2014 Planning Commission Annual Report Page | 1 Overview The Blacksburg Planning Commission is composed of between five and fifteen citizens appointed by the Town Council. There were eight Planning Commissioners at the end of this reporting period. The Commission fulfills the role identified in Section 15.2-2210 of the Code of Virginia. The Planning Commission is the official planning body for review of the future growth and development of the Town of Blacksburg pursuant to the adopted Comprehensive Plan and Town Ordinances. A number of Town Departments support the work of the Planning Commission by providing planning guidance and technical review. The Town Clerk of Council records minutes of the monthly Planning Commission meetings. The Town Attorney serves a valuable role in advising staff and the Planning Commission on land use matters. Town citizens also contribute through their service on Planning Commission subcommittees and their attendance at neighborhood meetings, public input sessions, and public hearings. In September 2014, the Planning Commission held its annual retreat to foster camaraderie within the group, to discuss membership expectations and to consider how the Planning Commission might assist Town Council in its goals. In particular, some of the discussion topics included, green building and sustainable development practices, the role of the commissioners and comprehensive plan implementation, as well as the planning commission goals for 2015. We have held an annual retreat since 2009 and have found that it serves the Commission well to evaluate where we are as a Commission and where we would like to go in the future. This Annual Report covers the work of the Planning Commission from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2014. We have provided a summary of our membership, committees, meeting dates, and activities, as well as more detailed information on the development applications reviewed by the Planning Commission.
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2 0 1 4 P l a n n i n g C o m m i s s i o n A n n u a l R e p o r t P a g e | 1
Overview
The Blacksburg Planning Commission is composed of between five and fifteen citizens appointed by the Town Council. There were eight Planning Commissioners at the end of this reporting period. The Commission fulfills the role identified in Section 15.2-2210 of the Code of Virginia. The Planning Commission is the official planning body for review of the future growth and development of the Town of Blacksburg pursuant to the adopted Comprehensive Plan and Town Ordinances. A number of Town Departments support the work of the Planning Commission by providing planning guidance and technical review. The Town Clerk of Council records minutes of the monthly Planning Commission meetings. The Town Attorney serves a valuable role in advising staff and the Planning Commission on land use matters. Town citizens also contribute through their service on Planning Commission subcommittees and their attendance at neighborhood meetings, public input sessions, and public hearings. In September 2014, the Planning Commission held its annual retreat to foster camaraderie within the group, to discuss membership expectations and to consider how the Planning Commission might assist Town Council in its goals. In particular, some of the discussion topics included, green building and sustainable development practices, the role of the commissioners and comprehensive plan implementation, as well as the planning commission goals for 2015. We have held an annual retreat since 2009 and have found that it serves the Commission well to evaluate where we are as a Commission and where we would like to go in the future. This Annual Report covers the work of the Planning Commission from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2014. We have provided a summary of our membership, committees, meeting dates, and activities, as well as more detailed information on the development applications reviewed by the Planning Commission.
