HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinal PC Minutes 10102023ALBEMARLE COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
FINAL MINUTES - October 10, 2023
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Albemarle County Planning Commission
FINAL Minutes
October 10, 2023
The Albemarle County Planning Commission held a public hearing on Tuesday, October 10,
2023, at 6:00 p.m.
Members attending were: Corey Clayborne, Chair; Fred Missel, Vice-Chair; Julian Bivins; Luis
Carrazana; Lonnie Murray; Nathan Moore (remote); Karen Firehock (arrived at 6:42 p.m.)
Members absent:
Other officials present were: Kevin McDermott, Director of Planning; Andy Herrick, County
Attorney’s Office; Ben Holt; Amelia McCulley; Dave Shifflett; Andy Reitelbach; and Carolyn
Shaffer, Clerk to the Planning Commission.
Call to Order and Establish Quorum
Ms. Shaffer called the roll.
Mr. Clayborne established a quorum.
Ms. Shaffer stated that Mr. Moore was requesting to participate virtually.
Mr. Moore stated that he was participating virtually due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. He said
he was located at his home in the County.
Mr. Bivins moved that the Commission allow Mr. Moore to participate remotely. Mr. Murray
seconded the motion, which carried unanimously (5-0). (Mr. Moore was remote; Ms. Firehock was
absent).
Other Matters Not Listed on the Agenda from the Public
Mr. Clayborne said that during the work session, they would not be taking public comment, so if
anyone wished to speak about work session items, this would be the appropriate time to do so.
Rob McGinnis, Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), said that the PEC appreciated the
productive discussions that took place during the Planning Commission's previous work session
on the four AC44 toolkits. He said the PEC had significant concerns regarding any type of map
that depicted areas for future expansion of development. He stated that such a map could be
problematic and lead to land speculation and its associated impacts. He said that he was
concerned this mapping could lead to premature expansion by drawing attention away from
directing growth into the designated development areas.
Mr. McGinnis said that during the most recent County Natural Heritage Committee meeting, staff
presented the AC44 presentation. He said that the AC44 team would be exploring the possibility
of including a real rural area chapter and a development areas chapter in their plan. He said this
was good news, as the past two comprehensive plans prioritized rural area chapters, which the
residents of the County consistently placed a very high value on. He said this was documented in
nearly three decades of community surveys and recent feedback from the public on the AC44
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comprehensive plan process. He said that the County should follow through with reinstating the
rural area and development chapters in the AC44 comprehensive plan.
Carol Carter, 852 Redlands Farm, said that she urged the planners to honor and emphasize the
protection of the rural character of the County by reinstating the rural plan chapter in the
comprehensive plan. She said that for several years, surveys had consistently demonstrated the
significance and importance of rural protections to residents. She said agriculture, forestry, and
agritourism were thriving in the County. She said that their scenic beauty was cherished by both
residents and visitors alike. She said that the protection of healthy ecosystems, biodiversity, and
sustainable land management were critical to ensure the future of their water quality, human
health, and climate mitigation efforts. She said that the preservation and conservation of their
natural and working landscapes were essential for their well-being and quality of life.
Ms. Carter said that Climate Action Plan, stream health initiative, biodiversity action plan, and
water supply plan were essential to the protection of the rural area. She said that the integration
of parks and open space within private development and redevelopment should be prioritized in
the development area. She said that she suggested expanding incentives for conservation
easements in the County. She said that she urged the consideration of cyclists who commuted
and biked for recreation in the County, as well as wildlife corridors to reduce collisions, in
transportation planning. She noted the need to protect forests, farmland, and grazing lands,
stating that it takes over 100 years to build a mere inch of topsoil. She said that sacrificing prime
Virginia soils to large solar development was short-sighted, particularly when they were in scenic
viewsheds. She said that she urged the protection of threatened dark skies with a strong and
enforceable light ordinance.
Tom Olivier, Samuel Miller district, said that he had come to comment on the update of the
comprehensive plan. He said that natural resources sustained people physically, as they required
air to breathe and water to drink. He said agriculture, which feeds the community in turn,
depended on pollinating insects. He said that ecosystems sequestered carbon dioxide, and many
felt a mix of peace and joy in beholding the ecosystems that grace the open space landscapes.
He said that since the beginning of the industrial age, human numbers and per capita consumption
of natural resources had risen. He said that the planet's natural systems have been reduced and
damaged by expanding human activities.
Mr. Olivier asked if the current reduced natural system was insufficient to sustainably provide the
services and products that humanity required. He said the ecological footprint methodology was
an established means of measuring human demands for biological production of the planet's
ecological, agricultural, and forestry systems. He said that material products and waste absorption
capacities were considered in the footprint, and in a recent paper, developments of the ecological
footprint methodology report that humanity’s current demands on the Earth's biological systems
now exceeded their productive capacities by 70%.
Mr. Olivier said that the rate of environmental degradation was unsustainable, taking into account
the excessive demand for the planet's biological productivity and the human-caused biodiversity
extinction crisis, climate change, and other environmental crises. He said it was clear that the
current state of affairs was not environmentally sustainable. He said that the path toward
environmental sustainability would be complex and challenging. He said that one thing that was
evident was the need to protect and restore the planet's ecosystems.
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Mr. Olivier said that it was essential that the next comprehensive plan strongly supported the
protection of the County's natural resources, including historic resources which were important to
identity and understanding of the past. He said that the County should assist in preserving them.
He said that parks played a significant role in the quality of life, especially in urban areas. He said
that he understood that the AC 44 team was now considering adding a chapter on rural areas in
the new plan. He said that he commended the staff's willingness to consider this addition.
Genevieve Keller, President of Preservation Piedmont, said their advocacy committee had
carefully reviewed the draft goals and objectives for the historic, scenic, and cultural resources.
She said that they were a regional nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the built
environment and promoting an appreciation for historic resources throughout their region. She
said they had been working closely with the City as they developed their comprehensive plan and
zoning ordinance.
Ms. Keller said that she wanted to bring several issues to the Commission’s. She said that one
was the supplemental goal two, which focused on the protection of resources. She said that they
suggested adding language that promoted the preservation of the County's significant cultural
landscapes. She said that they hoped that the County would consider adding an objective to
proactively pursue measures, programs, and regulations to protect Albemarle's historic, scenic,
and cultural resources, including cultural landscapes, districts, archaeological sites, buildings,
structures, and objects. She said that they hoped that the County would coordinate with and
incorporate historic, scenic, and cultural resource values within a rural area plan and small area
plans for those rural villages and communities.
Ms. Keller said that future actions or strategies that they envisioned included updating or
preparing a new historic preservation plan, creating a historic preservation ordinance, which was
long overdue, including enabling locally designated historic districts or two, permanently funding
a qualified historic preservation planner, and permanently funding a rural area planner. She said
that they hope that the County will prepare a rural area plan that addressed natural and working
landscapes, cultural landscapes, and preserved and promoted the aspects of the landscape that
provided residents with a sense of place and well-being, while also addressing climate change
and supporting the local economy through tourism and economic development.
Ms. Keller said that they hoped that this rural area plan could be comprehensive and be informed
by significant public engagement. She said that they hoped there will be community-driven small
area plans for the rural villages and communities, and that the County will protect rural area values
and character through inclusion of a rural areas chapter in the updated comprehensive plan. She
said that previous comprehensive plans had included a rural areas chapter, and it was something
they would very much like to see continued.
Consent Agenda
Mr. Carrazana moved that the Commission adopt the minutes from the previous meetings,
September 12 and September 26, 2023, as presented. Mr. Missel seconded the motion, which
carried unanimously (6-0). (Mr. Moore was remote; Ms. Firehock was absent).
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Work Session
CPA202100002 AC44 Goals and Objectives for Natural and Historic Resources and Parks
and Recreation
Ben Holt, long-range planner, said that he would present on AC44 phase two for draft goals and
objectives. He said that staff would present a snapshot of where they were in phase two of AC44
and the process for drafting the goals and objectives. He said that the three topics for the
comprehensive plan they would cover were environmental stewardship, parks and recreation,
and historic, scenic, and cultural resources. He said that staff would give a brief presentation on
the draft goals and objectives for each of these topics, followed by a discussion of approximately
20 to 25 minutes for each one. He said that at the end of the presentation, th ey would present
next steps in the AC44 process.
Mr. Holt said that the purpose of the work session was to consider whether the goals aligned with
the framework and what was missing from the draft goals and objectives. He said that the goals
and objectives were drafted with input from the community, County committees, the Commission,
the Board, County staff, and partner agencies. He said that they incorporated a review of the 2015
plan and best practices from other jurisdictions. He said that direction from the Framework for an
Equitable and Resilient Community, which set a vision for what the County aspired to be in 2044—
a green and resilient, welcoming and equitable, connected and accessible, thriving and
prosperous community—was incorporated.
Mr. Holt said that the goals and objectives were guided by the County vision and the mission
statement, as well as the AC44 framework. He said that these goals and objectives provided
direction for each topic. He said that a goal being defined as a high-level, long-term direction, and
an objective was a specific outcome or target to accomplish that goal. He said that an action step
was a policy, infrastructure improvement, planning effort, or activity used to achieve and
implement the plan objectives. He said that the framework and big ideas incorporated community
input from phase one, the Board's priorities of equity as directed by the resolution for an equitable
and inclusive community in 2019, and the County's mission statement. He said that it incorporated
the Climate Action Plan of 2020, Commission and Board input, as well as the goals from the 2015
comprehensive plans and American Planning Association best practices.
Mr. Holt said that the purpose of the framework was to find a common ground and build a
foundation of community support for policy guidance that incorporated the priorities of equity and
climate action and improve the plan usability by consolidating the content and highlighting
interconnections among plan topics. He said that regarding the plan links, consolidating and
reducing the plan was a strategy for a more accessible and user-friendly plan. He said that the
current 2015 comprehensive plan was 125,853 words, which as a point of reference was longer
than The Hobbit.
He said that prominent plans that had been published over the last several years were trending
significantly shorter, including Charlottesville, Greensboro, North Carolina, and Richmond,
ranging from 24,000 to 72,000 words, or 40-80% shorter than the County’s existing plan. He said
that step three of phase two focused on goals and objectives. He said that this was the first of
three work sessions on the goals and objectives for the plan topics. He said that the following two
work sessions for the rest of the topic groups will be held in November and December.
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Mr. Holt said that community engagement step one focused on the priorities for the plan topics
and included a questionnaire on the challenges, opportunities, and priorities. He said that it had
a high number of respondents for the questionnaire. He said that they had six pop-ups, one in
each magisterial district, a working group meeting, and community chat kits for participants to
discuss challenges and opportunities. He said that in step two, they focused on planning toolkits.
He said that it involved five open houses, where four were in person and one was online. He said
that they had questionnaires on each of the four topics for the toolkits, a working group meeting,
and another round of community chat kits.
