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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-02-01 adjFebruary 1, 1989 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 1) 209 An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on February 1, 1989, at 1:30 P.M., Meeting Room #7, County Office Building, 401McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia. This meeting was adjourned from January 25, 1989. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Edward H. Bain, Jr., Mr. F. R. Bowie, Mrs. Patricia H. Cooke, Messrs. C. Timothy Lindstrom (arrived at 1:35 P.M.), Walter F. Perkins (arrived at 2:14 P.M.) and Peter T. Way. BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: None. OFFICERS PRESENT: Mr. Guy B. Agnor, Jr., County Executive; and Mr. John T. P. Horne, Director of Planning and Community Development. Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at t:36 P.M. by the Chairman, Mr. Way. Not.Docketed: Before the scheduled meeting began, Mr. Robert Tucker, Deputy County Executive, said there would be a presentation from Jim Klein, Professor at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. He explained that Professor Klein and his students worked this past fall on a project called Rivanna Greenway. It is basically the preservation of a green belt for the Rivanna River from the Woolen Mills to the South Fork Rivanna Dam. Staff thought it would be very helpful to hear the presentation during review of the Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Lindstrom added that the presentation is particularly important because of the emphasis of the Comprehensive Plan on trying to preserve the Rivanna flood plain. Professor Klein said he had asked his s~udents to try to convince him why the Rivanna River should be designated a greenway. A greenway is nothing more than a linear corridor connecting parks and neighbors and providing additional recreational opportunities, such as trails for walking, bicycling, jogging, bird watching, etc. At the same time, it presents an excellent opportunity to preserve the environment of the river in its natural state and give lots of people access to that. Two of Professor Klein's students, Mr. Blair Israel and Ms. Sandy Smith-Strasel, presented a slide show explaihing their ideas on preserving the Rivanna River environment. They feel that now is the time to provide a linked park system before further development makes it too costly to acquire land by sale or by easement. Now is the time to save the river from becoming a reclamation project rather than a recreation project. The presentation concluded with the thought that Charlottesville and Albemarle County share a hidden asset in the Rivanna River area. There are issues of pollution and development facing the County, and the students presented an array of ideas for development along the greenway corridor from commercial to nature preserve, from parking ~0 housing. They asked the Board to recognize the importance of the Rivanna bydesignating it and the flood plain as a greenway in the Comprehensive Plan. Secondly, they asked that the existing scenic river overlay district include all of the Rivanna River that runs through Albemarle County and that further regulations be put into effect that would prevent physical or visual intrusion into this greenway. Finally, they asked that the greenway be started by establishing a link between Pen Park, Rivanna Park, and Riverview Park through the purchase of property or acquisition of easements and by building bridges, with City help between the parks. These measures will enhance the image of the County and City and will help promote quality development while preserving the natural, historic and visual resources of the region. Professor Klein said the State recently !~stablished a Greenway Advisory Commission, and they are trying to actively d~velop greenways in many communi- ties. He said it is also a recommendation in the Presidential Commission on the American Outdoors and in a statewide revision to the Comprehensive Outdoor Plan~ Professor Klein said he feels it is an important item that deserves recognition and thought in the Comprehensive ~lan. 210 February 1, 1989 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 2) Staff indicated that the City of Charlottesville has been presented this greenway plan as well, and they are also reviewing their Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Bowie said he would like to see the plan presented today carried forward in some way. He said he was certainly interested in what could be done in this area. Mrs. Cooke said that she and Mr. Lindstrom had mentioned this idea several weeks ago in reviewing the Comprehensive Plan, particularly the idea of walking trails and bike paths. She said the County was in need of those, and she commended the students for an excellent presentation with timely ideas. Mr. Bain asked what staff would have to do to implement adding a scenic overlay district, since the Board is doing the ComprehenSive Plan review now. Mr. Home said the scenic overlay district as it is currently constituted is probably not the mechanism to accomplish this plan. One of the elements staff is working on now is an open space plan for the urban areas. This open space and other drainageways through the urban areas are being considered. He said it would not be a tremendous amount of additional work above the open space plan. However, there would need to be some thought given to the regulatory mechanism. In terms of timing of the current Comprehensive Plan Revision, Mr. Horne did not think it is practical to include something of this scale at this time. Mr. Bowie said it would be difficult to make a decision right now, but he would not like to see the idea slip. He hopes that the concept can be general ized into