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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHO200800245 Legacy Document 2009-02-12COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AGENDA TITLE: HO 2008-245, John Penn Turner Home Occupation Class A Modification SU BJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: The applicant has requested a Home Occupation Class A (HOCA) modification for the number of vehicle trips and off-site parking for his residence at 106 Caty Lane. STAFF CONTACT(S): Benish, Wade AGENDA DATE: February 17, 2009 ACTION: Yes INFORMATION: CONSENT AGENDA: ACTION: INFORMATION: ATTACHMENTS: Yes BACKGROUND: The applicant, Mr. Turner, has requested a Home Occupation Class A modification for the number of vehicle trips and off-site parking allowed for a counseling practice (see Attachments A &B). The counseling services are proposed to be in a carriage house adjacent to the main house. The carriage unit is located above the garage for the main home structure. The garage is not attached to the house. The main structure is located on Belvedere Blvd. The garage/carriage house is served by Caty Lane. The applicant is not requesting additional employees and, therefore, this does not necessitate a special use permit for Home Occupation Class B. Home Occupation Class A are typically reviewed administratively provided the Home Occupation Class A meets with the provisions of 5.2.2.1. In this case the applicant is seeking a modification of Section 5.2.2.1.d (Attachment C) of the Zoning Ordinance for home occupations, which states, "No traffic shall be generated by such a home occupation in greater volumes than would normally be expected in a residential neighborhood, and any need for parking generated by the conduct of such home occupation shall be met off the street." Typically single family detached homes generate 10 vehicle trips per day. The Zoning Division allows for one additional guest (or client) per day (seven per week) for administratively approved home occupations. These trips should be spread through out the week. No classes/group sessions are allowed without modification. The supplemental regulations governing home occupations do not permit Zoning to administratively increase the number of trip beyond their standard. The Planning Commission has the authority to grant modifications to the supplemental regulations. DISCUSSION: Staff has evaluated this request based on the transportation impacts to the Belvedere subdivision. The applicant is requesting up to seven clients per day. This will generate an additional fourteen (14) trips per day. The majority of additional trips will take place when the neighbors will be at work (during typical work day hours). The potential impact of the increased traffic is similar to certain by -right uses within residences, most particularly a daycare serving up to five children (a special use permit is required for a day care serving 6 or more children). A "by -right" daycare could generate an additional twenty (20) trips (4 trips/child) per day in addition to the vehicle trips normally associated with a home. As previously noted, the applicant's proposed counseling practice would generate an additional 14 trips per day in addition to those trips normally associated with the home. There will be no traffic associated with the home occupation before 9:00 a.m. and after 5:30 p.m., based on the staff's recommended condition for hours of operation (trips will be spread throughout the day). The applicant has proposed to operate the business from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Staff has recommended hours of operation ending at 5:30 to minimize any potential conflicts with residential parking needs after "normal" work hours. There will be no weekend hours and no medical procedures will be performed at the home. Caty Lane is an alley in Belvedere. There are only four occupied units in the Belvedere development at this time and there are no traffic counts for Caty Lane or Belvedere Boulevard at this time. All four residents of the occupied units in Belvedere support the proposed use. At build -out of this block, there would be sufficient parking available along the streets to support the proposed level of activity. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff does not believe the transportation impacts of the services proposed are greater than would normally be expected with comparable businesses such as in-home day care in a residential neighborhood. Therefore, staff can support the modification of Section 5.2.2.1.d regarding traffic. Sufficient parking exists on the street. Also, while the applicant has requested extending hours to 7:00 pm Mondays through Fridays, staff believes operating hours should end at 5:30 pm (M -F) to avoid other impacts. Staff recommends approval of HO 2008-245 with the following conditions as verified by Zoning: 1. Client visits to the site shall be limited to the hours between 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. 