Mr. Holt said that the response rate was lower for that questionnaire, but they had a number of
visitors to the AC44 website during that time period. He said that during step three of phase two
for the draft goals and objectives, they had a questionnaire open on each topic of environmental
stewardship, historic resources, and parks and recreation. He said they would keep the surveys
open throughout the rest of step three. He said that the surveys for the remaining topics were
published in advance of each work session. He said that staff held chat with a planner
opportunities in September and October, which coincided with two Board meetings and the
Rivanna River Basin Conference. He said that staff presented recently at the Natural Heritage
Commission on October 5, and they held two pop-ups where they shared information at the Loop
de Ville event and the Community Day at Simpson Park.
Mr. Holt began discussing the plan topic of environmental stewardship and noted that the topic
name had changed from natural resources to environmental stewardship, placing a focus on
protecting and restoring the natural environment while also recognizing the benefits beyond just
a set of resources that may be used. He said that environmental stewardship included climate
action, resilience, clean waterways and water sources, stormwater management, biodiversity and
ecosystem protection, habitat restoration, native plant protection, waste management, and
recycling. He said that the plan was connected to other topics such as land use, transportation,
and parks.
Mr. Holt said that some of the community input themes they had heard included protecting and
restoring water quality, ensuring a drinking water supply, disaster preparedness, including
response to floods, heat, drought, and storms, protecting and replacing trees, protecting habitats
by prioritizing biodiversity action plan efforts, dark skies protection, improving resilience through
community hubs for emergency response, supporting community gardens and local food systems,
and reducing waste and expanding recycling.
Mr. Holt said that for the goals and objectives, goal one sought to undertake climate action by
implementing the Climate Action Plan of 2020 and meeting the Board of Supervisors targets to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4% in 2030, and to achieve zero emissions by 2050. He
said that the objectives of the plan included increasing multimodal transportation, utilizing clean
energy, reducing energy use, and restoring forests to support sustainable agriculture and waste
reduction.
Mr. Holt said that goal two sought resilience to natural hazards and the impacts of climate change,
protecting residents, property and ecosystems from damage. He said that objectives included
implementing the climate adaptation and resilience plan and hazard mitigation, addressing flood
impacts and heat impacts, water supply, wildfires, invasive pests and disease vectors. He said
that goal three was on protecting water sources and water bodies throughout the County. He said
that objectives included restoration and enhancement of wetlands and stream buffers, addressing
stormwater management, and protecting groundwater.
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Mr. Holt said that goal four was on implementing the biodiversity action plan to achieve biological
diversity, ecological integrity and ecosystem resilience. He said that the objectives included
protecting habitats, such as forest blocks, protecting wildlife corridors, stream habitats and
wetlands, utilizing land conservation, supporting native plant species, and updating the
biodiversity action plan. He said that the fifth goal was about creating a sustainable system
through products, materials, and resources that were reused, refurbished, and recycled to reduce
waste. He said that the objectives include utilizing sustainable and reusable materials, reducing
materials consumption, reducing landfill waste, reducing food waste and yard waste, as well as
improving waste management practices.
Mr. Holt said that the topic had been expanded from one goal to five goals from the existing
comprehensive plan to organize the sub themes for the goals and objectives. He said that the key
themes from the 2015 plan that have been continued include emphasis on waterways, drinking
water, biodiversity, habitat protection, and hazard mitigation. He said that the recommendations
included a stronger focus on climate resilience and mitigation. He said that associated County
plans and policies will be incorporated, including the stream health initiative and climate resilience
plan.
Mr. Holt said that the online questionnaire for the draft goals and objectives had 10 respondents,
and the multiple-choice questions asked how well each goal supported the Framework for an
Equitable and Resilient Community. He said that the answer options were strongly supports,
somewhat supports, or does not support the framework. He said that for this particular topic, the
majority of responses for each goal either strongly supported or somewhat supported the
framework. He said that the selection of does not support was either 11% or 0% for those options.
Mr. Holt said that the responses to the open-ended comment question of what is missing included
topics of dark skies protection, tree protection, accounting for land use practices on land owned
by the County, private owners and other entities, incorporating more measurables for goals and
objectives, and addressing the rate of development and impervious surfaces. Transitioning to
Commission comments, he said that staff was seeking high-level feedback. He said that first, the
Commission will address whether the draft goals were aligned with the framework, and second,
they will address what was missing from the draft goals and objectives.
Mr. Clayborne suggested conducting a 'lightning round,' where everyone would go around and
share their thoughts on three prompts. He said the first prompt was whether the goals were
tracking in the right direction. He said that the second prompt focused on whether it was being
appropriately vetted through the lens of climate action and equity. He said that the third prompt
was to identify any missing elements or areas that needed further exploration. He said that they
could identify topics to spend more time discussing. He said that staff could give a five-minute
warning, and they could wrap up any comments from the Commission.
Mr. Murray said that he believed it was heading in the right direction. He said that he would like
to see more references to topics that span across different sections. He said it would be beneficial
to include cross references pointing to related information across different sections.
Mr. Missel said that he thought it was tracking. He said that he would suggest that the area
requiring attention was the implementation of appropriate measures, reassessments, and
adjustments within this plan.
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Mr. Carrazana noted emails from the public indicating the importance of this topic. He said that
he understood the importance of addressing dark skies and the use of LEDs, as it was an
increasingly important concern for the County. He said that after evaluating the impact of UVA on
this issue, they believed that it was necessary to delve deeper into the matter. He noted that it
was not mentioned in the presentation.
Mr. Bivins said that addressing dark skies was a joint effort between Albemarle County, the City
of Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia. He said that in terms of environmental
stewardship, he believed it would be beneficial to have a conversation about how they can
mitigate water impacts in areas where development was occurring near rural boundaries. He said
there were some buildings within the rural area by only 100 meters. He said that the 100 meters
was no longer relevant to the various ways in which things can be mitigated.
Mr. Bivins said that it may be that a slight modification, not a wholesale modification, would allow
some houses, structures, or developments, which were in the rural area, to easily link up with the
public works and public sewage. He said this would help to mitigate some of the sewage issues
which were popping up. He said that if they could put certain things into the system, it would keep
the water clean and also give people a chance not to have to work so hard to manage and mitigate
some of the issues they were seeing with runoff.
Mr. Bivins said that he wanted to get a better sense of how environmental stewardship fit in with
other efforts to protect drinking water. He noted that they had talked about this before, but one
ordinance would not solve everything, and there might be different areas where they need to focus
their efforts more closely. He said that it would be better to have different types of ordinances for
places that pose a greater threat to water supply than trying to create a blanket rule for everyone.
Mr. Bivins said that they often talked about steep slopes, but they tended to overlook the fact that
many of these slopes were artificially created. He said that he suggested to do something with
their steep slopes to try and determine what may be a natural steep slope that was critical and
what may be a human-made steep slope which was not part of their protected natural resources.
He said that there was new technology available that could facilitate a reexamination of what was
a critical and natural steep slope versus which was created through years of agriculture and
building in the County.
Mr. Clayborne said that they were tracking in the right direction. He said that he was expecting to
see building reuse, as they talked about climate and carbon goals. He said that it was more
climate-friendly to use an existing building. He said that in terms of resilience, they should discuss
the impacts on business continuity, such as if there was a flood.
Mr. Moore stated that the topic was tracking and in-line with the lens. He said that he did not
notice anything missing, but he had a slightly different perspective on the matter. He said that he
was concerned about what may be overlooked once the implementation began. He said that he
would like to emphasize the aspects in goal two related to resilience and the impacts on people,
as well as how they prepared for and handled such situations. He said that this was because he
believed they were heading toward more macro-level crises and emergencies in the future. He
said that this related to what Commissioner Clayborne mentioned regarding business resiliency
and continuity.
Mr. Bivins said that it may be beneficial for all parties involved if there was a list or inventory of
County and school-owned buildings and land for County led efforts on repurposing that could
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serve as a model for others on how to repurpose or reuse structures. He said that when
considering natural historic scenic and natural and cultural resources, it would be beneficial to
consider how the County would use its own lands to achieve its goals.
Mr. Murray said that the conversation was leading toward discussing equity. He said that during
his tenure as an elected official on the Storm Water Conservation District, he noticed that
individuals seeking septic repairs lacked a functional septic system and access to running water.
He said that they became aware of the environmental justice implications associated with much
of this work. He said that they realized that there was an urgent need to address the plight of
individuals living in Albemarle County without functional septic systems or running water. He said
that by providing assistance to fix these and addressing environmental concerns simultaneously,
they could help keep people in their homes while resolving an environmental issue.
Mr. Murray said that TJSWCD septic programs were also addressing affordable housing issues
to make sure people were not displaced. He said that this was a significant issue for equity, and
although there were no specific numbers available, he knew from his upbringing in a nearby
historic African-American community in Ivy, many residents lacked access to running water and
proper septic systems. He said that he believed that these areas with poorly functioning septic
and running water were likely found in historically neglected African-American communities. He
said that it was essential to incorporate environmental justice into their considerations.
Mr. Clayborne said that the themes of the conversation seemed to be operational and how to
implement actions, including a geographical component, such as dark skies, water impacts, and
steep slopes. He said that environmental justice was another theme, where resiliency and equity
were incorporated. He said that the operational theme would encompass direction-setting, cross-
referencing measures, reassessments, and adjustments.
Mr. Missel said that it was important to incorporate education and consider how to promote and
educate the community about available resources to make positive steps toward these actions.
He said that as they assess, measure, and adjust, there were ways to learn and teach, which
should be woven into the process. He said that partnerships were crucial in this regard, as it was
an ongoing and continual learning process that involved collaboration with new people and
organizations.
Mr. Missel said that another important aspect to consider was funding and developing a capital
plan alongside these goals. He said that it was necessary to think about how to implement these
ideas, and whether the development community would be interested in participating in them. He
said they would have to consider the County’s support and whether there were any grants or
funding opportunities available. He said that they should consider the impacts on economic
development. He said that they should consider their strategies for promoting economic growth,
how they address both positive and negative influences on their economy, and how they can react
to challenges that may arise.
Mr. Bivins said that in the Framework for an Equitable and Resilient Community was how he
viewed all the various components, such as creating a place to live and work for today and
tomorrow in an equitable manner. He said that a prosperous community not only had economic
benefits but also had a lifestyle that promoted well-being. He said they should consider how they
achieve this integration while protecting both rural and urban areas of the County. He said that it
was not just about the development of the County, but rather about the entire County, which was
both rural and suburban.
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Mr. Bivins said that in the staff report on page four, it mentioned that if they examined the extent
of forest coverage in the County the amount of carbon dioxide sequestered by that forest was
approximately 945,732 metric tons. He said that they needed to identify what they wanted to
achieve. He said that they should adopt a comprehensive, community approach.
Mr. Murray said that there were significant differences between the challenges faced in the rural
and growth areas. He said that the conservation issues in the rural area were distinct due to the
unique policies that applied. He said that in the growth area, policies related to stormwater and
riparian buffers did not extend to the rural area. He said that there was large habitat loss, and
they were now facing the prospect of industrial solar farms in certain parts of the rural area.