the open space plan, realizing that it will take some time to imple- ment the details. Mr. Lindstrom asked Professor Klein how much of thepresentation would be available for future use. Professor Klein said there would be a record copy available. ~ Agenda Item No. 2. Work Session: Comprehensive Plan. The work session began on Page 245 with the Community of Scottsville. Mr. Horne said the major recommendation for Scottsville was the change from village designation to community on the assumption of th~ long term capabilit~ of extending utilities from the town into the growth areas. On Page 246 under "Public Water and Sewer", staff saiid that Mr. Bill Brent, Director of the Albemarle County Service Authorit~; had recommended a change in wording. In that paragraph the word "signific~mt'' should be re- placed with "some". Mr. Brent said the sanitary sewage treatment lagoon in Scottsville does not meet the secondary treatment standards of the State Water Control Board. However, it is eligible for an exemption'~from secondary treatment standards which was applied for over two yearsi~go. The State Water Control Board has never responded. The informal response, is that it will be exempted. If it is not, there will be a necessity for a treatment facility. Mr. Brent felt the easiest thing to do is to relocate thelabandoned treatment plant at Brownsville. The lagoon will probably service another hundred houses, and Mr. Brent said he did not consider that "significant" expansion capability. He said certain manufacturing companies could not be handled, such as a paint manufacturer. Mr. Brent said no cost estimate had been worked up to relocate the Brownsville plant, but his estimate wo~ld be $100,000 to $200,000. Mr. Home said that water extension to the Scottsvilie shopping c~ter would cost just under one-half million dollars. Water extension from the shopping center to the Stoney Point Subdivision and the d~signated industrial area of Scottsville would be approximately $192,000. Sewer extension from the town of Scottsville to the shopping center is $170,640. Finally, sewer extension to Stoney Point and the industrial area would c6st approximately $386,000. That would be a total of $1.25 million for the~.entire project. (Mr. Perkins arrived at 2:14 P.M.) ~ Mr. Home said there has been some interest by businesses in and around the shopping center area in participation in cost of extending utilities to February 1, 1989 (Afternoon Adjourned Meetimg) (Page 3) 211 the shopping center. He does not know to what level that would be. It would cost about $650,000 to get water and sewer to the shopping center. Mr. Lindstrom asked staff's recon~nendation concerning extending sewer service into a watershed area. Mr. Horne said it has been negatively looked upon in the past. Mr. Way said the situation at Scottsville is like the question of the chicken and the egg. On one hand, there are people in the town of Scottsville who want to stimulate growth. The reason the industrial area cannot expand is because there are no utilities. On the other hand, there is a hesitancy to extend utilities because there is no development. He said there have been a number of businesses which have attempted to locate there. Having the utilities would help with that expansion he feels. A community which already has public water and sewer facilities, is desirous of growing, and has the potential development would seem a logical place to extend utilities to help stimulate growth. Mr. Home said the Board could decide that the growth of a particular area is important enough to override the normal caution of going into a watershed area, by doing something similar to what had been proposed in Crozet. Mr. Lindstrom said Crozet had existing sewer problems. He said there was a great deal of public investment there, iand the problem is to be dealt with through the impoundment on Lickinghole Greek. Mr. Home said he personally could not see much difference between the Crozet situation and Scottsville. He said the Planning Commission was not ready to make the determination that the bouhdaries in Scottsville should be expanded because there had not been much growth activity within its present boundaries. Mr. Way strongly feels that nothing wilt happen inside the boundaries until the utilities are in place. He said that is the whole problem. The area wants to grow, and the Board says it sh6uld grow, but there is no way to grow. Thirty to forty percent of the septici~isystems are leaking right now in the Scottsville area according to Mr. Way. ~hat was a concern in Crozet, and the Board did something about it. But it se~ms all right for the septic systems to leak in Scottsville. The Lickinghole Creek impoundment will cost over $1 million to deal with the Crozet problem. In Scottsville, there is a shopping center which has been there fifteen?~ears which is the only place anyone can buy anything, and the feeling see~s to be to put off doing anything for Scottsville. ~ Mr. Lindstrom said if it is critical that the shopping center be allowed to grow, it has to be done in a way that will take care of the run-off problem that will be created by expansion in the Totier Creek watershed area. Other- wise, the Board will have made a glaring exception with no justification. He asked staff to bring back to the Board a spe~ific proposal with rationale for establishing any growth area in the watershed. He asked that staff think about the distinction of substantial privateinvolvement in commercial devel- opment as a criteria for development outside~he growth area. He said it is important to know what can be done to make the areas that the Board has determined should grow really work, in order ito take the pressure off areas where it is not desirable to have growth. ~ Mr. Bowie said there was no mention of improvements