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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP201500002 Plan - Submittal (First) Special Use Permit 2015-01-20 Special Use Permit: Written Narrative Little Lambs Farm Child Development Center January 19, 2015 Project Proposal We are requesting a Special Use Permit for the housing of the Little Lambs Farm Child Development Center on Rustling Meadows Stable @ Roslyn Forest, a horse farm currently under construction on Lambs Road. Once complete,the Stable will be recognized as a premier performance equestrian center. The site is a combination of open meadows, rolling hills, woodlands and a meandering stream, beautifully situated on 24 acres, once VDOT right of way land is returned. The location,while in the Rural Areas Zoning District, is less than one half mile north of the Hydraulic and Lambs Road intersection making it very convenient to the nearby Planned Development Areas of Albemarle County. The farm land has been underutilized for many decades. Our plans revitalize the farm through constructing the necessary barns, storage structures,rings,paddocks and fences to become a Full Service Equestrian Stable providing training,boarding,riding lessons and horse care as well as building a Youth Pony Academy designed for children ages four through adolescence. The wooded area of this intriguing farm offers an incredible opportunity to locate Little Lambs within, complementing the serene bucolic feel of Lambs Roads. Albeit one of Albemarle County's shortest rural roads it is long on historical intrigue with renowned Shack Mountain, the Sammons Family Cemetery,Roslyn Farm, Ivy Creek Natural Area and a storied history of family farms flanking both the east and west sides of Lambs Road. This short but mighty stretch of pastoral serenity terminates as a dead end cul-de-sac into a beautiful 80 acre farm forever positioned to separate Ivy Farms Subdivision Phase One from Ivy Farms Subdivision Phase Two, insuring that the two phases will never be connected by a through road. The rural attractiveness of Lambs Road is further preserved and enhanced by the integrity that horses grazing at Rustling Meadows Stable bring to the endearing perspective of this agrarian landscape. It is truly a visual joy to experience as the sun rises creating a glistening shimmer over the horses' flowing manes and the rolling meadows. Little Lambs Farm Page 2 This is the location for Little Lambs Farm Child Development Center where local families return to the farm each morning to have their child cared for in an agriculturally enriched environment. "Where Nurture Meets Nature" The Center's core philosophy is a return to our agricultural heritage whereby parents will observe child and teacher absorbing nature's hands at work through the farm. The daily joys will be reminiscent of growing up on the farm. Creative exploration and expression will be experienced by the child through the crops, gardens and small livestock all omnipresent at Little Lambs Farm. Athletic skill building will occur through the use of Nature's challenges. All aspects of the design, construction and furnishing of the facility and immediate surroundings will radiate continual environmental stewardship and mindful sustainability through our return to Albemarle County's deep rooted agricultural heritage. Further agricultural expression through the equestrian experience will be a visual stimulation for the younger children while four and five year olds will be eligible to participate in the Stable's Youth Pony Academy offered as an afternoon activity. Little Lambs will provide comprehensive care for 150 students. Parents have full or partial day programs from which to match their child's needs. The Center serves ages six weeks through five years from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday, year round. Families with multiple school age children will drop off younger children at Little Lambs while en route to dropping off older children at the nearby series of Albemarle County Schools. Older siblings interested in horseback riding can sign up to be transported in the afternoon via a County school bus to Rustling Meadows Stable, where Little Lambs is located. At the Stable they can partake of the riding program for one or more afternoons each week of the academic school year. Such an opportunity will consolidate parent trip generations. Administrators and Faculty of the School System will also find the logistics and philosophy of Little Lambs an attractive environment for the care of their own young children again keeping trip generations down. Little Lambs Farm Page 3 • Public Need or Benefit Albemarle County has a high demand for quality child care. Little Lambs Farm's convenient location will help to reduce the drive time for busy parents living and working on the western side of the 29 North Corridor. Parents seeking an agricultural and equestrian environment for the nurturing of their young children currently have few options. As stewards of the cultivation of bright minds and healthy bodies we feel a desire and an innate obligation for our young to be nurtured through nature. Little Lambs Farm provides the environment and amenities to foster such a connection back to our fanning heritage. • Detriment to Adjacent Lots Little Lambs Farm is deeply secluded into this 24 acre parcel surrounded by massive mature hardwoods and extensive groundcover providing desirable acoustical and visual screening from adjacent properties. The joyous sound of children at play will be a pleasant part of the fabric of the Farm melding together the melodious symphony of lambs bleating, horses whinnying, cows mooing, birds singing,roosters crowing,riders receiving instruction and the sounds of youth playing in nature. For many decades this site has been blessed with the positive sounds of motivated students participating in outdoor extracurricular activities at Albemarle High School, Jack Jouett Middle School and Greer Elementary School. • Effect on Character of Rural Areas District The character of the Rural Areas District will be greatly enhanced by the