Mr. Murray said that old growth grasslands played a significant role in carbon sequestration and
asked how they could manage grasslands in a way that helped to sequester carbon. He said that
he supported the inclusion of a rural area chapter, and he supported a growth area chapter. He
said that the challenges faced by these two areas in terms of land use would be distinct when
they reached the land use section.
Mr. Clayborne said that Ms. Firehock arrived at the meeting at approximately 6:45 p.m. He noted
that regarding the objectives under the first goal, they were quite qualitative, which was a positive
attribute. He said that buildings contributed to approximately 40% of greenhouse gas emissions,
so it would be beneficial to include measures related to buildings and proactive efforts to reduce
carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. He said that the second category they discussed was
geography, which included dark skies, steep slopes, and water impacts.
Mr. Carrazana said that it was not just the County when talking about water resources; it was a
similar issue that affected other areas as well. He said that it was essential to collaborate with
UVA and the City to manage the water resources effectively. He said that communication between
these entities could be lacking at times, particularly when it came to implementing actionable
steps. He said that he would encourage working on improving communication and ensuring that
they had clear and concise plans in place to achieve the shared goals.
Mr. Murray said that dark skies were included in the historic preservation section; however, it
could be argued that it belonged in the environmental section as well. He said that the use of LED
lights had a significant impact on wildlife, particularly night-flying insects such as Luna moths and
Cecropia moths, which were iconic species in the County. He said that loss of these moths would
have a detrimental effect on the ecosystem, leading to a decline in biodiversity and affecting 90%
of baby birds' diets, which primarily consisted of caterpillars.
Mr. Murray said that in terms of tree protection, he believed the County had long needed a tree
protection ordinance. He said that they should establish standards for tree planting. He said that
regarding water, there were opportunities to incentivize low impact development.
Mr. Moore said that he agreed with the comments regarding environmental justice. He said that
they should consider pursuing projects that directly benefited people and their environment
simultaneously. He suggested that funding sources be included in the goals. He said that the
objectives were quite extensive, and it may be worth considering.
Mr. Bivins said that the rural area boundaries were drawn partially for water quality protection. He
said that it might be beneficial to re-evaluate the existing boundaries of these areas. He said that
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this could potentially lead to more effective methods of mitigating any negative impacts on water
quality. He said that when examining the historical areas, such as in Crozet, it was likely that
some houses were not connected to the system and may have failing systems. He said that if
they wished to discuss equity and improve the water system, there may be a way to do so while
being flexible on what constituted rural areas.
Mr. Missel said that they should consider how to measure their progress. He said that it was
important to take inventory of their current resources. He said that they should identify how much
natural hardwood forest they had, where the forests were located, and how to determine the value
of each of the resources. He said he supported that the title had been changed to environmental
stewardship, as this accurately reflected their goal of preserving and protecting natural resources
for future generations. He said that in terms of affordable housing, it had taken the County two
years to get to a point to maybe discuss incentives. He said that they needed to be considering
incentives early in the process.
Mr. Murray said that they had several incentives available for individuals who were interested in
conserving their land. He said that there was the Albemarle Conservation Assistance Program,
and there was still funding available. He said that the AHIP focused on environmental justice
initiatives. He said that it would be beneficial to allocate more resources toward the AHIP program
as well, as this could help address environmental issues and keep people in their homes.
Mr. Murray said that they should consider identifying high-risk areas for wildfires and take
necessary precautions to prevent potential disasters. He said that housing was encroaching on
the Shenandoah National Forest, which posed a danger. He said that it limited the park service’s
ability to maintain the forests. He said that he hoped they can reach a point where they have fire
hazard overlays in order to discourage new construction in those areas. He said that one way to
address fragmentation was by preventing the paving of gravel roads in the rural area. He said
that it had environmental consequences and should be noted.
Mr. Murray said that invasive species management should be referenced in this section, as it
transcended multiple spaces and could be included in parks or environment ordinances. He said
that there were new state-enabled ordinances that they could adopt to manage things like
bamboo, which they were not doing.
Ms. Firehock said that was late due to a work emergency. She said that in her line of work,
objectives were usually specific and measurable, and there were several objectives in the report
that could benefit from being more concrete. She said that for example, they could calculate how
much more carbon they could capture by planting X more acres of canopy, taking into account
the fact that they will still lose some canopy as they continued to grow. She said that if they wanted
to be aspirational, they should set numerical targets as there were many simple models they could
apply. She said that she would like to see more specificity in the objectives, as some of them
simply restated the goal without providing any concrete actions or measures.
Ms. Firehock said that they referred to the biodiversity action plan quite frequently, which was an
excellent plan. She said that the map used was based on a one-meter land cover analysis for the
County, which was now outdated. She said that the map should be updated, and it would enable
them to assess how many large habitat blocks have been lost in certain areas and evaluate their
progress. She said that they cannot solely rely on the biodiversity action plan due to its age. She
said that she wanted to see an emphasis on landowner education regarding buffers and other
measures they can take to protect creeks and rivers. She said that this included fencing cattle out
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of creeks and implementing best management practices.
Ms. Firehock said that she wanted to see an emphasis on low impact development incentives and
constructed green infrastructure. She said the County needed a more infiltrative landscaping. She
said they were paving like mad, and the question was how to create additional opportunities for
infiltration. She said that storm preparation and recovery were important to consider. She said
that they needed to be better prepared for recovery from the landscape. She said that if they did
that work, they would likely be reimbursed by FEMA. She said that recovery plans were not
adequately covered in the emergency plan for the County.
Ms. Firehock said that the protection of groundwater was crucial for the County, but they did not
have a comprehensive groundwater study. She said the groundwater was complex, and they
should consider whether they wanted to invest in a large-scale ground water study. She said that
this was something that they may wish to consider in the future, particularly in areas where growth
was anticipated. She noted that Nelson County invested in one years ago, which was fairly good.
Ms. Firehock said that regarding fire maps, she previously showed the Board an ignition map
created by the Virginia Department of Forestry that indicated high-risk areas for fires within the
County. She said that the information can be easily referenced when discussing actionable steps
to encourage fire-wise development and construction. She said that during her six years on the
dais, only one developer had mentioned being fire-wise.
Mr. Clayborne said that if equity was one of their core values, then they must be mindful of the
images they used. He said that when flipping through the images, he did not observe much
diversity or equity in them.
Beginning the next plan topic, Mr. Holt said that parks and recreation played a critical role in the
quality of life for healthy and thriving communities. He said that they provided opportunities for
community members to engage in activities such as playing, enjoying nature, and participating in
athletics. He said that greenways and trails offered bike and pedestrian connections to parks,
neighborhoods, and other key destinations. He said that parks and greenways also overlapped
with environmental stewardship, protection, and restoration of the natural environment. He said
that additionally, this topic overlapped with land use, transportation, and community facilities for
parks and recreation as a whole.
Mr. Holt said that community input themes included expanding the park system through
playgrounds, nature areas, green spaces, and pocket parks. He said that there was a desire to
expand the Greenway Trail Network and access to waterways, known as Blueway trails. He said
that support had been expressed for expanding sports facilities to meet growing demands,
proactively planning for parks and green spaces prior to development, improving amenities such
as restrooms, picnic tables and benches, improving wayfinding and signage, improving user
accessibility, and accommodating a wider range of facility users, including different age groups.
Mr. Holt said that providing trails, civic spaces, and other amenities within activity centers and
also within rural crossroads communities was important. He said that goal one called for the
planning and provisioning of a Countywide Park system and greenway network that offered
opportunities for recreation, contact with nature, and supported public health, quality of life, as
well as tourism and economic vitality. He said that the objectives included planning for the needs
of current and future community members, accelerating the implementation and expansion of
facilities, integrating more multimodal planning, aligning with regional and statewide plans,
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improving access to public school facilities, and improving information and signage.
Mr. Holt said that goal two provided direction to fund, develop, and deliver parks and greenways
in accordance with the needs of a growing population and accommodating development patterns.
He said that objectives included prioritizing and implementing parks and greenways projects
already identified in the comprehensive plan and master plans. He said that it also included
accelerating the development of parks and greenways in the development areas, expanding
greenways and blueways facilities along the Rivanna River, and providing more opportunities for
the development of nature-focused experiences. He said that it also included increasing the
amount of County-owned land that was designated for parks and greenways.
Mr. Holt said that goal three aimed to enhance and update existing parks, greenways, blueways,
and community centers, as well as other recreation amenities, to provide opportunities for both
active and passive recreation. He said that the objectives included enhancing and improving the
facilities in existing parks, expanding the networks of trails and greenways, and increasing the
provision of facilities that met universal access standards. He said that goal four was focused on
increasing the accessibility, connectivity, and usability for all community members to parks and
recreation facilities. He said that the objectives included expanding multimodal transportation
options, increasing universal access to the parks and greenways and community centers, and
supporting access improvements at Sugar Hollow, which would be in partnership with
Shenandoah National Park.
Mr. Holt said that goal five was concerned with utilizing sustainable land management and
maintenance practices. He said that the objectives included using environmentally sustainable
land management practices for parks and greenways. He said that these objectives aimed to
protect biological diversity and ecological integrity while conserving and restoring biodiversity,
stream, and forest health. He said that goal six called for collaboration between the County and
external stakeholders and partners. He said that the goal also involved providing volunteer
projects and programs to enhance parks and recreation facilities. He said that the objectives
included sustaining existing partnerships, identifying community needs through parks and
recreation needs assessment, and establishing new partnerships and volunteer programs to
improve public facilities.
Mr. Holt said that goal seven was to provide recreation opportunities that were welcoming and
inclusive and met the needs of an expanding population. He said that the objectives included
providing a variety of recreation programs and classes, ensuring opportunities for both indoor and
outdoor recreation, and expanding the provision of multi-purpose athletic fields. He said that as
compared to the 2015 comprehensive plan, this topic had expanded from one to seven goals. He
said that key themes carried forward included developing parks and greenway systems, improving
access to greenways and blue ways, providing multimodal access to parks and other destinations,
and regional coordination.
Mr. Holt said that there was now a stronger emphasis on planning a Countywide parks and
greenways system, accelerating the development of facilities, enhancing visitor experience,
utilizing sustainable practices, and responding to the changing community needs. He said that
this particular topic questionnaire had 11 respondents at the time of publishing. He said that the
majority of responses indicated that each goal either strongly supported or somewhat supported
the framework.
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Mr. Holt said that the open-ended comments suggested protecting the natural environment within
parks, providing more ADA-accessible trails, more off-street bike and pedestrian facilities,
organizing volunteer cleanups, removing litter, addressing homelessness within the parks,
increased access to school recreation facilities, providing more natural areas, and concern about
the impacts from an expanding population.