to Route 6, and he felt that should be considered as a possible ~olution for traffic on Route 29 South if industrial development with utiliti~S increases the Scottsville area. Mr. Horne summarized the Village of Ivy ~as being somewhat of a quandary to the Commission and the staff. As it is c~rently constituted, Ivy has very little vacant land remaining. The village boundaries were cut back to current boundaries because Ivy lies in the South Fork~!Rivanna watershed, and basically functions as a service center for the surrounding residential areas. It is in the Comprehensive Plan largely as a service a~ea, not as a true growth area. He said the recommendations are largely from ~he existing Comprehensive Plan and basically deal with internal design issuei. Mr. Lindstrom asked what the Planning commission's rationale was for not deleting Ivy as a village when they discussed~the Plan. Mr. Home said it was because of the service area functions. Thereiare some commercial uses there and there may be some additional limited commgrcial uses, and that really is the function of the village. The option is to drop back to rural area zoning from the village designation. 212 February 1, 1989 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 4) Mr. Lindstrom said it sounds like the language in the recommendations is such that it will never be translated into anything on the land use map as far as additional village service area. Mr. Home said the Commission did not feel comfortable or feel it necessary to pick a spot designated for additional commercial use. They felt that it is not always necessary on a land use map to show every spot as long as there are parameters set. In a village this size, there are only so many places development can go. Mr. Lindstrom said he felt the effort in the past with Ivy was to recog- nize areas that had developed under old zoning and leave it at that. Mr. Bain said he concurred with that and did not want to encourage growth in that area. Mr. Home said that with the number of people living in the Ivy area, there would probably be additional pressure on the Board to provide services. He felt this could be a convenient place to control the location of those. Mr. Ron Keeler, Chief of Planning, said that the zoning would not have to be changed in order to delete Ivy as a growth area in the Comprehensive Plan. It really no longer is a growth area because it is built!out. Mr. Lindstrom said if the Board does not want to encourage any development there and does not want anything other than minor expansion of commercial development to serve the people already there, he does not see much effect in deleting it. Mr. Bowie said that while he previously stated he supported growth areas where the people want it, such as in Scottsville, it also does not make sense to have an area designated as a growth area where it cani~row no more. The Board agreed that the Village of Ivy should be deleted a~i a designated growth area in the Comprehensive Plan. The Board recessed at 3:12 P.M. and reconvened at 3:20 P.M. with a discussion of the North Garden Village. ; Mr. Horne said the estimated cost from the Albemarl~County Service Authority (ACSA) to extend water is $3,177,960 and $2,43~,960 for sewer, for a total of $5,617,920. An alternate would be the extensio~ of the urban water system, decreasing the cost of water extension by about ~200,000. He said the ACSA pointed out that there has been a limited amount of igroundwater found in this area in the past. Therefore, the supply of water tdi a water system from central wells could be particularly problematic. Extensi!on of the utilities from the urban system from the cost factor and the suppl~factor may be the wisest alternative if it is decided to supply utilities tH the village. He said the Planning Commission's reasoning for the proposeH expansion of North Garden has been some indication from the development community that this area could be a viable market area for rural or village type, iow density develop- ment. He said the recommendation for expansion of the village does not necessitate the extension of either central water or sewer. The Commission feels that some additional development can be handled under the existing VI{ zoning district. Even though the proposed development isi~double its present size, North Garden is still a very small area compared to'the overall rural areas. It could be expanded with the use of individual s~ptic systems and wells. Mr. Bain said he did not have a problem with expanding the boundaries for North Garden at the same densities, but he does have a prpblem when the report says that the area might have water problems. Mr. Brent Said he was not familiar with individual wells in the area. He was relying on the Division of Mineral Resources' groundwater data. He said his unders[~nding from the geologist is that the rock formation in that area is loW-Fielding. Mr. Bain said that he was concerned about the engineering report that there is a problem with groundwater, but there is also a ~urface water problem in his opinion. Mr. Brent said it is a difficult question. He said the State Water Control Board has established no stream criteria fo~ this area and has left the County on its own. He said if there is the thought of a surface water reservoir, it probably would not be for a period off!five to ten years. Without going into a detailed engineering analysis of the~flow, Mr. Brent said his observation is that there would not be the quantity o~ water there for a surface water impoundment to serve a village of this magnitude. February 1, 1989 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 5) 213 Mr. Lindstrom said it sounds like the only alternate water supply that exists is piping it down Route 29. That entails a cost factor and the fact that everyone would want