full development of Rustling Meadows Stable. The children are beneficiaries of the farm environment enabling their development to be in concert with animal life, woodlands, streams,trails and equestrian sport. Our community is further enriched by parents and their children having access to the rural lifestyle reflected at Rustling Meadows Stable. • How the Special Use will be in harmony with the following: o The purpose and intent of the Zoning Ordinance; In accordance with the agricultural preservation of Albemarle County's Rural Lands, we are restoring agricultural and equestrian integrity back into the land, lending the community access to an equine experience. Our investment in preservation creates a Little Lambs Farm Page 4 profound rural environment for the development of our children, who are the future of our county. o The uses permitted by right in the zoning district: Rustling Meadows Stable will be using the following by right uses of Albemarle County Code 10.2.1: 1. One detached single family dwelling 3. Agricultural, forestry and fishery uses 4. Game preserves, wildlife sanctuaries and fishery uses 7. Accessory uses and buildings including the barn and storage buildings. 12. Agricultural service occupation 14. Bed and Breakfast 20. Commercial stable 26. Farm sales o Day Care Center regulations a. State licensure. Each day care center shall acquire and maintain the required licensure from the Virginia Department of Social Services. The owner or operator of the day care center shall provide a copy of the license to the zoning administrator. The owner or operator's failure to provide a copy of the license to the zoning administrator shall be deemed to be willful noncompliance with the provisions of this chapter. b. Inspections by fire official. The Albemarle County fire official is authorized to conduct periodic inspections of the day care center. The owner or operator's failure to promptly admit the fire official onto the premises to conduct an inspection in a manner authorized by law shall be deemed to be willful noncompliance with the provisions of this chapter. c. Relationship to other laws. The provisions of this section are supplementary to all other laws and nothing herein shall be deemed to preclude application of the • Little Lambs Farm Page 5 requirements of the Virginia Department of Social Services,Virginia Department of Health, Virginia State Fire Marshal, or any other local, state or federal agency. o Public Health, Safety and General Welfare. Allowing Rustling Meadows Stable to become the home of Little Lambs Farm Child Development Center will foster high quality child development on the farm. We nourish our hearts and souls through the absorption of agricultural values for all ages, tapping into the offerings of our farm. It is a safe and magnificent environment, a Gentle Reprieve, a step back in time, from the smothering tendencies of the nearby Planned Development Areas. • Little Lambs Farm Page 6 Consistency with Comprehensive Plan • A vision for Rural Albemarle County as a"multifaceted place that will, over the centuries, provide and protect the key elements that give the area its character"(Rural Area Plan, Page 9). • This project is consistent with the Rural Area Plan Section of the Comprehensive Plan. As demonstrated through the following sections of the Rural Area Plan: A Vision for Rural Albemarle County: (Rural Area Plan, Pages 9-10) • A strong agricultural and forestal economy, with large unfragmented parcels of land on which to produce our goods, opportunities to gain value from processing our own produce, and access to local markets. • Diverse, interconnected areas of viable habitat for native wildlife, extensive enough and sufficiently protected and restored to allow ecological processes to endure for the long term. • Healthy streams and sustainable supplies of unpolluted groundwater. • Protected historic structures, archeological sites, and other cultural resources. • A clearly visible rural character achieved by supporting lively rural industries and activities and discouraging suburbanization of the Rural Areas. • A significant tourist economy in which rural and historic landscapes augment the visitor's experience and give historic sites as authentic a setting as possible. • Plans,policies, and decision making that consider and protect rural economies and ecological processes. • Boundaries that show a clear distinction between rural and urban areas, without low density transition areas. • The visual character of the Rural Areas should be made up of farms, forests, and natural areas. • Stream buffers and habitat corridors should be common throughout the Rural Areas. Little Lambs Farm Page 7 • Growth should be limited and well managed to maintain the rural character of the County. • Agricultural and forestal lands are critical County resources, and that agriculture and forestry are the desired primary land use in the Rural Areas. Guiding Principles for the Rural Areas: (Rural Area Plan, Pages 11 & 12) i) Agriculture: Protect Albemarle County's agricultural lands as a resource base for its agricultural industries and for the related benefits they contribute towards the County's rural character, scenic quality,natural environment, and fiscal health. ii) Forestry Resources: Protect Albemarle County's forests as a resource base for its forestry industries and watershed protection. iii) Land Preservation: Permanently preserve and protect Albemarle County's rural land as an essential and finite resource through public ownership or through conservation easements. iv) Land Conservation: Protect Albemarle County's rural land through planned management of open spaces to prevent exploitation, destruction, or neglect. v) Water Supply Resources: Protect the quality and supply of surface water and groundwater resources. vi) Natural Resources: Preserve and manage the Rural Areas' natural resources in order to protect the environment and conserve resources for future use. vii) Scenic Resources:Preserve the County's rural scenic resources as being essential to the County's character, economic vitality, and quality of life. viii) Historical,Archeological and Cultural Resources: Protect the Rural Areas' historic, archeological and cultural resources. (Additionally, From Page 12) 14. Encourage creative and diverse forms of rural production and support rural land uses that provide rural landowners with economic viability. 