HomeMy WebLinkAboutSE202200018 Correspondence 2022-07-104405 Carriage Hill Drive
Earlysville, VA 22936
July 10, 2022
Mr. Bart Svoboda
Zoning Administrator
County of Albemarle
401 McIntire Road, Suite 228
Charlottesville, VA 22902-4596
Dear Mr. Svoboda:
What follows is my set of comments and concerns regarding the
Special Exception for a Zoning Clearance for Kindrick Farm.
First, I want to say that my involvement in this case was
initiated by a phone call to me on the morning of Thursday, July 7,
2022, from a member of the Earlysville Forest Homeowners Association
Board of Directors asking if I had received a mailing from Albemarle
County regarding a Special Exception requested by the owner(s) of
Kindrick Farm. I said that I had received no such mailing.
After describing the request in terms of fill dirt being added
to an area at the farm that would be increased from four acres to
fifty acres, this Board member conveyed to me the Board's concerns
about such a request in terms of environmental and zoning
considerations. The Board member noted that I should receive that
County mailing because I am a property owner of one of the houses
situated along the driveway to that farm --a driveway that extends off
Carriage Hill Drive at mailbox number 4394 and comes far closer to my
house (at 4405) than it does to the other houses along that driveway.
When I collected my mail that afternoon (July 7), I saw that the
County's letter still had not arrived. After I phoned to let the
Board member know this, I was told that a copy of the letter would be
made and dropped off to me later that day. I did receive the copy.
Second, on the following day (July 8), I left a phone message
and then sent a follow-up e-mail to you as the Zoning Administrator
for Albemarle County who had written the letter. Eventually I both
phoned and e-mailed Ms. Ann Mallek, as County Supervisor, in an
effort to get answers to the questions I had about your letter. Ms.
Mallek phoned me back on Saturday morning (July 9) with answers and
further information. In that conversation, I learned more regarding
the nature of the ongoing concerns about the requested exception,
with Ms. Mallek's comments supplementing but also echoing the
concerns already expressed to me by the EF HO Association Board
member.
Third, the letter written by you invited the pertinent owners of
property on Carriage Hill Drive to submit whatever comments or
concerns any of us might have regarding the requested exception --an
invitation repeated to me by both the Association Board member and
Ms. Mallek. For the four years since I bought and have lived in my
house on Carriage Hill Drive, I have indeed had concerns about the
type of vehicles and/or their speed on that driveway. In retrospect,
the Agent Remarks on the listing sheet (by Jamie Kay of Silvergate
Realty, representing the sellers), dated 3/5/2018, were highly
misleading: "There is an easement on this property for a driveway
that runs next to this home that leads to a large family farm behind
this property. The traffic on this driveway is minimal and typically
is just the kids going to and from school and parents going to and
from work." This is not at all an accurate statement pertinent to the
past four years.
I assumed that, from having to grant the easement, there was
probably nothing to be done about the ATVs that raced up and down
that driveway a couple years ago, or the flat bed trucks hauling cars
and other equipment to the farm, or the numerous daily trips of a
large heavy dump truck hauling dirt and a flat bed truck/trailer
hauling various pieces of heavy equipment to and from the farm for at
least the past eight months --perhaps longer. In the past week,
however, that particular traffic on the driveway has stopped --perhaps
temporarily.
During a long conversation I happened to have had outside at
that driveway with Mr. Tim Kindrick on May 28, 2022, he recounted to
me the history of his family's farm, mentioned the conservation
easement he holds and has the documentation for, clarified that he
could use the driveway for as many trucks and trips as necessary, and
confirmed the expanded use of the land currently underway. Although I
appreciated the background information he conveyed, it made me
realize that I had no recourse other than to accept whatever comes
and goes on that driveway, however early in the morning or late at
night, and however heavy the weight, noisy the sound, or fast the
speed. But now that I have been given the opportunity to comment, I
have decided to do so.
Fourth and finally, I can say that the range and number of
vehicles that use that driveway go well beyond residential in
character, and the speed of some of those vehicles, along with the
volume of a sound system I have been able to hear before I even see
the vehicle, strike me as neither consistent with the neighborhood
nor considerate of the property owner who is most affected by that
kind of traffic (and driver). When the owner(s) of the farm put up a
sign for a 5 mph speed limit several months ago, some of the vehicles
that use that driveway (including the large heavy dump truck) have
indeed slowed down to that speed. Other vehicles have not, speeding
far above the posted limit, in both directions. (These vehicles
include --but are certainly not limited to --the various mail delivery
trucks.) To the former --the drivers who have followed that 5 mph
speed limit --I am genuinely grateful for their courtesy and
consideration. But rather than my having to depend on any and all
drivers to extend that same courtesy and consideration, I wonder if
some other access road to and from the farm could be opened, or
created, so that Earlysville Forest roads would be spared the kind of
traffic that the farm generates.
Because of the manner in which that driveway is used, I rarely
sit out on the deck anymore, let alone have friends here to lunch
outside, as the experience is often neither pleasant nor peaceful.
Inside the house, the experience is similar, though of course more
muted. I find these circumstances an unfortunate and regrettable
feature of this particular location in Earlysville Forest. I realize
that I might still have no recourse in this matter, and I will accept
that. But at least the impact of the requested exception on this
particular resident should by now be clear.
Respectfully submitted,
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Cathie Brettschneider
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