The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutSP200900025 Review Comments Special Use Permit 2009-11-06ALg�,�� 'IRGINZ� COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road, North Wing Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 -4596 Phone (434) 296 -5832 Fax (434) 972 -4126 November 6, 2009 Janet Miller P.O. BOX 343 Earlysville VA 22968 Re: SP200900025 Dover Foxcroft (Church Uses) SP200900026 Dover Foxcroft (Special Events) Dear Janet: Thank you for the recent submittal of these special use permit applications. Please find comments from the following departments and agencies included in this letter: • Albemarle County Community Development Department • Planning • Zoning o Historic Resources • Inspections • Current Development – Planning • Albemarle County Fire/Rescue Department • Virginia Department of Health • Virginia Department of Transportation Please note that the comments in this letter address fundamental questions and issues about these projects, rather than specific construction or use details. We can address more detailed issues once these issues are resolved. Please see the attached resubmittal schedule for a list of dates on which you can submit your revisions and responses to review comments (below and attached), as well as for possible Planning Commission dates (please note that the listed dates are the earliest possible, but actual dates need to be selected to suit the revision schedule for each project.) Please feel free to call me with any questions —I' 11 be happy to provide any help I can. COMMENTS Planning (Scott Clark) • Our review shows that this property is under a conservation easement held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF). Please provide written verification from VOF that the proposed structures and uses are permitted under that easement. We will not be able to recommend approval of any improvements or activities that are not permitted by that deed. • We continue to have concerns about the scale and impacts of uses of this size in the Rural Areas. After the easement and use issues are resolved, we will need to discuss traffic, water, and septic impacts, among others, in more detail. • Please provide any comments or approvals received from Greene County regarding the uses on that portion of the property. • Please note that section 5.1.43 of the Zoning Ordinance requires that: • Each structure used for a special event shall satisfy the following: (i) the structure shall have been in existence on the date of adoption of this section 5.1.43, provided that this requirement shall not apply to accessory structures less than one hundred fifty (150) square feet in size; Since you are proposing multiple structures that would be used for the "special events," you would need to request a waiver of this requirement from the Planning Commission for each new structure, with a justification stating how this waiver would • The number of participants at a special event at any one time shall not exceed one hundred fifty (150) persons. Again, a waiver request would be needed for all events with more than 150 attendees. • The special use permit shall identify the number of approved special events per calendar year, which number shall not exceed twenty-four (24). More than 24 events per year would require another waiver request. • Please review 5.1.43 in its entirety. There may be other restrictions that apply to your requests, such as the prohibition of commercial kitchens on the site. o Also, please note that staff would not recommend approval of these waivers by the Planning Commission unless it could be shown that they were consistent with the Rural Areas chapter of the Comprehensive Plan and the purposes of the Rural Areas zoning district (see section 10 of the Zoning Ordinance). Zoning (Ron Higgins) Sec 5.1.43 requires special events to be on parcels which have an ongoing by -right primary use. That use for this project would be the church, which is not existing on site. Uses proposed in the plan and subsequent clarifications from the applicant are not special events, but may fall under other uses such as day camp/boarding camp, etc. Uses are commercial in nature (e.g. retreat center for rent to groups, use by "other people who are visiting the Charlottesville area ", cottages available for rent year round, etc.). Is this allowed under the VOF easement? Current Development — Planning (Bill Fritz) • A site plan will be required for the proposed uses. • Site plan review may be problematic -- parking, sanitation and potentially fire protection will be issues of concern. • Waivers from design standards may be needed for the parking and potentially access. • More detailed comments will be made with the next revision. Historic Resources (Margaret Maliszewski) Department of Historic Resources (DHR) files indicate that a number of historic resources have been identified at this site. The site was surveyed in 1979 and re- surveyed in 2006. By 2006, some ruins identified in the earlier survey (icehouse, blacksmith shop and kitchen) had been lost. The remaining resources have not been formally evaluated by DHR for eligibility for inclusion in the state or national registers. The proposal represents a significant intensification of development on the site. It is recommended that new development at the site be completed without impacting any of the historic or architectural integrity that remains among the existing buildings. Inspections (Jay Schlothauer) • Delete the property lines delineating parcel 5A2, or rearrange the proposed guest cottages so that none are bisected by a property line. • Note: This office is not responsible for building code administration in Greene County. Fire/Rescue (James Barber ❑ Must comply with the Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code. Approval is subject to field inspection and verification. Virginia Department of Health No comments have been received from the Department of Health. They will be provided as soon as they are available. Virginia Department of Transportation • Comments on transportation issues (traffic generation, entrance requirements, etc.) will be provided based on your responses to this letter. It is likely that a detailed traffic study, based on your estimates of the timing and scale of the uses on the site, will be necessary. Sincerely, Scott Clark Senior Planner enc