15. Encourage and implement the protection and enhancement of genetic, species,and ecosystem diversity for wildlife in the County. • Little Lambs Farm Page 8 Our development plans for Rustling Meadows Stable and Little Lambs Farm embrace the aforementioned vision and guiding principles by investing into both agriculture and families to facilitate the following opportunities: • The incorporation of the farm and horse into the daily task of nurturing our children enables parents and children to experience agriculture from a bucolic perspective difficult to capture in modern life,particularly for those residing in Planned Development Areas. Our farm attracts families to visit our community which boosts our agritourism economy. • County families need quality child care. Working parents must spend child care dollars to be gainfully employed. Little Lambs Farm will attract city and county families to spend those dollars in the county. The prosperity of Little Lambs Farm will aid in the economic viability of Rustling Meadows Stable by attracting youth at a very impressionable age to become forever endeared to equestrian sport and to the genuine love of the horse. The symbiotic relationship between the farm,the crops, the horse,the child, the educator and the parent provide economic sustenance for the long term sustainability of Rustling Meadows Stable for centuries to come in spite of high land costs, extensive development costs and the complexities of caring for horses and the maintenance of high quality pastures and equestrian trails. Albemarle County's support of the Little Lambs Farm Special Use Permit beautifully follows the County's Rural Areas guiding principle to "encourage creative and diverse forms of rural production and support rural land uses that provide rural land owners with economic viability." • Further economic viability will be reaped and county visions met by the Little Lambs Farm's Little Farmers harvesting their crops and products to sell to parents, staff and patrons. We imagine the pre-schoolers selling organic vegetables, fruits and eggs cultivated through the hands of the child and teacher as a component of their integrated classroom experience, much of which will be held outdoors fully embracing the Farm-to-Table concept. • The development of an equestrian farm with its loving arms and long manes wrapped around a child care facility within one half mile of the Planned Development Area of Albemarle County provides equestrian opportunities to our population that would Little Lambs Farm Page 9 otherwise be difficult for folks to access. The proximity to the Albemarle County School System offers an invaluable opportunity and ease of accessibility for local students to truly experience the farm. Less than one mile from Greer Elementary, Jack Jouett Middle School, and Albemarle High School, the collective energy of Rustling Meadows Stable and Little Lambs Farm undoubtedly breathes rural oxygen and vitality directly into our community. Impacts on Public Facilities& Public Infrastructure This project will have minimal impacts on nearby heavily traveled roads,with its access one-half mile north of the intersection of Hydraulic and Lambs Roads. Many of the parents of the Little Lambs Farm students will already be travelling on Lambs Road to access the public schools thus adding little to the existing trip generations. Parent drop-off time and pick-up time will typically be spread over a multiple hour time band contingent upon each family's circumstances and daily logistics coordination. Lambs Road is a less than 2 mile long dead-end road capable of absorbing the additional trip generations created by accessing Little Lambs Farm. VDOT engineers have field reviewed the site and located the optimal entry and departure locations. These recommendations are shown on our enclosed Conceptual Plan. Impacts on Environmental Features This project will have minimal impacts on adjacent landscaping including the valuable watershed. The site along the eastern property line abuts an Ivy Creek Tributary and is part of the Rivanna River Basin. Rustling Meadows Stable will install a new septic field to serve the building housing Little Lambs Farm utilizing a fully contained and treated septic system. The storm water management system will be incorporated into the site in tandem with a rain water harvesting system to handle water run-off. Collected water from the metal roofs of the Little Lambs Farm Structure as well as other agricultural building roofs will be used to provide irrigation to garden crops, drinking water for horses and other livestock as well as fresh water for bathing the horses. • Little Lambs Farm Page 10 Other Special Studies or Documentation as Requested by Staff Hours of Operation: Monday Through Friday- 7:00 am to 6:00 pm Number and Location of See Conceptual Plan for Layout - Total of 30 Parking Parking Spaces Spaces Numbers of Staff and Students: Staff 15 - Students 150 Estimates of Vehicular Trips Drop-Off Window- 7:00 am to 11:00 pm Generated&General Timing 150 Parents, 10 minutes per drop-off of Traffic Pick-Up Window— 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm 150 Parents, 10 minutes per pick-up Land Cover Changes: Minimal clearing to construct school building - Approximately 1/4 acre All surrounding areas to remain as a wooded preserve. Description of Outdoor Activities: Playing Animal Care Running Bee Keeping Jumping Little Farmers Selling Climbing Horseback Riding Building Stall Mucking Planting Horse Grooming Weeding Horse Bathing Farming Horse Tack-up Harvesting Tack Cleaning &Repair Hiking Leaf& Tree Identification Wading Treasure Hunting Swimming Animal Track Identification Fishing Art in the Garden Trapping Bird Watching Celebrations Round Pen Romping Dancing Ring Jumping Circuit Singing Tricycle Riding