Mr. Moore said that there was a broad collection of aspirations, but it felt vaguer to him than the
last topic. He said that there were some good ideas, and goal two was very important to him. He
said that developing new parks was important, especially to serve the urban ring, which consisted
of over 50,000. He said that were parks such as Dorier Park and Simpson Park down in Esmont
that catered to this need and served as a “third place” for communities. He said that there was
also a lot about adding trails, bike paths, and connections. He said that the idea of walking alone
was not as beneficial as creating social gathering spaces. He said that third places such as
basketball courts, spray parks, playgrounds, and stages for performances would be more
beneficial. He said that the County had focused on large rural donated tracts of land where they
created trails and picnic tables, but they could do better with the pocket parks and parks in the
urban ring.
Mr. Murray said that in terms of equity, he agreed. He said that they should focus on providing
opportunities for green spaces in urban areas. He said that currently, there was a methodology
to develop to protect. He noted that there used to be forested areas along Rivanna, and
development was allowed to occur if it proffered back a small sliver to protect. He said that they
needed to come up with another way of doing preservation.
Mr. Murray said that in the rural areas, many residents depended on natural greenways or parks.
He said that it was important to document the places that people were running, cycling, and
walking throughout the County. He said that there were great tools for doing this, such as Strava,
and there was cell phone data that could identify where people were walking, running, and cycling.
He said that they needed to start documenting these de facto greenways of places that people
already used so that planning decisions consider the information.
Mr. Murray said that if they were to propose paving a gravel road, they should first determine the
traffic count of cars on that road, and additionally, they should gather data on the number of
bicycles, runners, and walkers using the road. He said that if there was a new winery or other
special use planned for a road, they needed to consider how this may impact cyclists, pedestrians,
and runners. He said that this was an issue of equity in many ways.
Mr. Murray noted that areas such as Ivy were left in a peculiar situation due to their former status
as part of the growth area. He said that the comprehensive plan designation for green space in
Ivy was removed when it was dropped from the growth area, which can be seen in old
comprehensive plans. He said that many other counties had implemented C1 and A1 zoning,
which could serve as a model for the County's own comprehensive plan designations for
conservation and green spaces. He said that places like Ivy were left off, because they had the
density of the urban area without the amenities.
Ms. Firehock said that she agreed with everything Commissioner Moore had said. She said that
the parks chapter was vague and read more like something that would be seen on a leadership
poster rather than specific objectives. She said that she expected them to be doing all those things
anyway, so it did not rise to the level of something that needed to go in the comprehensive plan.
She said that the only specific objective she found in that chapter was objective 4.3. She said that
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she wanted to see more specifics and suggested exploring options to connect existing
developments in the urban area to parks or addressing the equity of park access for underserved
communities.
Ms. Firehock acknowledged that they wanted a Countywide parks system, but there was the need
to address areas where residents did not have easy access to parks. She said that some rural
counties might argue against the need for parks in their area, but there were many residents who
live on small plots of land without any place to walk or exercise. She said that the park spaces
should serve a role as demonstration sites for sustainable practices such as planting native plants
and showcasing low-water drought-tolerant gardens.
Ms. Firehock said that these educational opportunities were important because there were many
people moving here from other places. She said they have had several sessions regarding cell
towers in parks, and there was a concern that if someone gets injured on the trail, they need to
make an emergency call. She said that it would be beneficial for the County to establish a policy
on whether all parks should have cell towers or not and what the emergency response in parks
should be. She said that they should consider a connected park system. She said that it could be
a master plan to connect the natural areas in the urban ring.
Mr. Carrazana said that he thought it was somewhat lacking in creativity. He said that it was not
a systematic approach. He said that Atlanta, Georgia, had worked to interconnect its parks. He
said they needed to have the perspective of a system and how to implement it in a realistic
manner.
Mr. Missel said that he thought the objectives were great but wanted to know the next steps. He
said that in some cases, the goals were vague. He said that he sought an additional level of detail.
He said that parks were key to the quality of life in Albemarle. He said that inventory and priorities
should be established to ensure that they had a clear understanding of their current resources
and how they can best be utilized. He said that leveraging partnerships and regional coordination
could aid in the development and maintenance of their parks. He said they should consider
opportunities to improve the trails that were currently in place and expand them. He said they
should consider maintenance standards. He said that they should identify funding to support the
standards of care.
Mr. Bivins said that there had been missed opportunities by the County in terms of parks and
green spaces. He said that a library had been built in Crozet and on Rio Road, but there was not
a third space. He said that there were County-owned green spaces. He suggested that a park or
green pocket area would be ideal for families to visit, rather than just asphalt. He said that he
would like to consider how the County can redirect its support toward areas that were currently
park deserts.
Mr. Bivins said that it would be possible for the County to purchase the green space that remained
at Stonefield and install a pocket park. He said that the natural areas were where people gathered
when they needed something else to do. He said that other places had green spaces throughout
the population. He said that was what the County needed if it were to talk about equity and resilient
communities. He said they should consider where park space should be to enhance activity in the
growth areas.
Mr. Bivins said that he would like to see an acknowledgment that they possess green space, but
they should focus on underserved areas and those places that make a difference in how they
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perceived themselves as a unified community. He noted that most of their large land spaces were
donated to the County, and the County did not actively seek those areas; they were gifts. He said
that the planning required for utilizing the gifted land did not take place.
Mr. Bivins noted that they did not have a public works department, so they had to consider what
was possible within the parks and recreation department’s staffing capacity. He understood that
they were intelligent individuals but questioned whether they could accomplish everything within
their means. He said that it remained unclear whether the County had the authority to transfer
funds to them in order to facilitate projects.
Mr. Missel said that idea of scale resonated with him. He said that a thriving and prosperous
community can be achieved through economic development models that incorporated green
spaces and other commercial areas.
Mr. Carrazana said that he wanted to address equality of access to these spaces, as it was one
of the simplest issues they can tackle as a community. He said that it was evident that there was
not equal access throughout the County, particularly for those who did not have mobility or a car.
He said that connecting resources such as parks and transportation systems, even if they were
small, can make a significant difference in promoting equality. He said that the belt line project
was inspiring and transformative because it connected economic development, transportation,
park systems, and equity.
Mr. Carrazana said that it took into account all of those factors within a system. He noted that
some components were small parts while others were business districts that had been connected
or converted into rails to trails. He said that ultimately, it created a comprehensive system. He
said that what was now being observed was the occurrence of economic development as a result
of the increasing number of people moving in. He said that there had been an increase in
establishments such as coffee shops, restaurants, stores, and bike shops popping up along the
way.
Mr. Carrazana said that developments were taking place within the fabric that was being created.
He said that it was essential to view this as a multidimensional fabric rather than just parks and
recs. He said that transportation enabled people to move through various systems. He said that
he found the section somewhat uninspiring because he believed they could achieve more and
should look beyond even the most impressive benchmarks.
Mr. Carrazana said that they should examine the excellent examples of transportation
infrastructure that had been implemented in other communities, and strive to replicate them in the
County. He said that they already possessed a substantial amount of infrastructure in the form of
parks, which were often overlooked as such. He said that the County had a strong foundation
upon which to build something truly unique and innovative.
Ms. Firehock said that she agreed with Mr. Bivins’ comments, as it was true that even a small,
intimate park could provide a wealth of experiences. She said she wanted to remind everyone
that spending 20 minutes in green space per day could increase one's intelligence quotient,
improve heart rate, and offer numerous other benefits. She said that access to such spaces was
crucial. She said that she encouraged them to explore innovative financing options for parks and
recreation. She said that relying on developers to donate slivers or unusable parts of their
developments might not be the most effective approach.
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Ms. Firehock said that a challenge was that when people gave them green space or the top line
of their development, they often stipulated that no one from the neighboring community should
use it. She said that this created a situation where the park did not contribute to a network of parks
in the area. She said that there were a couple of examples, the Land and Water Conservation
Fund that had funded some parks in this area in the past, and there was currently more money in
that fund than ever before, using bonding as an option, similar to putting forward bonds for
schools, a public bond could be used to acquire park land. She said that with their AAA rating, it
would be prudent to take advantage of their ability to borrow at low interest rates.
Ms. Firehock said that some localities also used a portion of their tourism tax from restaurants
and other sources to fund green spaces, as the community's greenery was an important reason
why people want to visit here. She said that they should consider using more creative financing
for the County to invest in itself, as there were numerous studies showing that even just
daylighting an urban creek can increase property values and attract businesses. She said that
the investment could pay for itself ten times over.
Mr. Moore said that he agreed with what Ms. Firehock and Mr. Carrazana had previously
mentioned about how systems of parks or even the daylighting of streams could stimulate
economic activity. He said that to emphasize this point, he noted that according to the County's
engagement responses, having more local retail establishments and food stores nearby was a
high priority for residents after more park and open space, so there was a strong convergence of
interests in this regard.
Mr. Bivins said that Mr. Kluge bought up a lot of rails in Southern Albemarle and turned them into
rail trails. He said that he wondered what happened with them, but knew he could not answer that
now. He said that if that still exists, it will give a network in Southern Albemarle that would be
brilliant.
Ms. Firehock said that there were several potential paths.
Mr. Murray said that his comment pertained to action rather than an objective; however, he would
like to bring up another point regarding transfer development rights. He said that there was a
missed opportunity in utilizing this method, as it had been successfully implemented in other areas
such as Arlington. He said that for instance, they were able to generate $6.6 million for a park in
Arlington through the use of transfer development rights in 2011. He said that when they
discussed the challenges associated with creating green spaces in their urban environment, this
tool should be considered as a potential solution that had already proven effective in Virginia.
Mr. Murray said that additionally, there may be other aspects that had not been mentioned which
could contribute to the conversation. He said that there had been significant discussion regarding
the necessity of an invasive species management plan for our parks. He said that it was
imperative that this concept be incorporated into their objectives. He said that they must
acknowledge the responsibility they had to protect rare species and habitats that were unique and
could possibly occur in the County parks. He said that if they had those occurrences, it would be
advisable to include a plan for their preservation in their guidelines.
Mr. Clayborne said that it had been a comprehensive conversation thus far and he hoped that the
others had gained valuable insights from it. He said that he did not intend to reiterate what others
had said, but he wanted to ensure that there was a mention of safety and security within the
discussion. He said that upon reviewing the text, he did not come across any references to safe
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or secure. He said that this brought him back to the point raised by Commissioner Firehock
regarding cell phone service, for instance. He asked if they were safe or secure if they did not
have a signal while being alone in a park. He said that this was the only additional thought that
came to mind.
Mr. Clayborne said that the issues that rose to the surface in this discussion were of quantifying
metrics or obtaining greater specificity, such as documenting park deserts, creative financing, and
identifying de facto greenways, were some of the matters that emerged. He said that with that,
they could proceed to address the final item before moving onto the public hearings.
Mr. Holt introduced the next plan topic, mentioning that the protection of historic, scenic, and
cultural resources was crucial in maintaining and preserving the local character valued by both
residents and visitors of Albemarle County. He said that protection effort required identification of
individual resources and educating the public about those resources, and incentives and
protection measures were required for resource preservation. He said that these resources
offered an opportunity to share a more inclusive history through narratives representing a broader
and diverse range of community members. He said that there was also opportunity to protect
environmental aspects of scenic resources, such as forests, hillsides, and streams. He said that
preservation and adaptive reuse also conserved building materials in the context of climate action.