2. Clients shall be scheduled with a minimum of 15 minutes between appointments; 3. The conduct of the home occupation shall generate no more than fourteen total vehicle trips per day to the site (one client visit equals 2 vehicle trips). ATTACHMENTS Attachment A — Letters From Applicant Requesting the Modification Attachment B — Location Map Attachment C - Applicable Zoning Ordinance Sections Attachment D — Zoning Department Comments ATTACHMENT A John Penn Turner Chris Bradley 769 Belvedere Boulevard Charlottesville, VA. 22901 Albemarle County Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road Charlottesville, VA. 22902 December 11, 2008 Dear Sir or Madam: We have enclosed the application for Home Occupation of our business. As a bit of background, we purchased our home in Belvedere specifically because the community is being developed under the County's Neighborhood Model standards, and because we have long desired to live in a truly mixed-use community. As a part of this mixed-use concept, we planned to locate our office in the carriage house, and we did receive confirmation that this was possible from the developer. We feel strongly, as do our neighbors that use of the carriage houses for businesses is clearly in-line with what Belvedere is trying to become; in fact most of the successful new -urbanist neighborhoods — places like the Kentlands — allow for, and encourage, an even more -intensive mix of _ business and residential uses. We note that Belvedere was designed with ample on -street parking, purportedly to facilitate the projected mix of uses. We feel that professional health -services businesses like ours are clearly value- added propositions to vibrant communities and provide a much-needed service. And we expect that locating our business in the carriage house will result in a net reduction of carbon emissions since we will no longer commute and do expect some clients to walk to our office from within Belvedere. We should note that the carriage house has a separate address of 106 Caty Lane. We see one client per clinical hour (50 minutes), on the hour, in our practice. This means that one client finishes up and leaves before the next client arrives. Our business model is predicated on being open full-time, which is Monday through Friday during regular business hours. Our business simply will not be a 4 ATTACHMENT A going concern, paying taxes and adding to the County's economic base, if we cannot operate full-time. We would suggest that there is less impact on the neighborhood from our business use than by having someone, or a couple of people, live in the carriage house unit; a use which has been already been approved. The reasons we suggest this are that our use will be during business hours, when many people aren't even home, at most there would be one car parked on -street at any given time and because the unit will be empty on nights and weekends. We look forward to the County approving this application, and would welcome any questions that you might have. Sinc John Penn Tu S. L.P.C., L.S.A.T.P. Chris Bradley, B.S., M.U.R.P. enclosure Mr. Juan Wade, Transportation Planner County of Albemarle Community Development Department 401 McIntire Road Charlottesville, VA. 22902-4596 Dear Mr. Wade: ATTACHMENT A Albemarle Counseling Associates, PLLC January 5, 2009 This letter serves as our request for Home Occupancy A with modifications. The following are the modifications we are requesting to enable us to locate our counseling practice in the carriage house unit behind our home in Belvedere. We are requesting 7 client visits per day (35 per week). We have enclosed a check for the additional $180.00 charge for the review of this application. The operational logistics of or business are as follows: Our business is a counseling practice, delivering services to individuals and couples over the age of 16; Our business will operate only Monday through Friday, from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM (at the latest); • I work as the only counselor at the practice, and my partner is occasionally on-site to provide accounting and IT support, at most for a few hours per week (less than five); • We see clients on the hour, for a clinical hour (50 minutes), which means that one client finishes at ten minutes before the hour, leaves, and the next client arrives shortly before their scheduled session. At most, there would be two cars in the neighborhood at any given time, and only if there is a brief overlap between the time one client is leaving and the next one is waiting; • The carriage house unit fronts on Caty Lane, behind our home, and has a separate entrance (it should be noted that the carriage houses in Belvedere are already zoned to be rented as apartments) that will be used by clients; and • Parking will be on -street. Belvedere, as you know, is designed to allow on -street parking, and there are ample unused spaces so that parking will not be a problem. If you should require anything further for this request, or have additional questions, please contact me. Thank you