to connect to it. The other issue would be tapping into an already limited supply and possibly depleting the urban area. Mr. Horne said he did not think staff would recommend running water from the urban supply if a central system cannot be done. Mr. Bain asked how staff felt about extension of the boundaries of North Garden other than the water supply issue. Mr. Home said expansion of the boundaries is a good idea and is supportable at the VR density. He said he could not say that if the area is filled up in VR density, there may not be water problems in some areas. Mr. Lindstrom said if people move to a designated village area and run out of water, as opposed to running out of water in a rural area, is there a situation created where the Board may be legally obligated because it held out an area for development. Mr. Home said that is really a dilemma with all the villages, it and raises the question of whether villages are viable. Mr. Lindstrom said in other villages there may be a better capability of providing the service more cost efficiently than will be the case in North Garden. Mr. Way wondered if the boundaries of N6rth Garden are expanded, will that encourage development, or would development take place anyway. Mr. Horne said that was a very difficult question. It provides the opportunity for more profitable development than in an RA zone. Whether people will take advantage of it or not, is hard to say. He said from the Planning staff's point of view, there has been considerable interest in rural area development in this general location. People have been coming into the Planning Department asking about this area. Whether they are interested in developing at VR density or not, it is hard to say. The assumption was,' it is reasonable to believe that this area would be attractive from a marketing point of view. There is easy access to town-in a very attractive area providing an alternative outside the watershed. He said that was probably the ma~n criteria of the Planning Commission. Mr. Horne pointed out that road improvements are crucial to the North Garden development. To support the expandin~ area, it has to be assumed that the investment will have to be made in those~roadwayh surfaces. Route 712 and Route 760 are on the official Six Year Secondary Highway Plan. Route 692 is on the improvement list, but is priority number 40. Mr. Home-said in his opinion, if North Garden is designated as a ~rowth area, there will have to be some means of getting the roads improved. ~ Mrs. Cooke said the one thing that had ~ot been discussed is who is to pay for the expansion of North Garden. Anywhere water and sewer is directed to get a growth area going, who pays for it?ii Mr. Way said it would have to be from local funds. Mr. Bain said one of the ~ieces of legislation being con- templated in Richmond is to establish service~ districts for improvements such as utilities. Mr. Lindstrom said the outlay would have to be a public one, but there is a mechanism to recover that as d~velopment goes into the area through connection fees. Ail of that outlayilpannot be recovered, but in terms of distribution lines, some amount can be reCbvered. Mr. Lindstrom said he was concerned abo6t fifty holes being dug to get forty-four usable wells. How reliable that is over a long period of time is debatable. Mrs. Cooke said she did not see anything to indicate that growth should be directed there. She said she felt the Board needed to be fairly certain that growth would happen before embarking on an extension of water and sewer because of the cost. She said it seems the B~ard needs to make two decisions. Will it do both roads and utilities in order ~o ensure that growth goes where it should? If not, the money spent on one coUld be money wasted without the other. Mrs. Cooke further felt that if road ~mp~ovements are made so that growth will be encouraged in an area, then the County has a moral obligation to those people who go there and develop the area and ~ind up with no water. Mr. Bowie said he feels that one thing l~cking in the Comprehensive Plan is how all these projects will be paid for. Mr. Horne said the Comprehensive Plan includes items that are crucial to the functioning of growth areas, even though they are not priced. Taking out these items will start to affect the viability of the designated growth areas. What is not included in the 214 February 1, 1989 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 6) Comprehensive Plan is the Public Facilities Plan, including such detailed items as the fire and rescue services. Staff feels there is enough detail in the Comprehensive Plan, however, for broad scale judgments to be made on the growth areas. Mr. Lindstrom said the issue Mrs. Cooke raised concerning the County's obligation is a very important one. He said the County has not been able to determine the groundwater and surface water supply. He said there have been serious water problems in the past in some subdivisions which have been fortunate enough to be close enough to obtain public water to solve the problem. He feels that when commercial and industrial zoning is provided, it means there will be more people in the area to take the jobs. Those people will most likely live in Albemarle County. Living in th~ rural areas does not mean their needs are different. They will still need water. If development happens in North Garden and they run out of water, there!is still a reasonable alternative of putting in wells or running the water line from the urban area. If, on the other hand, undirected growth takes place in the North Garden area around the countryside, and they run into water problems~ they are on their own. It may not be as noticeable to the Board because it is scattered, but these people will still need water. Therefore, when the:employment