Mr. Holt said that the subject overlapped other planned topics such as economic development,
environmental stewardship, and land use. He said that community input included identifying
historic and cultural resources, recognizing African-American and historic free town communities,
collaborating with indigenous groups, utilizing educational opportunities for historic resources,
leveraging tourism, expanding the historic marker program, continued adaptive reuse of historic
buildings, especially within the rural area and crossroads communities, increasing preservation
incentives, adopting regulations for protection and preserving scenic resources, and improving
the County lighting ordinance to protect dark skies, which had been discussed earlier this evening.
Moving onto the goals, Mr. Holt stated that goal one was to recognize, celebrate, and increase
awareness of the range of contributing historic, cultural, and scenic resources. He said that
objectives included identifying and documenting significant resources, sharing stories, and
uplifting under told narratives, which included the local historic marker program, and also
identifying and protecting threats to these resources. He said that goal two regarded the protection
of historic, scenic, and natural resources while considering the future trajectory of development
within the County. He said that objectives included improved preservation and protection of
resources by landowners and businesses, the preservation and adaptive reuse of historic and
cultural resources, and cultivating partnerships in support of preserving and protecting these
resources.
Mr. Holt said that objective of goal three was to provide opportunities for all community members
to access and enjoy historic, scenic, and cultural resources. He said that objectives included
access to these resources and increasing awareness of their importance, as well as protecting
viewsheds and landscapes, and promoting dark skies. He said that goal four sought attractive
and scenic entrance corridors as well as prominent roadways that supported the environment and
the County’s unique sense of place. He said that the objectives involved protecting the design
quality of entrance corridors, utilizing sustainable building materials, and increasing the number
of designated scenic roads.
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Mr. Holt said that key themes carried over from the 2015 comprehensive plan include recognizing
the value of historic resources, sharing resource information, and protecting historic, scenic, and
cultural resources, as well as skies, scenic roadways, and entrance corridors. He said that the
new updates include enhanced support for narratives and resources of historically
underrepresented groups, as well as energy-efficient upgrades through adaptive reuse, and
proactive identification of resources.
Mr. Holt said that community input from the survey indicated a mixed response regarding whether
these goals supported the framework, with an even split among those who did or did not support
it, whereas there was a majority of support for the previous topic goals. He said that open-ended
input included suggestions for better dark skies protection, establishing a preservation ordinance,
utilizing informative videos, expanding the commercial tax base while protecting resources,
utilizing transit connections, preventing vandalism, and concerns about locations that have
already been diminished by development, such as Crozet. He said that at this point, he would
pause to discuss how well these goals align with the framework and what was missing from the
draft goals and objectives.
Mr. Moore said that from an equity perspective, this proposal did very well, particularly in terms
of identifying, cataloging, and collecting the narratives of historically marginalized groups within
Albemarle County. He said that it reminded him of a quote by Rick Heizer, who once said that the
universe was composed of stories, not atoms. He said that the stories they told would shape the
future they desired and how they remember it. He said that he was encouraged by the idea of
taking inventory. He said that some of the objectives seem to be building upon existing
foundations rather than starting from scratch.
Mr. Moore said that there were certain aspects that were already in place, and there were a few
specifics that could benefit from further development. He said that one potential area for
improvement was the inclusion of more detailed information about the process of preserving
historical sites and making them accessible to visitors. He said that he would like to see more
information regarding media presentations to make them more widely accessible. He said that it
was something that was close to his heart, as it related to his profession. He said that however,
there were many ways in which they could use video, podcasts, and other forms of media to share
stories and reach a larger audience than just an interpretive site on Saturday afternoons.
Mr. Moore said that another point he would like to make was regarding the County's current arts
and cultural resources. He asked specifically, what did they do with the musicians, performers,
and cultural carriers of today. He said that free concerts and festivals, and he did not know if they
just ceded this to the City. He said that he did not see anything in the plan about supporting the
culture bearers of today's society.
Mr. Murray said that although it had been mentioned to some extent, he believed there should be
explicit mention of the free towns and African-American communities in the rural areas, and they
should ensure that there were action items for recognizing these communities and protecting
them. He said that this would be his primary recommendation.
Ms. Firehock said that Objective 4.1 appeared to contain two unrelated ideas regarding entrance
corridors and other matters, and might need to be split this into two separate objectives for further
consideration. She said that she mentioned that having a historic preservation ordinance was a
contentious issue in their County, yet as a member of the historic preservation committee, she
was aware that they had a report outlining what had been demolished or documented and had
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attempted to intervene before such actions occurred. She said that there were some positive
stories as well, where they had been able to secure funding for restoration efforts. She said that
however, they could not rely solely on the goodwill of others.
Ms. Firehock said that if people were hesitant, they propose investigating legal tools for historic
preservation and leave it at that, and whether or not they got to an ordinance as an action item
was different, or they could pursue adopting a preservation ordinance. She said that she did not
have to say what that would look like, but something that actually allowed someone to obtain a
permit. She said that they had permits for demolition but that they still needed to obtain a permit
generally. She added that if they wanted to demolish a structure, they would have to tell the
County and pay a fee before proceeding with the demolition.
Ms. Firehock also mentioned that she was not sure if her point had been adequately expressed
and that someone else could judge it. However, she wanted to throw out the idea of
underrepresented areas of the County and gave Howardsville as an example. She explained that
although the town had lost its hotel, post office, train station, lawyer's office, and gas station during
Hurricane Camille, there were still people living there who identified as Howardsville residents.
She said that everyone in the area was above the 100-year flood plain and safe from flooding.
She said that if they visit, they will see a series of boards in the hallway that discuss Batesville
and other communities, but Howardsville was not mentioned.
Ms. Firehock said that it may come as a surprise to those who still call Howardsville home, as it
seems they have been erased from history. She said that there were numerous stories
surrounding the area, including the presence of nationally registered sites. She said that the first
bank of Albemarle County was located there, and it had a rich history. She said that that was just
one example of an underrepresented region. She said that when discussing free towns, they had
to consider the loss of some of their places.
Ms. Firehock said that there was a dot on the map for the comprehensive plan indicates the
existence of Howardsville, but they were no longer telling its story. She said that the community
in the area was diverse and included indigenous people from the Monacan tribe. She said that it
would be beneficial to acknowledge these areas within the County that have not been fully
represented in the stories told thus far or to recognize that they still exist as vibrant communities,
even if they were not towns in the traditional sense.
Mr. Missel said that when they discussed natural resources and parks and recreation, it seemed
to him that they were focusing primarily on future planning rather than preserving their past. He
said that they had many conversations about how to move forward with these initiatives, but he
believed that historic preservation was equally important. He said that it was not just about looking
backward; it was also about creating a lasting legacy for future generations. He said that their
area had a rich history that should be celebrated and preserved. He said that he was surprised
that they did not have a historic preservation ordinance in place. He said that Alex Struminger
from Batesville recently reached out to them with a suggestion to establish an Office of Historic
Preservation.
Mr. Missel said that he thought it would be helpful to focus on cataloging and documenting their
current historical resources, secondly, recognizing that many of their historical resources were
built by enslaved laborers. He said that the University's Gibbons project had allowed for robust
connection of the descendants of enslaved communities to resources, and a repository of
information could benefit a great number of people in Albemarle County. He said that enslaved
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individuals worked in many different areas and traveled within this region, and acknowledging this
as part of our history and legacy was important. He said that the Department of Historic Resources
could play a role in this by thinking about historic tax credits and how people could leverage these
things in a similar way to what they have discussed before.
Mr. Missel said that that the wording of the goals in natural resources or parks and recreation
section currently stated that Albemarle County will enhance, utilize, or fund something, and the
other two goals had some interesting wording as well, particularly in the natural resources section
where it states that Albemarle County will have natural waters. He said that it was not phrased as
a goal but rather as a statement of fact. He said that another goal stated that Albemarle County
will provide opportunities for all community members to access and enjoy local historic, scenic,
and cultural resources.
Mr. Missel said that the phrasing does not seem to fit the structure of the other goals, which were
presented in the form of objectives. He said that it may be more appropriate to rephrase this goal
as a vision statement, such as " will promote access to local historic, scenic, and cultural
resources for all community members" or " will take measures to ensure that all community
members have opportunities to enjoy local historic, scenic, and cultural resources."
Mr. Carrazana said that they could not overemphasize the significance of this issue. He said that
it was necessary that they implement an ordinance or policy statement to ensure the preservation
of their historical landmarks. He said that this will serve as a foundation for achieving their goal of
promoting historic preservation. He said that it may be necessary to look back in order to move
forward, and that they should also consider the future implications of this endeavor. He said that
specifically, by adopting an adaptive reuse approach, they could breathe new life into old
structures while still maintaining their historical integrity.
Mr. Carrazana said that a significant amount of adaptive reuse that occurs around the country
happens because they cannot demolish it, and having those ordinances that compel people to
think creatively about how they can reuse this structure was essential. He said that such policies
did not happen without these measures, thus he strongly encouraged the County to embrace and
adopt a historic preservation ordinance.
Mr. Bivins said that regarding the issue with 4.1, he was confused about what it meant. He said
that he struggled with understanding the relationship between BOS, the ARB, and the Planning
Commission. He asked the Director to explain this to him at some point. He said that his concern
was why would we not want all of Albemarle's built environment to be encouraged in the same
way. He asked why would he be concerned about a road that someone was on if traffic was
flowing well for 15 to 20 minutes. He said that he was not worried about what others thought as
they passed through here since there were limited options for driving.
Mr. Bivins said that there were not many alternatives when coming from Route 29 or going up
Interstate 64, and perhaps taking 20 or 231 to Gordonsville might be possible. He said that
however, for the most part, there were very few ways to direct people through here to another
location. He said that Danville and Lynchburg may criticize them for not having a superhighway
around us, but he was glad they did not do that. He said that the built environment was not the
same thing as a road, and the issue at hand was not about roads; it was about preserving their
local cultural identity. He said that it was essential to evaluate the inventory of County and school-
owned buildings to determine how we can optimize their usage to reflect their values and heritage.
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Mr. Bivins said that for example, Woolen Mills would not have been saved but for some individuals
thinking it was usable for the technology industry. He said that he questioned why they were not
asking the County to have an inventory of County and County Schools to do the same thing. He
said that they all knew what the wrestling match that took place in the school in Esmont was
about, whether to knock it down, reuse it, or do something else. He said that they decided to make
it a place that would integrate back into the community there, and they could have knocked it
down if they had done the other thing.
He said that the entire concept involved asking the County and school system to reflect on their
inventory of buildings and determine what their future purposes may be.
Mr. Bivins said that he previously brought to attention that some of the 600 roads, particularly the
one connecting Scottsville through Batesville to Route 250 over the mountain, were historically
significant. He said that the road was an important part of their history and should be preserved.
