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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSUB200800160 Review Comments Preliminary Site Plan 2008-08-20COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road, North Wing Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 -4596 Phone (434) 296 -5832 Fax (434) 972 -4012 August 29, 2008 Michael Barns P. O. Box 5207 Charlottesville, VA 22905 RE: SUB200800160 Foot Hills Crossing - Preliminary Dear Mr. Barnes: The Albemarle County Planning Commission, at its meeting on, August 19, 2008 approved the above - noted petition, by a vote of 6:1. Please note this approval was based on the following conditions: 1. The engineering review for current development needs to review and approve all applicable items as specified in the Design Standards Manual, section 903, before recommending tentative approval to the final subdivision plat. 2. Screening in accord with Section 32.7.9.8 shall be provided within the Open Space area between the Connector Road and any lots backing on the Connector Road that are shallower than 350 feet. 3. Albemarle County Service Authority approval to include construction drawings for water service infrastructure, meters, easements. 4. A conservation plan checklist must be completed and incorporated into the site plan with notes to show how any individual trees and groups of trees designated to remain will be protected during the construction of this project. The location of any tree protection fencing that coincides with the limits of clearing and other methods of protection from the checklist must be shown on the plan for clear identification during field inspections. 5. The applicant will have to submit road names for all roads to this office before final plat is approved. Please contact this office for road name approval. 6. Fire and Rescue Department approval is subject to field inspection and verification. 7. All accesses and roadways shall be designed in accordance with the current Subdivision Street Standards, The Minimum Standards for Entrances to State Highways and the Road Design Manual for the Virginia Department of Transportation. The approval of the preliminary plat is valid for one (1) year in accordance with Subdivision Ordinance Section 14- 221.A. Therefore, the preliminary approval shall expire on August 19, 2009. If the preliminary plat approval expires, a new application must be filed and processed. If you should have any questions or comments regarding the above noted action, please do not hesitate to contact me at (434) 296 -5832. Sincerely, Gerald Gatobu Senior Planner Zoning and Current Development Division Cc: Route 240 Holdings LLC C/O River Bend Management Inc P O Box 520 Crozet, VA 22932 *-&A County of Albemarle Department of Community Development Memorandum To: Gerald Gatobu, Current Development Project Planner From: Phil Custer, Current Development engineering review Date: 31 July 2008 Subject: Foothill Crossing Preliminary Plat (SUB- 2008 - 00160) The first revision of the preliminary plat for Foothill Crossing has been reviewed. The following comments are provided. 1. At the time of the expiration of the original preliminary plat for this project (SUB- 2006 - 00315), the applicant had nearly approved road, ESC, SWM, and mitigation plans (WPO- 2007 -00044 and SUB - 2006 - 00315). It appears that the alignment of the road and lot layout is exactly the same as in the approved plans with the exception of the phase lines. There are no new ordinance text amendments that would affect this subdivision plan. (Rev. 1) The road plan, SWMplan, and associated easements on this preliminary plat do not match the nearly approved set. The final plat should be drawn to the engineering documents reviewed by engineering. 2. The critical slope disturbance shown on this plan will be considered exempt. [18- 4.2.6] (Rev. 1) No change. 3. The applicant needs to correctly show the stream buffers on the plan. The stream buffer terminates at the parcel's property line on the current plan (Rev. 1) The buffer is not shown correctly adjacent to the northern conceptual SWM facility. Please see the county GIS- Web application for the correct buffer location. 4. Not all of the required drainage easements are shown on the plan. (final plat comment) (Rev. 1) No change. 5. All drainage easements should be sized using the equation in the design manual that is based on the depth and size of the storm pipe. (final plat comment) (Rev. 1) No change. Engineering review has no objection to the approval of this preliminary plat. File: E1_ppt_PBC_sub200800160 *-&A County of Albemarle Department of Community Development Memorandum To: Gerald Gatobu, Current Development Project Planner From: Phil Custer, Current Development engineering review Date: 15 July 2008 Subject: Foothill Crossing Preliminary Plat (SUB- 2008 - 00160) The preliminary plat for Foothill Crossing has been reviewed. The following comments are provided. 