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Home My WebLink AboutZMA201000018 Review Comments Zoning Map Amendment 2016-09-06COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE Department of Community Development 401 McIntire Road, North Wing Charlottesville, Virginia 22902-4596 Phone (434) 296-5832 Fax (434) 972-4126 September 6, 2016 Frank R. Stoner Milestone Partners 300 2nd Street NE Charlottesville, VA 22902 RE: ZMA201000018: Crozet Square Dear Frank: Thank you for your submittal of July 18, 2016. As you know, we have had a number of conversations around things related to the Square, VDOT's comments on the circulation system, r.o.w. ownership and other items. We are currently scheduled to go to the Planning Commission for a public hearing on 9/27/16; however, I believe that another resubmittal would be advantageous due to the number of outstanding items in need of resolution. The Proposed Plan In your most recent submittal, you provided the plan shown below. As we have discussed, this plan has caused some concern because it hasn't been clear to VDOT as to what you are actually proffering related to the plan and because it appears that some of the property shown on your plan is on TMP 056A2-01-00-07000. In addition, you do not own or have control of the property on which the addition of the "Future Secondary Street Connection Alternative" is shown between TMPs 056A2- 02-OA-00100 and 056A2-02-OA-00200. However, there may be away to deal with this situation with a proffer (see comments in Proffers section on a later page in this letter). Finally, since the meeting with the owners of the Square week before last, we now know that The Square (street) will be public for the foreseeable future and will need to become a one-way street at some point. All of these items strongly suggest the need for a modification to the plan before it goes to the Planning Commission for public hearing. The Public Plaza Staff notes that the proffered civic space includes areas for parking and outdoor dining. While outdoor dining may be appropriate, staff questions whether or not civic space that includes parking areas might end up just being a parking lot. Staff also continues to recommend that you further define this proffer by indicating that the location(s) for civic space, including a community green, will be decided in consultation with the Crozet Community Advisory Committee or other Crozet community -wide group and approved by the Director of Community Development. Staff is concerned that a future owner of the property might interpret that proffer to mean that it doesn't matter what the community says, the decision is totally up to the owner. Since you are not identifying a location for the civic space on your plan, the community might end up with an unusable space for the purpose indicated in the Master Plan. An open-ended s Other Outstanding Items Staff recommends that you make the following changes prior to your final submittal for the Planning Commission: Plan 1. There is a question as to whether or not your plan includes Tax Map Parcel 056A2-01-00- 07000, which you do not own. Please provide an accurate depiction of the area for rezoning in relation to the proffered plan. We must have this information prior to an advertisement being sent to the newspaper. 2. Please remove the "the "Future Secondary Street Connection Alternative" from the Plan and replace the light orange dashed line shown on the plan with the public or public/private street designation. 3. Please remove the parking lots that have been shown on the plan so that they are not implied as proffered or expected items that could affect the future circulation pattern. Proffers — Please consider the following changes: 1. Proffer development of the land to reflect the grid network pattern that appears on the plan, acknowledging that modifications to the alignment of the roads on the plan are allowed with the approval of the Director of Community Development and provided that the street interconnections are made. 2. To this proffer, you may wish to add statement to this affect, "If the owner of the adjacent property, Tax Map Parcel 056A2-02-OA-00100, constructs and dedicates to public use a street as part of a grid pattern that would serve as a substitute for the extension of Library Street to the satisfaction of the Director of Planning in consultation with the County Engineer prior to approval of the first final subdivision plat or site plan on the Property, then the Library Street extension shown on the Plan shall be deemed satisfied." (Final wording will be requested from the County Attorney after the PC meeting.) 3. You must remove the sentence that begins, "For the purposes of Section 8.5.5.3..." from the proffers. The DCD is not a Planned District; therefore, Section 8.5.5.3 does not apply. 4. Civic Space — Please further define this proffer by indicating that the location(s) for civic space, including a community green, will be decided in consultation with the Crozet Community Advisory Committee or other Crozet community -wide group and approved by the Director of Community Development. Staff acknowledges that we may need to agree to disagree on the need for this change. Please consider dropping "parking" as a possible use in the civic space. 5. Staff continues to recommend that you offer to provide up to half of the cost for the intersection improvements required at Library Avenue and Crozet Avenue and The Square and Crozet Avenue up to $250,000, rather than $75,000 only. Staff acknowledges that we may need to agree to disagree on the need for this change. 6. Regarding the reservation of Right -of -Way for extension of Hill Top Street, please include a phrase that says that the area reserved for dedication is on the remainder of parcel 056A2- 01-00-071 BO that is not being requested for DCD zoning. In addition, the reservation needs to include temporary construction and any necessary drainage easements for construction. 7. The Off -site Transportation Improvements need to include a description of the improvements that the money would be applied to. In addition, the last sentence should say, "The contribution shall be paid by Owner when the balance of the funding has been secured by the County for the improvements." Action after Receipt of Comment Letter Frank, as of right now, we do not have an adequate depiction of the area under review for rezoning. We cannot schedule this project for a public hearing without an accurate depiction/description. If you can provide information which resolves this boundary by tomorrow, September 7 at noon, then this project can stay on schedule for September 27, 2016. If this is not possible, the next available date for the Commission is October 11. Due to the number of resubmittals and conversations that have occurred on this project, I will accept a modified plan with accurate limits of rezoning along with any other modifications no later than Monday. September 13 for the October 11 meeting, which is outside of the published resubmittal schedule. Please feel free to contact me if you wish to meet or need additional information. My email address is eechols@albemarle.org. Sincerely, Elaine K. Echols, FAICP Acting Chief of Planning