base is provided, that's when the obligation is incurred. Mr. Bain said he felt the density should be left as~it is, and he could go along with the boundaries recommended by the PlanningilCommission. Mr. Lindstrom asked staff to provide information as!to how many addi- tional one and one-half acre lots would be provided by the expanded boundaries recommended by the Planning Commission. He also asked s~aff to report on the acres of undeveloped land which are included and wha~ the dwelling unit potential is on that land. ~ Mr. Lindstrom wondered if the extensive road improvements recommended are necessary for a rural residential area. He feels that w~en and if a developer decides to develop in this area, he could certainly put the necessary roads to serve his development. Dealing with safety issues by improving existing roads makes more sense to him. Mr. Home said that from a marketing point of view, theBoard would have to determine whether the public investment is necessary before development will begin. Given the other investments needed in this Village, the road improvements become a very expensive proposition. Mr. Bain suggested that. the new portion of Route 692~be deleted from the Plan. Mr. Horne felt that the realignment of the curvature of Route 711 should remain since it is such a dangerous curve. The Board agreed that Routes 712 and 692 should be restudied for safety and functional improvements Mr. Bain said there was a petition from North Garden, citizens with about three hundred names on it objecting to certain things, one of which was the new portion of Route 692, and another was the increased ~ensity. In summary, Mr. Way said the North Garden Village w~uld reflect the boundaries proposed by the Planning Commission. The question of water and sewer has become moot and will not be included. The new portion of Route 692 will be deleted, and the realignment of Route 711 will remain while Routes 69~ and 712 will be studied for improvements. Mr. Ronald Cutright from North Garden said he had donated the land for the local fire department several years ago. However, the land has been used for several other things, causing quite a bottleneck. Mri.~ Cutright asked the Board to consider increasing the Village Service designation to allow growth to spread out. He would like to make more land available~.'for the fire depart- ment and the shopping area. Mr. Cutright thought it would make more sense to spread the service area out rather than have seventeen st~res squeezed to- gether. He also stated that he owns a piece of property hear Red Hill School that would be ideal for the location of a waste treatmentii'plant. Mr. Way suggested that he put his request in writing, and it woul~ be considered by the Board at the appropriate time. ~.~ Mr. Horne then addressed the recommendations for the~i~Village of Stony Point. He said the Planning Commission debated as to whether to delete this February 1, 1989 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 7) 215 Village or not. There was skepticism as to whether there would be a market for development without water and sewer, primarily because of the condition of Route 20 North. Water service would cost about $887,000, and sewer would cost about $1,423,000. Mr. Home pointed out that these costs do include the pro- vision for fire flow. Mr. Bowie said that outside of the fact that in six years he has had no requests for growth in that area, there doesn't seem to be an objection by the residents. He feels that unless there are utilities and road improvements, growth is not viable. Yet he is not sure there is enough growth potential to put that kind of money into roads and utilities. Mr. Lindstrom said the Board really needs more information such as how many acres are available and what amount of density can realistically be expected without utilities. Mr. Bowie pointed out that the residents of the area do not want Route 784 hard-surfaced and widened as proposed by the Planning CoF~ission. He said there is some development going on in the area, but it is not within the circle designated in the Comprehensive Plan because that is land that is not developable. Mr. Horne said that staff could bring back an analysis and reconfiguration of the Stony Point Village. Mr. Horne said that the Planning Commission did not recommend expansion of the Piney Mountain Village to recognize existing development because they did not want to merge into the Hollymead growth area. He said if Hollymead is expanded on the east side of Route 29, it will virtually touch this area. He said if Piney Mountain expands to the west, the growth acreage would have to be found in the Advance Mills area. Mr. Lindstrom felt that a tremendous amount of employment base is being located at Hollymead. This area might possibly provide a solution to that, having a good road and being outside the Sou~h Fork Rivanna watershed. Mr. Horne said it might be more efficient to look at expanding the Hollymead Community, not necessarily further up Route ~9. The Board agreed that staff should look at the area east of Piney Mountafn Village for possible develop- ment and inclusion in the growth area and compare that to the possible expan- sion of Hollymead on the east. The next work session will begin with t~e Village of Earlysville on Page 260. Agenda Item No. 3. Other Matters Not Listed on the Agenda. There were no other matters to come before the Board. Agenda Item No. 4. Adjourn. At 5:04 P.~.M., motion was offered by Mr. Bain and seconded by Mr. Bowie to adjourn in~ Executive Session to discuss personnel matters. Roll was called and the m6tion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Mr. Bain, Mr. Bowie, Mrs. Cooke, Mess~A. Lindstrom, Perkins and Way. NAYS: None. At 5:30 P.M., the Board reconvened into ppen session and immediately adjourned.