He said that, while they were discussing, he reiterated his concern about the condition of certain
buildings, particularly those in West Albemarle and Greenwood. He said that it was crucial to
address the importance of recognizing the historical significance of all buildings and ensuring their
preservation for future generations.
Mr. Bivins said that there were certain aspects of their community's history that could be narrated,
particularly how their community evolved from the river and toward the mountain, as well as the
impact this had on the local economy. He said that they should focus on preserving elements that
were genuine and had a story to tell. He said that they should not simply preserve something
because it was there, but rather because it had played an important role in shaping our
community's character. He said that for instance, the construction of a road on top of the Blue
Ridge Mountains had a significant impact on the who had been living in those areas for
generations. He said that therefore, they should remember and honor those stories as they were
an integral part of their heritage.
Mr. Bivins said that that was the kind of story and the kind of decision they should make in order
to preserve people's resources. He said that they often discussed what they were preserving and
what they were helping to tell. He asked what equity was being given to the next group of
individuals who would come through there. He said that was also by preserving things, which they
were going to say, they were going to hands off on that. He said that they were going to help them
improve it, but they were not going to come and destroy it. He said that they had to determine
what the real slopes were, and what was the area of their communities that had stories that
needed to be preserved and told through.
Ms. Firehock said that she agreed that the historic roads should be included. She said that she
would like to note that approximately 19 years ago, she worked with the Thomas Jefferson
Planning District Commission on a heritage tourism project. She said that during this time, she
spoke with Professor Emeritus Edward Lay about his work on historic roads and compiled the
information into a map, which was given to the Planning District Commission. She said that this
resource was still available, and it may be beneficial for their project. She said that there were a
lot of things they could do with technology to follow historic roads and tell stories. She said that
she liked the idea of having an Office of Historic Preservation, as they had great staff but not
enough resources. She said that these types of ideas could definitely be funded by grants.
Mr. Murray said that in 2019, Loudon County received an Emmy for a documentary about their
endeavors to preserve gravel roads within their county, but in Albemarle, it seemed that they could
not eliminate them swiftly enough. He said that there were opportunities to explore, once more,
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as these matters transcend diverse sectors. He said that he recognized that there was a facet of
historic significance to this, as well as environmental resources and transportation. He said that
one of the prominent themes herein was that historic resources encompass various shapes and
sizes.
Mr. Murray said that they had become entrenched in the notion that safeguarding historical
properties entailed preserving grand estates, but sometimes it did not involve a grand estate;
instead, it may pertain to a small, unassuming dwelling that holds significance within a community.
He said that it could be that gravel road meandering through the countryside. He said that in that
case, he continued to be disheartened by their county's inability to recognize that. He said that
while Monticello was commendable, there were other historical assets that warrant recognition
and preservation.
Mr. Murray said that Teddy Roosevelt's house was located in Albemarle County, but most people
were unaware of its existence. He clarified that it was still presently existing there. He said that
furthermore, it was one of the last documented locations where the passenger pigeon was sighted
in America, which holds both historical and natural history significance. He said that they were
not doing enough to broaden their understanding of what constituted historic Albemarle County.
He said that he was not sure how to promote these places or secure funding for them, but he felt
that there was a missed opportunity due to the narrow view they had of what was considered
historic.
Mr. Clayborne said that regarding the idea of documenting and being aware of what they had,
often times, the word 'historic' was associated with circa 1860 or something similar. He said that
however, if they were to visit the National Register of Historic Places and look under age and
integrity, it was actually only 50 years old, so 1972 or 1973, not 1860. He said that he believed
that if they were to document their inventory, they would find that they possess more properties
than not within the County that could be considered historic.
Resuming the presentation, Mr. Holt said that the next work session would focus on housing and
economic development topics on November 14th. He said that it would be followed by land use,
transportation, and community facilities, which would be addressed on December 19th. He said
that there was considerable interest in land use, particularly the designation of development areas
and rural areas. He said that staff wanted to ensure that both areas were thoroughly addressed.
He said that to this end, they were exploring the possibility of either allocating a separate chapter
to the rural area or incorporating the rural area and development area as distinct sections within
the same land use chapter.
Mr. Holt said that looking forward, the action steps for these goals and objectives would be drafted
and shared during phase three next year. He noted that some of the discussion just held focused
on how they could implement the proposed goals and objectives. He said that they would be
working on developing action steps to achieve these objectives in the coming year. He said that
appropriate metrics would be incorporated into their plan, and in early 2024, they would hold a
Board work session to review and finalize the goals and objectives, giving everyone an
opportunity to provide feedback. He said that the third phase of their plan would commence in the
spring of next year, with action steps to implement the goals and objectives, along with prioritizing
recommendations, and incorporate metrics for tracking success.
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Ms. Firehock said that she was confused about why the 2024 schedule had the Board work
session followed by a follow-up at the Planning Commission, since they were the advisors to the
Board.
Mr. McDermott responded that they wanted to take into account all the feedback that they
received from the previous stage and incorporated it into their plan, then present this updated
version to the Board for their consideration. He said that then, the Planning Commission would
have a final opportunity to look at it before moving onto the next phase. He said that none of this
was finally approved until the end, so once they saw how all the goals and objectives were
integrated throughout the various phases, they would get one more look at it and give feedback
if they needed to make more adjustments.
Ms. Firehock asked if it would then return to the Board once more.
Mr. McDermott said that yes, it would return to the Board once they finalized the overall plan.
Mr. Carrazana asked for clarification regarding community engagement, specifically about the
current participation levels and how they planned to expand their reach to ensure that they
captured as broad of a range of perspectives as possible within the population.
Mr. Holt said that they had a series of organized community conversations and engagement
activities. He said that they were relying on their working group to act as community ambassadors
and reach out to various demographics within the community in order to facilitate dialogue. He
said that there was a trend where responses to certain sections of their questionnaire had been
decreasing, but they had received over 500 responses during the initial phase of their survey
earlier that year.
Mr. Holt noted that when they introduced these plan topics, and the subject was relatively new
they experienced a high response rate. He said that however, he felt that some community
members may have become familiar with the content and were less urgent to respond. He said
that he anticipated that there would be a higher level of public interest once they reached the
action steps.
Mr. McDermott said that those low response numbers for the step 3 questionnaires were for
content that had just opened up and that was why they were keeping the questionnaires open for
the rest of this year. He said that this constituted the entirety of the calendar year. He said that
they would continue to venture out into the community, promoting it through social media,
collaborating with their community and public engagement team to keep promoting it. He said that
this was one of the reasons why he want to come back to the Planning Commission at the end
so that they can view all the comments that they had. He said that again, all of those surveys
would remain open for the entirety of the calendar year.
Mr. Carrazana asked if they were pen-and-paper surveys.
Mr. Holt said that they had conducted some previous surveys using paper forms, and individuals
would complete them and submit them via scanning. He said that however, they had discovered
that conducting surveys online was more efficient, so they were currently utilizing paper flyers
with a QR code for participants to access the survey online.
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Mr. Carrazana said that utilizing online surveys was more efficient and expected these days;
however, according to a recent survey conducted by MPL Technology, the respondents of those
were predominantly white and of high economic status. He said that this demographic was quite
homogeneous, so he suggested considering alternative methods of gathering feedback, such as
paper-based surveys. He said that when conducting pop-up events in different areas, paper-
based surveys could be provided a means for people to respond. He said that it would be worth
considering how they could increase their outreach efforts to ensure that they were reaching a
broader range of demographics.
Mr. Clayborne said that he and Mr. Missel had remarked on how low the number of respondents
had been. He said that he was unsure of the length of the survey, but perhaps only two or three
questions would allow for a larger pool of respondents.
Recess
The Planning Commission recessed from 8:15 p.m. and reconvened at 8:22 p.m.
Public Hearings
ZTA202300004 & STA202300002 CDD Fee Restructuring
David Shifflett, Assistant Director of Administration for Community Development, said that Amelia
McCauley, Special Projects Manager for Community Development, and Chris Musso and Darren
Coffey from the Berkeley Group were also present this evening. He said that they would provide
some background on the goals of this project, a summary of progress to date, and updates since
the last presentation to the Commission on July 11th of this year. He said that they would then
discuss a summary of the changes proposed by these ordinance amendments. He said that the
proposed zoning text and subdivision text amendments were before the Commission for action
tonight.
Mr. Shifflett said that the other code sections proposed for amendment were being shared as
information and context. He said that finally, they would wrap up with next steps for the project
and any questions from the Commission. He said that this project served several key purposes
as well as being an important step toward implementation of their new Community Development
system, known as enterprising, permitting, and licensing, or EPL. He said that this was the permit
application tracking platform that would eventually replace their current system, Countyview.
Mr. Shifflett said that the key themes in the fee restructuring project were simplifying and
consolidating fees. He said that the fees would move from 32 separate fees currently in six
separate chapter codes into one with staff's recommended fee schedule, which will then have 154
total fees, representing over a 50% reduction from the number of fees they currently had. He said
that the unified fee schedule was attached as Attachment 5 for their reference. He said that as
some of them may recall from the July 11 Commission meeting, they engaged with the Berkeley
Group on this effort. He said that they examined the current fee schedule structure and compared
it with seven peer localities in the Commonwealth. He said that the Berkeley Group recommended
changes to their fee schedule based on their evaluation and best practices. He said that the scope
of the project did not include an analysis of charges for fees; they went with the intent to level
revenues.
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Mr. Shifflett said that this was a fairly rigorous process to maintain, as it involved substantial
modeling data and modeling projections with single-family residential building fees. He said that
benchmark marking and comparing the fee structures was a major focus, but the overall goal was
simplifying and streamlining their fee schedule based on best practices. He said that throughout
the project, they engaged with major stakeholder groups directly and the community through
Engage Albemarle. He said that for the best practices, Berkeley Group’s research identified they
were to keep fees simple and predictable, bundle fees where practical round, fees up or down,
and make the fee schedule readily available in one location.
Mr. Shifflett said that the proposed new unified fee schedule, as shown in Attachment 5, followed
these best practices. He thanked the Commission for their questions and suggestions that led
staff to revise the report and presentation to provide additional clarity. He said that for example,
one of the Commission's comments was that it was hard to follow the existing versus proposed
fees, even in the crosswalk. He said that staff agreed and worked on techniques that should
improve the ability to see these changes. He said that on August 16, staff presented this project
to the Board as an attachment to the Board's report and shared a summary of the Commission's
input.
Mr. Shifflett said that the Board found this project in alignment with its identified goals and
supported moving it forward toward a public hearing. He said that since that meeting, they had
worked with the Berkeley Group to produce the draft ordinances that were before the
Commission. He said that this included determining general fee guidelines, such as refunds,
timing, and mode of payment, and which others apply to specific ordinances. He said that they
expanded the document that was the summary of proposed changes as they would further
explain. He also made some minor fee revisions, such as removing a separate bond inspection
fee that was redundant and covered in the new comprehensive bond fee.
