HARDSHIP
Yard and setback requirements are common in zoning ordinances. Generally, in the case
of an intensive use adjacent to a less intensive use, the purpose of the setback is to
provide protection for the less intensive use. Because such requirements are common and
serve a public service, they would not normally be considered to produce an undue or
unusual hardship. In this case, however, the woring of the ordinance and an unusual
zoning situation creates a hardship by unduly limiting the use of a significant internal
portion of parcel 56-110A in a way that clearly is not the intent of the ordinance.
In this case, when considering the question of undue hardship, it is appropriate to consider
hardship to others as well as to the applicant. The setback requirements of the ordinance
and the 1994 rezoning of the property in question share a common reason: to shield
other, either adjacent property owners or highway passersby, from commercial uses which
some might find objectional.
Variance Application
Tax Map 56, parcel 110A
May 5, 1997
DESCRIPTION OF REQUEST:
Zoning Ordinance section 21 . 7 . 2 specifies that in any commercial
district adjacent to a residential or rural areas district "No
portion of any structure, excluding signs, shall be located closer
than fifty (50) feet to any residential or rural area district. "
As shown on the attached sketches, Parcel 110A, Tax Map 056 is
partially in the HC district and partially in the RA district.
This request applies only to that portion of parcel 110A which was
rezoned from RA to HC as a part of a zoning swap approved in
April, 1994 and is identified as "NEW STORAGE AREA" on the
sketches. By the same action, a two acre area adjacent to U.S. 250
was rezoned from HC to RA.
The impetus for the 1994 zoning swap was to make any expansion or
relocation of the existing building materials storage yard at Blue
Ridge Builders Supply (BRBS) less visible to the public. The
rezoning included proffers that the area rezoned to HC would be
used for building material storage only and that no structure other
than a pole barn would be erected on the HC property.
Preliminary site plan approval for development of the storage area
has been granted. The preliminary site plan includes a pole barn
approximately 65' x 300 located in ,the center of the HC district,
with a minimum setback of 50' from the surrounding RA district.
The operators of BRBS would prefer to build a "U" shaped pole barn
with the outside of the building, in some cases, less than 50' from
the RA district. Sketches are attached which show the area in
question and the alternate configurations for the pole barn.
This request is for a variance of 50' , from a setback of 50' to a
setback of 0' along the northern, southern and eastern edges of the
HC district. No variance is requested with regard to the western
edge of the HC district.
If the requested variance is not granted, a pole barn with open
sides will be erected in the middle of the HC district as shown on
sketch #1 . If the site is developed in this way, building
materials stored outside, between the pole barn and the limits of
the HC district, and materials inside the pole barn may be visible
from U.S. 250 or adjacent tax map parcels, to the very limited
extent allowed by the topography of the storage area, existing
natural screening and any additional screening which may be
required as a result of the final site plan approval process.
If the requested variance is granted, a pole barn with closed sides
on the outside will be erected in a "U" shape approximately as
shown on sketch #2 . In this case, to the extent that anything is
visible from the north, south or west, it will be only a closed
side of the pole barn, painted dark green or such other color as
may be required by the Architectural Review Board.
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Variance Application
Tax Map 56, parcel 110A
May 5, 1997
It is important to stipulate that the applicant recognizes that
granting of the requested 50' variance by the BZA does not
guarantee that the pole barn can be built with zero setback from
the applicable zoning lines. To the contrary, the applicant
understand and accepts the fact that other agencies, including but
not necessarily limited to County Staff, the Planning Commission
and the Architectural Review Board, can and are expected to impose
requirements, including but not necessarily limited to storm
drainage facilities and screening, that will necessitate some space
between the pole barn and the zoning lines for which the variance
is requested. Granting a variance of the full 50' will simply
allow the maximum possible design flexibility to the applicant and
the agencies responsible for reviewing the final site plan.
JUSTIFICATION FOR REQUEST, BASED ON THREE (3) CRITERIA:
1) That the strict application of this ordinance would produce
undue hardship.
Yard and setback requirements are common in zoning ordinances.
Generally, in the case of an intensive use adjacent to a less
intensive use, the purpose of the setback is to provide protection
for the less intensive use. Because such requirements are common
and serve a public service, they would not normally be considered
to produce an undue or unusual hardship. In this case, however,
the wording of the ordinance and an unusual zoning situation
creates a hardship by unduly limiting the use of a significant
internal portion of parcel 56-110A in a way that clearly is not the
intent of the ordinance.
In this case, when considering the question of undue hardship, it
is appropriate to consider hardship to others as well as to the
applicant. The setback requirements of the ordinance and the 1994
rezoning of the property in question share a common reason: to
shield others, either adjacent property owners or highway passers-
by, from commercial uses which some might find objectional .
To the extent that observing the setback required by the ordinance
makes the storage area more visible to others than it would be if ,
the requested waiver is granted, and to the extent that such
visibility constitutes a hardship to others, that hardship would be
mitigated by granting of the requested waiver. This is a case
where granting the requested waiver to the wording of the ordinance
will result in a design which will clearly be more responsive to
the intent of the ordinance and to the reason the zoning swap was
approved.
2) That such hardship is not shared generally by other properties
in the same zoning district and the same vicinity.
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Variance Application
Tax Map 56, parcel 110A
May 5, 1997
Clearly, the setback requirement was intended to apply to the
common situation where a tax map parcel with commercial zoning
shares a property line with a tax map parcel zoned residential or
rural area and the setback would be along the perimeter of the
parcel to be developed commercially. The extremely unusual
situation in this case is that separate parcels are not involved,
and the wording of the regulation makes an internal portion of
parcel 56-110A unusable. This is a hardship not shared generally,
if at all , by other properties in Albemarle County. Granting the
requested waiver would still leave a buffer of approximately 180'
to 360' between the proposed structure and the three adjacent RA or
residentially zoned parcels. This buffer would be approximately
3 .6 to 7 . 2 times the 50' setback which the ordinance clearly
anticipates is sufficient to provide protection to adjacent
parcels.
3) That the authorization of such variance will not be of
substantial detriment to adjacent property and that the
character of the district will not be changed by the granting
of the variance.
Not only will the granting of the requested variance not be
detrimental to the area, it will significantly help in development
of the area as contemplated by the zoning swap. This HC district
was created specifically to lessen the impact, particularly the
visual impact, of the building material storage yard on the
surrounding properties and traffic on U.S. 250. The site plan
shows the storage area cut into a hillside and sets a limit on the
height of the pole barn such that both the outdoor storage and the
pole barn are for all practical purposes invisible to persons on
adjacent parcels to the east, south and west. In order to
accomplish this grading, the Planning Commission approval of the
preliminary site plan included a waiver of Zoning Ordinance section
21 .7 .3 . which is obviously a companion to Section 21 .7 . 2 . , the
subject of this variance request. Approval of this variance
request will allow a site configuration which in turn will result
in the pole barn being built with closed sides to the outside so
that the stored building materials will not be visible at any time
of the year from the north, south or west.
I hereby certify that the information provided on this application
and accompanying information is accurate, true and correct to the
best o my knowledge and belief.
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