fo evrassistance. Sinc John Pen urner, M. ., L , John Penn Turner, LPC, LSATP 90 Whitewood Rd Suite 4 Charlottesville, VA 22901-1668 Voice 439-.978.3900 Fax 434.973.3933 Cell 434.825.1324 e-mail iohnpenn@albemarlecounselin�associates.or� Web wwwalbcmarlecounselinfrassociates.or� � H � � 0 0 » � A CA BELVE[ / /� S 0« 7 411-� < � $ O ,0, O¥ +p a ATTACHMENT » ATTACHMENT C 5.2 HOME OCCUPATIONS 5.2.1 CLEARANCE OF ZONING ADMINISTRATOR REQUIRED Except as herein provided, no home occupation shall be established without approval of the zoning administrator. Upon receipt of a request to establish a home occupation, Class B, the zoning administrator shall refer the same to the Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation for approval of entrance facilities and the zoning administrator shall determine the adequacy of existing parking for such use. No such clearance shall be issued for any home occupation, Class B, except after compliance with section 5.2.3 hereof. (Amended 3-18-81) 5.2.2 REGULATIONS GOVERNING HOME OCCUPATIONS 5.2.2.1 The following regulations shall apply to any home occupation: a. Such occupation may be conducted either within the dwelling or an accessory structure, or both, provided that not more than twenty- five (25) percent of the floor area of the dwelling shall be used in the conduct of the home occupation and in no event shall the total floor area of the dwelling, accessory structure, or both, devoted to such occupation, exceed one thousand five hundred (1,500) square feet; provided that the use of accessory structures shall be permitted only in connection withhome occupation, Class B; There shall be no change in the outside appearance of the buildings or premises, or other visible evidence of the conduct of such home occupation provided that a home occupation, Class B, may erect one home occupation Class B sign as authorized by section 4.15 of this chapter. Accessory structures shall be similar in facade to a single-family dwelling, private garage, shed, barn or other structure normally expected in a rural or residential area and shall be specifically compatible in design and scale with other development in the area in which located. Any accessory structure which does not conform to the setback and yard regulations for main structures in the district in which it is located shall not be used for any home occupation; c. There shall be no sales on the premises, other than items hand crafted on the premises, in connection with such home occupation; this does not exclude beauty shops or one -chair barber shops; d. No traffic shall be generated by such home occupation in greater volumes than would normally be expected in a residential neighborhood, and any need for parking generated by the conduct of such home occupation shall be met off the street; e. All home occupations shall comply with performance standards set forth in section 4.14; f. Tourist lodging, nursing homes, nursery schools, day care centers and private schools shall not be deemed home occupations. 5.2.2.2 Prior to issuance of clearance for any home occupation, the zoning administrator shall require the applicant to sign an affidavit stating his clear understanding of and intent to abide by the foregoing regulations. (12-10-80, § 5.2.2; Ord. 01-18(3), 5-9-01) �a ATTACHMENT D COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road, Room 227 Charlottesville, Virginia 22902-4596 Phone (434) 296-5832 Fax (434) 972-4126 To: Juandiego Wade, Transportation Planner From: John Shepherd, Manager of Zoning Administration Subject: H0200800245 John Penn Turner Counseling Service Date: February 3, 2009 I have reviewed the home occupation permit application and the proposed conditions and offer these comments. By prior determination, the Home Occupation Class A may be conducted in the carriage house that is located on the same premises as the main dwelling that is the residence of the applicant. I recommend that the proposed conditions be revised as shown below in italics. 1. Clients may only be on the property between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 pm (Monday - Friday); JS: Client visits to the site shall be limited to the hours between 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. 2. Appointments shall be scheduled with a minimum of 15 minutes between clients; JS: Clients shall be scheduled with a minimum of 15 minutes between appointments; 3. Only one clients shall be on the premises at a time; JS: I recommend deleting this condition in order to allow carpooling. 4. No more than seven clients per day for five days (Monday -Friday); JS: The conduct of the home occupation shall generate no more than seven trips per day to the site. ATTACHMENT D 5. No appointment may be scheduled on the premises on Saturday or Sunday — emergency or otherwise; and JS: 1 recommend deleting this condition because it is covered in #1. 6. Sale of retail items that are not hand made is not allowed on site. JS: 1 recommend deleting this condition because it is a requirement ofthe ordinance. /D