Mr. Shifflett said that with the County Engineer Frank Pohl’s help, they were able to make several
revisions to the Water Protection Ordinance, WPO fee formatting, and fee titles to reduce
redundancy and hopefully increase clarity. He said that the Commission may also recall the
single-family bundling that was illustrated on the currently displayed slide. He said that the
bundling fee was applied across all types of square footage and included building plan review and
the first two inspections per inspection type. He said that subsequent inspections beyond these
were subject to a separate reinspection fee. He said that the proposed bundle for single-family
fees was more closely aligned with staff effort. He said that smaller homes were subject to a
lesser fee, while larger homes with more area to inspect had larger fees.
Mr. Shifflett said that at the July 11 meeting, there was an in-depth explanation of the proposed
changes, and since then, staff added to this document and explained the proposed changes
relating to Airbnb and WPO applications. He said that the Airbnb application fees were grouped
into categories based on staff effort, which were minor Board review, major Board rev iew, minor
staff review, and major staff review. He said that the WPO application fees were consolidated
where there was repetition, and in a few cases, the fee names were restated for clarity. He said
that additionally, they responded to the request to allow full payment of the VSP fee instead of
half upon submittal and then upon issuance of the general permit. He said that based on the
advice of their deputy County Attorney, they had prepared two separate slides, one for action on
each of the two ordinance amendments.
Mr. Shifflett said that staff recommended that the Planning Commission support the
recommendation for approval of the proposed subdivision text amendment to the Board of
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Supervisors, which was attached as Attachment 6. He said that staff recommended that the
Planning Commission support the recommendation for approval of the proposed zoning text
amendment to the Board of Supervisors, also found in Attachment 6. He said that the next steps
involved a hearing with the Board of Supervisors on December 6 of that year, and staff
recommended an effective date of July 1, 2024, for the new fee schedule. He said that this later
effective date would allow CD to make necessary changes to their systems and limit the impacts
on contracts for development that were currently underway.
Mr. Bivins said that the only suggestion he had was regarding the section on abbreviations. He
said that he understood there were new ideas emerging about how to present them after stating
the full name, but they must consider the broad community they were addressing. He said that if
they could revert to the previous method of spelling out the full name and then providing the
abbreviation used later in parentheses, he believed more people would be able to follow.
Mr. Bivins said that even though he was somewhat knowledgeable about this topic, he had to go
back and reread the section on water protection because there were two different abbreviations
with P and M. He said that it would have been helpful if they could have clarified which one they
were referring to in that particular instance. He said that if they could include this information, it
would save readers from frustration and confusion.
Mr. Missel said that he wanted to know how often the fee structure was adjusted against the
revenue requirement. He asked how frequently the reconciliation occurs.
Mr. Shifflett said that as for the reconciliation, there was an objective to review it every two years.
He said that they had not done so in the past, and this was the initial step toward fulfilling that
obligation.
Mr. Missel said that he had understood. He said that he was curious about the applications of
entrance corridors. He said that they defined what major and minor were for both staff and Board
members, and he was curious about where signage fell.
Mr. Shifflett said that he believed that signage was separate.
Ms. McCulley said that the review of any sign on the entrance corridor was called out separately
from the major and minor staff and Board. She said that if a sign undergoes multiple iterations
and needs to be resubmitted, it will incur an additional fee, which was not included in the four fees
mentioned for major and minor submissions.
Mr. Clayborne said that he wanted to know what the benefit was for the County in removing the
charge for establishing or expanding an agricultural or forestal district.
Ms. McCulley said that it was recommended by Scott Clark, who worked with administering the
districts. She said that the concept was that they want to promote the districts; they pay a fee to
withdraw from them, but if they were creating a new one or adding land to one, they felt that it
was something they wanted to incentivize by not having a fee or at least promote in that sort of
token way.
Mr. Clayborne thanked Ms. McCulley for her answer. He said that when reviewing his notes from
the last meeting, they had discussed the possibility of using fees to incentivize affordable housing
or climate-responsive design. He said that he did not see any mention of this in the resubmission,
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so he wanted to know if they had considered it and whether it was a good idea or not. He said
that they spent a significant amount of time discussing this during their last meeting.
Mr. Shifflett said that they certainly do take that into account; however, it was beyond the scope
of this endeavor. He said that the initiative was primarily focused on achieving a baseline so that
they could establish transparent and understandable fees, implement them effectively, and then
proceed with continuous improvement efforts. He said that it may be worth considering for future
discussions, but for now, their priority was to ensure that everyone comprehends the existing
fees. He said that once they had achieved this, they could engage in a more informed decision-
making process regarding such matters.
Mr. Bivins said that during the comprehensive plan review, when they reached the stage of
examining specific details, he might suggest that they consider including an analysis of the
incentives they currently offered and a review of their fee structures for those particular aspects.
Mr. Clayborne opened the public hearing. Seeing no speakers, he asked the Clerk if there were
any members of the public signed up online to speak.
Ms. Shaffer said that there were none.
Mr. Clayborne closed the public hearing. He said that he had a question regarding fire suppression
systems, specifically whether there were any other types of systems besides sprinklers. He
mentioned that he noticed a category for sprinklers under fire suppression while reviewing the
different categories for fees and wondered if there were any other types of systems that would be
more appropriate in certain situations for places that did not have sprinklers.
Mr. Shifflett said that Mr. Clayborne may be referring to a halon system. He said that that would
be commercial, and they did not review commercial fees in this round, only residential.
Mr. Clayborne said that electric vehicle charging stations were included under electric, as well as
lots of other things, but that was a hot topic they were seeing with many submissions.
Mr. Missel motioned to recommend approval of STA2023-02 as contained in Attachment 6. Ms.
Firehock seconded the motion, which passed unanimously (7-0).
Mr. Missel motioned to recommend approval of ZTA2023-04 as contained in Attachment 6. Ms.
Firehock seconded the motion, which passed unanimously (7-0).
ZMA202200012 Arbor Oaks Townes
Andy Reitelbach, Senior Planner, said that before the Commission was a rezoning request for
application number ZMA 2022-12, known as Arbor Oaks Townes. He said that to provide some
context regarding the location of the property subject to this rezoning request, he had provided
an aerial view of the site, which was highlighted in yellow and was directly across from Hydraulic
Road at the intersection that leads into the Lambs Lane campus where Albemarle High School
was located, as well as the Georgetown Green townhouse development. He said that the proposal
for this application consisted of one parcel that was currently zoned R-4, which allowed for four
units per acre. He said that the property was approximately 0.96 acres in size and was currently
vacant with scattered trees throughout the site. He said that the applicant was seeking to rezone
the property to R-15, which permitted 15 units per acre.
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Mr. Reitelbach said that in addition to the rezoning request, the applicant had offered proffers for
contributions toward transportation improvements, open space preservation, and affordable
housing. He said that the applicant proposed to develop a one-acre property with a maximum of
14 units, all of which would be single-family attached units such as townhouses. He said that the
development would be a cluster division, which necessitated 25% open space. He said that the
density of the development was 14.6 units per acre, and the applicant offered 15% affordable
housing, which equated to two out of the 14 units. He said that there were two associated requests
with this rezoning: a planting strip waiver or exception request and a central sewerage system
request.
Mr. Reitelbach said that the planting strip exception request required action by the Planning
Commission tonight, while the central sewerage system request did not require action by the PC
but did require action by the Board of Supervisors due to the need for a private pump or lift station
and force main required by ACSA on the property. He said that he had highlighted the subject
parcel on the screen and it was square-shaped, zoned R-4 by right because it was less than 1
acre in size, allowing for up to three residential units. He said that the surrounding properties were
predominantly residential, with varying densities from R-15 to R-10.
Mr. Reitelbach said that other R-4 properties were to the northeast, and across the road was
Georgetown Green, zoned R-6, and the school’s campus that was zoned Rural Areas. He said
that the property was subject to overlay districts, including the Entrance Corridor Overlay and the
Airport Impact Area Overlay. He said that in the comprehensive plan, this property was designated
as Urban Density Residential, which was indicated by the orange color on the screen. He said
that land use designation recommended residential uses at 6 to 34 units per acre along with
supporting uses. He said that this proposal recommended 14.6 units per acre, which fell within
the recommended range.
Mr. Reitelbach said that no supporting uses were proposed with this rezoning. He said that the
maximum residential building height for Urban Density Residential was four stories or 45 feet,
which conformed to that recommendation. He said that the surrounding properties were largely
other Urban Density Residential, with neighborhood density residential to the east and urban
mixed-use to the north along Hydraulic Road. He said that to the west, there were rural areas,
including Georgetown Green and the school's campus. He said that the next slide showed a
graphic of the proposed concept plan and its layout, featuring one central private street. He said
that although it was considered private due to the applicant's intention to subdivide it, it functioned
more like a parking lot than a traditional street.
He said that there were two rows of townhouses on either side; eight townhouses were proposed
in block two on the right and six townhouses in block one on the left. He said that there were
areas of green space surrounding it, with some amenities located in the green space as well. He
said that when reviewing the concept plan provided by the applicant, staff would look to ensure
that the site plan conforms to it. He said that the concept plan included two blocks of townhouses
with a total of 14 units. He said that it was a private street that operated as a parking lot and
served as a parking lot for all the units.
Mr. Reitelbach said that as the applicant was doing a cluster division, 25% open space was
required. He said that a pump station would be necessary for sanitary sewer, and the applicant
was also proposing to dedicate approximately five feet of right-of-way along Hydraulic Road to
provide a planting strip there and move the sidewalk a little bit farther back from the road because
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currently, the sidewalk was right up against the road. He said that he had mentioned earlier that
this application did include a proffer statement.
Mr. Reitelbach said that were three main separate proffers: one for affordable housing, which was
the standard 15% of residential units constructed, resulting in two units; another for the concept
plan, which must be proffered if the applicant wished to have it serve as the guiding plan for
development; and finally, open space was being proffered with dedication to an HOA. He said
that regarding the additional request that required action by the Planning Commission, there was
a planting strip exception request for modification to the street standards. He said that due to this,
staff recommended and included a condition that parking lot landscaping requirements would be
more appropriate than the planting strip requirements typically found along a street.
Mr. Reitelbach said that the rezoning request for Arbor Oaks Townes ZMA 2022-12 was
recommended for approval by staff, as it complied with the majority of applicable neighborhood
model principles. He said that there was one concern that had been identified, which was that the
concept plan did not provide for an interconnection to the parcel to the east, which was a single -
family home. He said that however, staff recommended approval of the rezoning request. He said
that staff had no concerns with the planting strip exception request and recommended its approval
with one condition, which was that landscaping should be provided along the private street, as it
functions like a parking lot, consistent with the landscaping within a parking area section of the
zoning ordinance rather than the planting strip portion.
Mr. Murray said that he could imagine a considerable number of students walking across the road
to reach school but could not recall where the crosswalks were.
Mr. Bivins said that the principal crosswalk where children crossed the street was at Hydraulic
and Whitewood, because there were signs indicating controlled walking and controlled
intersections, and in the afternoon, an Albemarle Sheriff's deputy was present to assist with
moving children across the street.