1. At the time of the expiration of the original preliminary plat for this project (SUB- 2006 - 00315), the applicant had nearly approved road, ESC, SWM, and mitigation plans (WPO- 2007 -00044 and SUB - 2006 - 00315). It appears that the alignment of the road and lot layout is exactly the same as in the approved plans with the exception of the phase lines. There are no new ordinance text amendments that would affect this subdivision plan. 2. The critical slope disturbance shown on this plan will be considered exempt. [18- 4.2.6] 3. The applicant needs to correctly show the stream buffers on the plan. The stream buffer terminates at the parcel's property line on the current plan 4. Not all of the required drainage easements are shown on the plan. (final plat comment) 5. All drainage easements should be sized using the equation in the design manual that is based on the depth and size of the storm pipe. (final plat comment) Engineering review has no objection to the approval of this preliminary plat. File: El_ppt_PBC_sub200800160 pF AL �'IRGIN�� COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road, Room 227 Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 -4596 Phone (434) 296 -5832 Fax (434) 972 -4126 MEMORANDUM TO: Gerald Gatobu, Senior Planner, Current Development FROM: Elaine Echols, Principal Planner for the Development Areas SUBJECT: SUB 2008 -160 Foothill Crossing DATE: July 14, 2008 Thank you for offering the opportunity to comment on the above referenced subdivision. For SUB 2007 -47, Rebecca Ragsdale provided a letter recommending changes to the plat for better conformity with the Crozet Master Plan. The applicant made a few changes; however, the most substantive requests were not made and, as they could not be required, the Planning Division did not request anything further. I found out this morning that the preliminary plat expired and that the project was resubmitted for review and approval. I would like to ask you to call the applicant's attention to three very important items for consideration. The first item has to do with the Connector Road which will connect Rt. 240 to Rt. 250. Our Master Plan calls it the Eastern Connector. On SUB 08 -160, the Eastern Connector is shown as a 36 foot wide street with bike lanes, sidewalks, and planting strips for street trees. We appreciate the attention their firm has paid to the width for bike lanes. Unfortunately, there is an area of "open space" between the backs of the lots and the Connector Road, rather than having the houses "front" on the Connector Road and be served by an alley. What will happen is that the rears of the houses will face the street, which is not desirable design or form in the County's development areas. The Eastern Connector is a very important street in Crozet's overall street system and I would appeal to applicant's sense of good design for Crozet and ask that he reconsider the arrangement proposed. Secondly, there is the issue of interconnections. The proposed development provides excellent external street connections on the north, south, east, and western parts of your site. Internal to the development, though, there are five cul -de -sacs. The most northeastern cul -de -sac makes tremendous sense adjacent to steep slopes and the creekbed. The other cul -de -sacs, though, might be connected in a better block format and still provide for the minimum 100 feet of lot width. I don't know whether their engineers have attempted to do this or not. My guess is that, with the R -1 zoning, the engineers have tried to maximize the number of building lots that can meet the minimum requirements and providing for more of a "block" pattern will not provide the maximum number of building lots given the lot requirements of the R -1 district. Whether it is essential that the applicant maximize the number of building lots or whether they have some "give" to allow for better design, I don't know. I do believe that it would be beneficial to the development and the County to allow for more internal interconnections. Since R -1 zoning does not provide a great deal of density anyway, I would recommend design over density, if it comes down to that. Since the applicant will need to go to the Planning Commission for approval of the open space, perhaps the Commission might weigh in on their desires. Finally, there is the issue of stream buffers. As you know, undisturbed stream buffers are required adjacent to all streams in Crozet. As you also know, the County prefers to have stream buffers in open space rather than on lots. We find that the buffers are protected better when this occurs. Many homeowners don't realize that the property they own is restricted from any disturbance by the County and the County doesn't find out the homeowner didn't know until trees are cut down and erosion occurs. Although we can't require it, we would prefer that stream buffers be placed in common open space. Please provide these comments to the applicant with the County's review comments and let me know if you need additional information. Thanks.