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Home My WebLink AboutHO201100150 Review Comments Home Occupation 2011-07-27COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road, Room 227 Charlottesville, Virginia 22902-4596 Phone (434) 296-5832 July 27, 2011 Mahmood Pashazadeh 2891 Seminole Trail Charlottesville, VA 22901 Fax (434) 972-4126 RE: Official Determination of Denial—Home Occupation Class A 2011-150 at 2891 Seminole Trail (Parcel ID -Tax Map 46, Parcel 28A1) Dear Mr. Pashazadeh, I have reviewed your home occupation application for the above -referenced property and the information you provided in response to my letter dated May 23, 2011, which denied your previous Home Occupation Class A application (HO 2011-107). Because your most recent Home Occupation Class A application (H02011-150) does not comply with the applicable regulations for home occupations, the application is denied, as explained more fully below. Home Occupations Class A are allowed only as an accessory use to a residence by their definition in Albemarle County Code Section 18.3.1: Home Occupation, Class A: An occupation, not expressly prohibited by section 5.2, conducted for profit within a dwelling unit solely by one or more members of the family residing within the dwelling unit; provided that nothing herein prohibits the occupation from engaging other persons who work off-site and do not come to the dwelling unit to engage in the occupation. (Amended 8- 5-09, 1-12-11) You provided us with documentation from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on July 22, 2011 that you changed your residential address to 2891 Seminole Trail. Based on our observations with onsite inspections on July 26th and July 27th, we could not determine that this location is your primary residence. In order to qualify for a Home Occupation application, further evidence would be needed to confirm your use of 2981 Seminole Trail as your primary residence. Because of observations from our onsite inspection to the contrary, we cannot accept only the DMV documentation and must seek further evidence that this is your primary residence. In addition, this application is denied because it does not comply with Albemarle County Code Sections 18-5.2.a(1) and 18.5.2.(d) Home Occupations. Albemarle County Code Section 18- 5.2.a(1) provides: Page 2 Letter re: HO 2011-150 at 2891 Seminole Trail July 27, 2011 b. Location and area occupied by a home occupation. A home occupation shall be located and sized as follows: 1. Class A home occupations. A Class A home occupation shall be conducted entirely within the dwelling unit, provided that not more than twenty-five (25) percent of the gross floor area of the dwelling unit shall be used for the home occupation and further provided that the gross floor area used for the home occupation shall not exceed one thousand five hundred (1500) square feet. Your application does not comply with this section because more than twenty-five (25) percent of the gross floor area of the structure is used for the home occupation. The structure is approximately 2,633 square feet in size, divided between two floors of approximately 1,053 square feet each in area and an additional basement area of approximately 527 square feet. Upon inspection on July 26, 2011, it appears that the entire first floor (1,053 square feet), or 40 percent of the gross floor area of the dwelling, is devoted to the business (of internet rug sales and of rug cleaning and repair). This area exceeds twenty-five percent (25) of the gross floor area of the structure. With our inspection on July 26, 2011, staff observed that a stack of rugs occupies about half of the first floor of the structure. You indicate in your letter of July 18, 2011 that the rugs are "stored in inventory, only to be sold through and [an] eBay store front through the internet." No evidence has been provided that internet sales have been established to sell the existing inventory of rugs. A quick search of eBay yesterday does not appear to show any listing for your rugs. Please provide information relating to your internet sales once you have confirmed that this is your primary residence. Albemarle County Code Section 18.5.2.(d) provides: d. Sales. No home occupation shall sell goods to a customer who comes to the site except for goods that are hand-crafted on-site and goods sold that are directly related to a beauty shop or a one -chair barber shop home occupation. Both of these issues (that this is your primary residence and that the rug inventory is being sold via internet sales) must be addressed prior to any Planning Commission review of the area requirement increase from the 25 percent maximum. Once those two issues are addressed, you can address the home business area requirement. In order to comply with this area regulation, the area used for the home business must be reduced or, you may request and must receive approval of a modification of this area requirement from the Albemarle County Planning Commission. I suggest that you meet with Planning staff to discuss this modification prior to submitting it. If you are aggrieved by this determination, you have a right to appeal it within thirty (30) days of this notice, in accordance with Virginia Code § 15.2-2311. If you do not file a timely appeal, this determination shall be final and unappealable. An appeal may be taken only by filing an appeal application with the Zoning Administrator and the Board of Zoning Appeals, in accordance with § 34.3 of the Zoning Ordinance, along with a fee of $240 plus the actual cost of advertising the appeal for public hearing. Page 3 Letter re: HO 2011-150 at 2891 Seminole Trail July 27, 2011 Applications for Appeal of the Zoning Administrator's Determination are available at the Department of Community Development located at 401 McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 or online at www.albemarle.orq/cdapps. This form applies to the appeal of a decision of the zoning administrator or any other administrative officer pertaining to the Zoning Ordinance. Section 34.3 of the Zoning Ordinance, which contains the regulations pertaining to the filing of an appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals, is located in Chapter 18 of the Albemarle County Code and it may also be reviewed online at: http://www.albemarle.org/upload/images/Forms Center/Departments/County Attorney/Forms/AI bemarle County Code Ch18 Zoning34 Appeals.pdf. (Please note that our online documents are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and must be viewed with the Adobe Acrobat Reader or an equivalent. A link to download the free plug-in is available at the bottom of www.albemarle.org/cdapps.) Sincerely, 041VS�, Amelia G. McCulley, A.I.C.P Zoning Administrator Cc: T. E. Wood, Wood Property Investments, LLC; 322 Dover Road, Charlottesville, VA 22901