Mr. Carrazana asked if it was in the project to move the planting strip and the sidewalk from
Hydraulic Road, or if they were proffering the land to do that.
Mr. Reitelbach said that it was shown on the concept plan.
Mr. Carrazana clarified that they were not just proffering the land to do that but were actually
making the changes.
Mr. Reitelbach said that was correct.
Mr. Bivins asked if they knew if there were any discussion discussions regarding the possibility of
not connecting to Hydraulic Road as shown on the concept plan, but instead to construct a shared
road that came in from the single-family home, which would provide connectivity.
Mr. Reitelbach said that he was not aware if that had been considered.
Mr. Clayborne opened the public hearing. He asked the applicant if they had a presentation.
Keturah Rowell said that he present on behalf of the applicant and could answer any questions.
He said that regarding the planting strip in the parking lot, the primary reason for this request was
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that the parking lot was situated directly adjacent to the sidewalk, leaving no space for pedestrians
to safely walk. He said that also, there was a green space located behind the sidewalk before the
townhouses, which would serve as a landing area on both sides. He said that they had proposed
keeping the open space to the left intact, as it was where the mature hardwood trees were, so
they had incorporated this into their backyard and open space as well. He said that they ensured
that the construction to the right, which consisted solely of scrubs and brushes, and if they drove
by, they could see this. He said that the entrance aligned perfectly with across the street. He said
that they were in alignment with any potential road improvements or expansions that may be
carried out by the County or VDOT in the future.
Mr. Bivins said that they were aware that the property was situated between two roads. He asked
if it was feasible to consider widening that road slightly in order to access the private property
from that direction, rather than having to add another lane.
Mr. Rowell said that the residents were a very old couple and did not want to be disturbed. He
said that the best course of action was to build a path directly from their parking lot to their property
line, and there was no separation there. He said that at some point in time, that could be vacated
and dedicated to open space, providing a connection to the rear of their property if they eventually
decided to sell it. He said that it should be noted that this parcel was not very developable due to
its topography, which slopes steeply toward a stream at the back.
Mr. Murray said that he greatly appreciated the inclusion of permeable pavers in the plan.
Mr. Rowell said that the townhouses would be energy-efficient. He said that he have been
constructed in this area since 1983 and preferred to implement energy-efficient measures and
natural water retention systems.
Mr. Clayborne asked if there was any access control plan for the open space area. He asked if
anyone could enter the area.
Mr. Rowell said that there would be a minor retaining wall at the back of the property. He said that
they would fence the area as well to make it secure. He said that this was indicated on the concept
plan.
Mr. Clayborne asked if there were any speakers signed up online.
Ms. Shaffer said yes, there was one speaker.
Barbara Corley said that she was a resident of the subdivision across the street from this proposed
subdivision, which was Georgetown Green. She said that she was interested in how this property
aligned with their road, which was also called Georgetown Green, even though the school and
her subdivision shared the same road. She said that the developer who constructed Georgetown
Green 55 years ago, in 1968, was zoned R-6, and included nine acres of public land for their
homeowner’s association. She said that she was concerned about the density of this project, as
it proposed only 14 townhouse units on less than one acre of land.
Ms. Corley said that she believed that the system of entrance and exit would be problematic due
to its narrowness, despite being aligned. She said that they had adjusted it to align with their
entrance and exit, but she was not sure if the Commissioners were aware that driving by during
morning or afternoon rush hours could be challenging. She said that also, Lambs Lane would
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eventually serve as an artery to facilitate the flow of students from the nearby schools, including
the middle school and elementary school, between Albemarle High School and Georgetown
Green, and then out onto Hydraulic Road. She said that she discussed this with buildings and
grounds, who mentioned the possibility of implementing a modified T-shaped design.
Ms. Corley said that she did not see how, if this property went in the way it was suggested, they
would be able to do a modified T. She said that this was not her area of expertise, but she Googled
it and found that it would not work if they were to put it in the way they currently had it. She said
that even that the open space, even though it was designated 25%, when looking at those eight
townhouses to the right, they do not appear to have any kind of backyard. She said that there was
no open space between that section of the subdivision and the next-door neighbor, which was
condos or apartments.
Mr. Clayborne asked if the applicant had a response.
Mr. Rowell said that what the speaker was referring to was that there was no green space
available because it was all contained within one block. He said that the dedicated green spaces
were not shown, as they were located behind that area. He said that the green space on the far
left side of the plan was 20 feet deeper than the backyard, and on the right-hand side, there was
a 30-foot gap between the lane and the edge of the actual unit. He said that the plan did not depict
dotted lines to represent greenery because buildings could not be constructed line to line in a
block concept plan. He said that plantings would be added to all these areas since there was no
reason to keep them empty. He said that for the entrance, it aligned directly across from VDOT,
which was a standard set by VDOT.
Mr. Clayborne closed the public hearing and brought the matter back before the Planning
Commission.
Mr. Bivins asked Mr. McDermott to discuss the entirety of green-T and what VDOT had
mentioned, because there were a few other pieces that were somewhat conflated there. He said
that yes, there was a master plan in place to improve traffic flow around the Lambs Lane campus
more effectively, as currently, there was only one entrance and exit point. He said that there had
been discussions about how to enhance circulation around the Lambs Lane campus. He said that
the decision on relocating bus stops and parking areas had not yet been finalized, and all of this
was still in the design phase. He said that this movement was an attempt to alleviate the pressure
faced by the Georgetown townhouses, which have had to share their entrance and exit for years,
twice a day.
Mr. McDermott said that they were currently under contract with an engineering consultant who
was examining some of the proposals that emerged from the Lambs Lane Master Plan. He said
that those proposals included the construction of a loop road that would direct traffic from Lambs
Lane around the south side of the high school and connect into Georgetown Green. He said that
that was part of the Lambs Lane Master Plan. He said that the consultant was currently looking
at how that road could be designed and also how it could intersect with Hydraulic Road, examining
what that intersection might look like and how it could operate. He said that one of the options
being considered was a roundabout or a traffic circle, commonly referred to as a green-T or
modified-T, which was essentially a protected left turn, so people coming out of Georgetown
Green could do a two-stage crossing with a protected left turn.
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Mr. McDermott said that this was all still in design right now and he did not know exactly what
would be recommended. He said that if that were the case, it would probably require some
adjustment to the parcel across the street and this entrance. He said that this was a concept plan
for the rezoning, and VDOT had acknowledged in their comments that they would need to submit
a waiver for access spacing and there may need to be changes to their access anyway. He said
that he believed that there was a lot more to come during the site development plan stage, and
the actual entrance may not look like this, and it would have to conform with whatever design they
had for the other side.
Mr. Clayborne asked if this would be coming before the ARB because it was located in an
entrance corridor.
Mr. Reitelbach said that was correct.
Mr. Bivins motioned to recommend approval of ZMA202300012 Arbor Oaks Townes, for the
reasons stated in the staff report. Mr. Carrazana seconded the motion, which passed unanimously
(7-0).
Mr. Herrick clarified that staff was recommending that the Planning Commission act on a revised
resolution that he had sent out earlier that day by email and provided the Planning Commission
paper copies of. That revised resolution dated October 9 would replace the original resolution
included as an attachment in the staff report in this case. He said that minor stylistic revisions
were made to the resolution to more properly conform with the ordinance.
Mr. Bivins motioned to approve the revised resolution dated October 9, 2023, approving a planting
strip exception for Arbor Oaks Townes. Mr. Missel seconded the motion, which passed
unanimously (7-0).
Committee Reports
Mr. Missel said that The Agricultural and Forestal District Advisory Committee met on October 2,
and reviewed an extension to the Agricultural Forestal District adjacent to Kimlock Farm. He said
that the proposed addition was approximately 25 acres or 26 acres, and it was approved
unanimously. He said that was essentially the main topic of discussion during the meeting.
Review of Board of Supervisors Meeting: October 4, 2023
Mr. McDermott said that at the Board of Supervisors meeting held on October 4, there were two
public hearings, and both items had been previously reviewed by the Planning Commission. The
first item was the SP for Mill Creek Lot 11, which added office uses in an industrial area. He said
that the Planning Commission recommended approval, and the Board subsequently approved it.
He said that also, there was a zoning text amendment for a Countywide certificate of
appropriateness applicable to projects with County public-private partnerships. He said that the
Commission voted to recommend approval, and the Board duly approved it.
Mr. McDermott said that there was also an extensive discussion on transportation during that
meeting, and if anyone had the opportunity to listen, they may find it interesting. He said that they
covered a transportation prioritization process, laying the groundwork for ranking transportation
projects throughout the County. He said that they conducted an initial ranking of this to
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demonstrate how the process would work. He said that upon examining it and scoring projects,
there was a list of the top 50, which was actually what they presented to the Board.
Mr. McDermott said that the project that was ranked number one was the 5th Street and Interstate
64 area, extending from just north of the interchange down through the next intersection behind
it. He said that this location was highly ranked due to the level of development occurring at
Southwood and its status as a high accident location and congested area. He said that he
encourages the Commission to review the entire list, they will be returning to the Board in the
future with refined rankings.
AC44 Update
Mr. McDermott said that the AC44 update had been given earlier in the meeting.
New Business
Planning Commission/Board of Supervisors Joint Work Session – Affordable Housing and
Development Incentives
Mr. Clayborne asked Mr. McDermott if there was a tentative date for the scheduling of the work
session.
Mr. McDermott said that there was a list of dates in late November and early December that staff
was bringing to the Board, and the Commission would have the final decision.
Albemarle Planning Commission/Charlottesville Planning Commission Joint Meeting
Mr. McDermott said that there was a staff-level meeting scheduled with this group later this week
or early next week to discuss how they could coordinate on some of these major topics they would
like to bring forward, including AC44, the Charlottesville zoning update, and the Albemarle zoning
modernization process, and staff would return with those items to the Commission after their
meeting.
Old Business
Mr. Bivins said that in Sean Tubbs's weekly email, there was a link to a group called Marissa that
had put out specific climate impact information for various locations around the country, one of
which was nearby. He said that he would recommend that they take a look at it. He said that it
was a two-page infographic that discussed the impact shifting seasons on human health, crops,
and other things. He said that it was an easy-to-understand sort of thing. He said that he wanted
to express his gratitude for the reintroduction of the recycling bin in this area. He said that the
absence of the blue bin was noticeable for quite some time, and therefore, it was commendable
that someone had taken the initiative to restore the bin, enabling them to recycle on-site again.
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Items for Follow-Up
There were none.
Adjournment
At 9:15 p.m., the Commission adjourned to October 24, 2023, Albemarle County Planning
Commission meeting, 4:00 p.m., Lane Auditorium.
Kevin McDermott, Director of Planning
(Recorded by Carolyn S. Shaffer, Clerk to Planning Commission & Planning Boards; transcribed
by Golden Transcription Services)
Approved by Planning
Commission
Date: 11/14/2023
Initials: CSS