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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP202200033 Correspondence 2022-12-19SHIMP ENGINEERING, P.C. Design Focused Engineering Project Narrative For: Dickerson Road Manufactured Home Park Zoning Map Amendment I Special Use Permit Request Parcel Description: 20-19D, 20-19E, 21-13A Pre-App Meeting Date: October 24, 2022 Initial Submission: December 19, 2022 ACREAGE EXISTING ZONING PROPOSED ZONING SPECIAL USE PROPOSED COMP PLAN DESIGNATION TMP 20-19D 2.00 RA R-6 Manufactured Home Park Rural Areas TMP 20-19E 10.25 TMP 21-13A 4.00 Additional Zoning Considerations: Airport Impact Area, Critical Slopes Location: On Dickerson Road, approximately 1,600' west of its intersection with Route 29 Seminole Trail. The property is located directly across Dickerson Road from the Emerson campus, formerly the General Electric campus. Surrounding Uses: The property is surrounded by single family residential uses and the Emerson campus. Project Proposal: Evergreen Home Builders LLC (the "owner") is the owner of tax parcels 20-19D, 20-19E, and 21-13A, which, in the aggregate comprise 16.25-acres in Albemarle County, Virginia (parcels 20-19D, 20-19E, and 21-13A collectively referred to herein as the "property"). The property is located north of the Briarwood Subdivision, across from the Emerson campus, formerly the General Electric campus. The property is currently zoned Rural Areas, with one existing commercial structure on the site that was formerly used as an exercise center and meeting space for Emerson employees. The owner seeks a zoning map amendment to rezone the property from RA to R-6, with a special use permit to establish a manufactured home park. The park is proposed at a density of 5 DUA, or 66 manufactured homes, with ample open and recreational space for residents to utilize. Public Need or Benefit: As Central Virginia continues to attract new residents, Albemarle County has identified providing safe and affordable housing to existing and new households as an important guiding principle. High housing demand outpacing housing supply is not an affordable housing issue unique to the County. Nationwide, the supply shortage has driven up the cost of housing and "has pushed homes out of reach for most low- and middle -income households... There is no single reason new housing production remains low. Broadly speaking, the supply shortage has five main issues: local and state zoning restrictions that favor detached single-family 912 E. High St. Charlottesville, VA 22902 1434.227.5140 1 shimp-engineering.com construction; stringent building codes that increase construction costs; chronic labor shortages in the construction sector; the high costs of building materials; and financing difficulties for affordable options, such as manufactured homes, accessory dwelling units, and home preservation."' Per the Annual Affordable Housing Report (May 2022), the median home value in Albemarle County is currently $376,000, with 19% of homeowners spending more than 30% of their household income on housing; 44% of renters spend more than 30% of their household income on housing. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Policy Development and Research, "manufactured housing is the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the United States," but despite this statistic and the public benefit this housing supply provides, it is difficult to establish a manufactured home park in Albemarle County as this type of housing is not permitted by -right in any of Albemarle's conventional residential zoning districts.' This type of exclusionary zoning has disincentivized the increase of this housing type to the housing stock in Albemarle County. However, manufactured housing would be an untapped opportunity in providing housing that is inherently more affordable. Where the average sales price of a new site -built home in 2021, excluding land, was approximately $366,000, the average sales price of a manufactured home was $122,500.' The discrepancy is due to cost reductions in factory -built construction. Factory -built construction is able to incorporate automation, is less labor intensive, produces less waste, and is able to operate despite weather conditions; additionally, less time is needed to construct factory -built housing, overall contributing to the reduction of manufactured housing cost. Although the cost of manufactured housing is substantially lower than a new site -built home, the past stigma of poor quality no longer holds true. Historically, `mobile homes' and `manufactured homes' were used interchangeably to describe prefabricated dwellings and prior to 1976, mobile homes were unregulated and constructed without federal standards. With the implementation of HUD building code for manufactured housing in June 1976, prefabricated housing is required to be comply to standards regulating "energy efficiency, durability, fire safety, transportability, and material and construction quality"' and the Housing Act of 1980's official determination of the term "manufactured homes" serves to distinguish standardized pre -fabricated housing from the unregulated mobile homes. As the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing, manufactured housing provides an opportunity for a different housing type that is more accessible for a variety of households, when compared to stick -built construction. Furthermore, affordable units tend to be housed in multifamily structures, which may not be the ideal housing type for all families. Manufactured housing allows for more privacy and yard space more akin to a single family residence than a multifamily layout. Residents living in a manufactured home park would be able to enjoy the amenities that single family homes provide, without the high cost of a single family detached neighborhood. Consistency with Comprehensive Plan and Places29 Master Plan: The Places29 Master Plan seeks to guide "residential and employment neighborhoods that are organized around centers... they will offer a variety of housing choices, retail environments, office types, and employment opportunities" (2-1). As a major regional transportation corridor, Route 29 generally features a commercial -residential transect, with commercial and industrial uses along the spine of Seminole Trail r'The Role of Manufactured Housing in Increasing the Supply of Affordable Housing" July 2022. Urban Institute. 