HomeMy WebLinkAboutLOD200600023 Review Comments 2006-08-03400 Balbion Drive
Earlysville, VA 22936-9680
August 3, 2006
Department of Community Development
County of Albemarle
401 McIntire Road
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Subject: Application for Official Determination of Development Rights, Tax Map Parcel 45-40F
Dear Sir or Madam:
My wife, Diana Foster -Jones, and I are the owners of our home at 400 Balbion Drive, Earlysville
(Tax map parcel 45-40F). We are working with The Nature Conservancy on a conservation
easement that would protect the mature woods on the property and provide protection for water
quality, as the property abuts the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir and has extensive frontage on
tributary streams flowing into that reservoir.
In connection with that planned conservation easement, we need to obtain for The Nature
Conservancy an "Official Determination of Development Rights" from Albemarle County.
Therefore, I am attaching the application form and the various items listed in the "submittal
requirements" and providing in this cover letter some background information regarding the
property.
We have owned Lot 45-40F since January 30, 1996, and lived there since December, 1997. We
purchased a neighboring parcel, Lot 45-41 (12.22 acres) on January 27, 2004.
On November 18, 2005, we completed an additional transaction that included a boundary line
adjustment to increase the area of Lot 45-40F from its original 7.43 acres to the current 21.05
acres. This boundary line adjustment was documented in a plat prepared by Roger W. Ray, dated
September 12, 2005, and approved by Albemarle County on November 8, 2005 (copy of that plat
is attached with this application).
There were a total of three parcels involved in that transaction: TMP 45-40F, TMP 45-41, and
TMP 45-43. In its effect, it did the following:
1. Transferred 10.22 acres (of the 12.22 acres) of TMP 45-41 to TMP 45-40F, by moving
the boundary in a way that shrank TMP 45-41 down to 2.00 acres at the eastern end of
the property, where an existing house is located (this is referred to as the "revised TMP
45-41"). This increased lot 45-40F from 7.43 acres to 17.65 acres
2. Transferred 3.40 acres (of the original 8.989 acres) of TMP 45-43 to the now -enlarged
TMP 45-40F, thus further increasing lot 45-40F size from 17.65 acres to 21.05 acres.
3. As a part of the same transaction, we then sold the revised (2.00 acre) TMP 45-41 to
Samantha Jones (no relation to us).
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In requesting this determination of development rights, I expect that the answer will be that TMP
45-40F, as currently configured, has a total of five development rights, as follows:
1. One development right from the original Sycamore Subdivision, for the 7.43 acres of
the original Lot 40F. This is what we used when we built our house in 1997.
2. Three development rights from the 10.22 acres of TMP 45-41 that became
incorporated into Lot 40F with the boundary line adjustment of November 10, 2005. The
plat by Roger W. Ray (Deed Book 3107, page 222-228) assigns three of the Lot 41
development rights to Lot 40F, and one to the revised Lot 41. Lot 41 originally (on
December 10, 1980) had five development rights, and one was assigned to TMP 45-41B
on November 6, 1996, in the plat of a family subdivision (Deed Book 1586, page 494).
Earlier plat of Lot 41 on May 16, 1978 (Deed Book 647, pages 41-43) established that
Lot 41 had five development rights as of December 10, 1980.
3. One development right from the 3.40 acres of TMP 45-43 that became incorporated
into Lot 40F with the boundary line adjustment of November 10, 2005. The plat by Roger
W. Ray (Deed Book 3107, page 222-228) assigns one of the Lot 43 development rights to
Lot 40F. As of December 10, 1980, Lot 43 had its full complement of development rights
(four, since the total acreage of Lot 43 was 8.989 acres at that time).
It is our understanding that any future use of these development rights must meet applicable
County requirements, including the two -acre kernel rule.
I have included with the application a listing of the various Deed Book copies attached, showing
which parcel each Deed Book entry relates to (the latest, DB 3107, page 222, relates to all three
of the parcels — Lot 40F, 41, and 43 — which have contributed development rights to the current
Lot 40F).
If you have any questions, please call me at (434) 964-1020, or email me at
tiones@newventure.com. We will be very grateful for anything you can do to provide this
determination quickly, since The Nature Conservancy informs us that the next few months will
be the busiest ever for completing conservation easements. Thus, we would hope to avoid the
year-end rush by getting it done early in the autumn. Thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
Thomas H. Jones
Attachments: (1) Application for Official Determination of Development Rights
(2) Tax Map Page showing parcel 45-40F
(3) Check # 2224 dated August 2, 2006, for $40.00 fee
(4) Listing of attached Deed Book copies
(5) Deed Book copies
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