2 "Factory -Built Housing for Affordability, Efficiency, and Resilience" Winter/Spring 2020. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research https7//www.huduser.gov/aortal/periodicals/em/WinterSprin220/hi hg_lightl.html and residential uses set behind. Several employment centers are present in the Places29 North area. Hollymead Town Center, the Charlottesville -Albemarle Airport, University of Virginia Research Park, NGIC, and Emerson are prominent destinations that are readily accessible along Route 29. With projections for the County population to increase by 31,000 residents by 2044, "under current zoning, there is likely not sufficient capacity to accommodate 20 years of growth."' Although the property is zoned Rural Areas, the location of the site does not lend itself to be wholly rural. The property is located on Dickerson Road, approximately 1,600' west of its intersection with Route 29. One of the major employers in Places29 North is located immediately across the street from the site. Additionally, Briarwood and Camelot, two neighborhood density residential subdivisions, are located across Dickerson Road, consisting of single family detached and townhomes. With the presence of notable employment centers in close proximity to the site and its location relative to Route 29, a major corridor, a rezoning and special use permit for a manufactured home park would align with meeting County goals in providing affordable housing near destinations of work and commercial service. The manufactured home park would remain unsubdivided while providing housing to nearly 70 households. Impact on Environmental Features: Approximately 12,960 square feet of critical slopes are present on the property and are proposed to be disturbed; a special exception request for slopes disturbance is submitted concurrently with this ZMA request. The intent of critical slopes designation is to protect and conserve hillside systems, public drinking water supplies, and floodplain areas. The critical slopes present on the property are not part of a slopes system, nor is the property located within a water supply protection area or floodzone. The critical slopes located on the site are non-contiguous and more than 30% of the total slopes area is the result of the construction of Dickerson Road and Lonicera Way. Redesignation and disturbance of these non- contiguous slopes would not create a detrimental impact of soil erosion, rapid or large-scale movement of soil and rock, or excessive run-off. Impact on Traffic: Using the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Estimates 101 Edition, the addition of 66 new manufactured home units could add 17 trips in the morning peak hour and 30 trips in the evening peak how. Impact on Public Safety: The property is located within the Hollymead Rescue Squad, the Hollymead Fire Station, and the Jefferson Police District, Sector 3, Beat 9. Impact on Public School Facilities: School -aged residents of the property would attend Baker -Butler Elementary School, Lakeside Middle School, and Albemarle High School. According to the 2021 Albemarle County Public Schools Subdivision Yield Analysis, 66 new manufactured home units could add 22 students to Baker -Butler Elementary, six students to Lakeside Middle, and 18 students to Albemarle High. Per the Long Range Planning Advisory Committee Recommendations (2021), Baker -Butler Elementary is currently over capacity, however, ACPS has already acquired two elementary school sites through proffers that would alleviate capacity in the Northern Feeder Pattern. All three public high schools in Albemarle County are experiencing some level of capacity issues. The top priority identified by the LRPAC is to construct a new centrally -located facility to directly address high school capacity. Lakeside Middle currently has low 3 "Planning for Growth: Future Land Use Buildout" AC44 Growth Management. Albemarle County. capacity conflicts, however, may be facing higher student yields in the future; ACPS will be studying middle school capacity overall to better understand future projections. Special Exceptions Requested from County Code §18-5.3: § 18-5.1 of the Code of Albemarle permits the Board of Supervisors to modify or waive requirements of Section 5 "upon a finding that such requirement would not forward the purposes of this chapter or otherwise serve the public health, safety, or welfare or that a modified regulations would satisfy the purposes of this chapter to at least an equivalent degree as the specified requirement." A separate document provided with these applications provides justification of the requested exceptions. Concurrent with the special use permit request, the following exceptions are requested: • Sec. 5.3.4(C) No manufactured home shall be located closer than 50 feet from any service or recreational structure intended to be used by more than one manufactured home. • Sec. 5.3.8(A) Additional parking area for recreational vehicles shall be provided at a rate of one space per ten units • Sec. 5.3.8(B) Minimum typical street sections for internal streets 2. Minimum typical section for all park streets that abut manufactured home sites where the lot frontage (measured at the manufactured home setback line) is an average of less than 85 feet. 3. General Design Notes: e. Minimum horizontal centerline curve radius is 250 feet. f. Cul-de-sacs shall have a minimum radius of 45 feet measured to the edge of pavement.