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Blacksburg Planning Commission Members and Terms
January 1, 2014- December 31, 2014 Andrew Kassoff, Vice Chair June 2, 2010 – June 30, 2018 Wendell Hensley August 8, 2006 – June 30, 2017 J. B. Jones, Jr. June 14, 1998 – June 30, 2018 Melissa “Mel” Jones, Secretary June 25, 2013 – June 30, 2017 Paul Lancaster, Chair November 14, 2000 – June 30, 2016 Don Langrehr June 26, 2012 – June 30, 2016 Elizabeth “Gregg” Moneyhun, Chairman June 24, 2008 – June 30, 2016 Cecile Newcomb January 10, 2012 – January 12, 2016
Planning Commission Subcommittees
(As of December 2014)
Environmental Quality and Land Use Tim Colley
Andy Kassoff Meredith Jones Don Langrehr
Gregg Moneyhun Cecile Newcomb
Georgia Anne Snyder-Falkinham Greg Tew
Long Range Planning
Wendell Hensley Mel Jones J.B. Jones
Paul Lancaster Mike Lawless Alan Raflo
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Planning and Building Department Anne McClung, AICP
Planning and Building Director
Planning Division Karen Drake, AICP & Kali Casper, AICP Kinsey O’Shea Andrew Warren, AICP, CZA
Comprehensive Planner Development Administrator Zoning Administrator
Kasey Thomsen Office Manager
Carrie Cross Administrative Assistant
Lisa Browning, CZA
Zoning Inspector
Planning Interns Sara Morgan
Building Division
Cathy Cook, CBO, PMO Sam Sapienza, CBO, CRCI Will Yager, CRI Building Official Building Inspector Building Inspector
Greg Dudash, PMO, CZO
Mary Elmore
Trish Basham
Property Maintenance Official Building Permit Technician Building Permit Technician
Assistance also provided by:
Engineering & GIS Department
Adele Schirmer, PE Engineering & GIS Director
Town Clerk Donna Boone-Caldwell, MMC
Town Attorney Lawrence Spencer
Linda Burnsed, Paralegal
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Blacksburg Planning Commission Meeting Dates Public Hearing Dates Work Session Dates
January 7, 2014 January 15, 2014*
February 4, 2014 January 21, 2014
March 4, 2014 February 18, 2014
April 1, 2014 March 18, 2014
May 6, 2014 March 25, 2014
June 3, 2014 April 15, 2014
July 1, 2014 May 20, 2014
August 5, 2014 June 17, 2014
September 2, 2014 July 15, 2014
October 7, 2014 August 19, 2014
November 4, 2014 September 16, 2014
December 2, 2014 September 30, 2014**
October 21, 2014
November 18, 2014
December 16, 2014
* Joint Work Session with the Montgomery County Planning Commissions **Planning Commission Annual Retreat
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ACTIVITIES Blacksburg Planning Commission Regional Coordination The Blacksburg Planning Commission and the Montgomery County Planning Commission continue to share information on their respective activities through member liaisons. Typically, the County Planning Commission assigns an individual each year to keep track of the development activities within the Town. For the Town, Blacksburg Planning Commissioners rotate service as a liaison to the Montgomery County Planning Commission meetings each month. The Commissioner liaison for a particular month provides a brief report of the activities at the Montgomery County meeting at each Planning Commission meeting. In January 2014, the Planning Commission also participated in a Town of Blacksburg and Montgomery County Joint Planning Commission meeting. This meeting allowed for two Planning Commissions to get to know one another and explore common issues. Agenda topics included a discussion on each jurisdiction's land use as well as transportation with a focus on Prices Fork Road where the Town and the County share a common boundary. The Commissioners attended the New River Valley Planning Commissioners’ Annual Spring Training on May 28, 2014 and covered the topic of “Aging in Place.” Speakers from the New River Valley Planning District Commission gave an overview presentation on the topic. Additionally a panel presented on Lifespan Friendly Housing which included discussions about Home Modifications, Zoning Ordinance Provisions, and New Construction Features in regards to aging in place.
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Comprehensive Plan Blacksburg 2046, the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, was written in 1996, and establishes a fifty-year vision for how Blacksburg should grow and develop. In accordance with Virginia State Code, review of comprehensive plans is required by a locality every five years. The Blacksburg 2006-2046 Comprehensive Plan was last updated on December 11, 2012. Additionally, the plan has been reviewed annually with amendments adopted in the years 2009, 2010, and 2011. On October 14, 2014, Town Council adopted the new update for the town’s Comprehensive Plan, which replaced previously adopted versions. Blacksburg 2046 is available at www.blacksburg.gov, with hard copies at the Blacksburg Planning Department. The Long Range Planning Committee played a major role in this five year plan update. Long Range Planning Committee The Long Range Planning Committee, comprised of Planning Commissioners and citizens, reviews and makes recommendations to the full Planning Commission on potential changes to the Comprehensive Plan. In the 2014 annual review process for Comprehensive Plan Amendments, the following private applications were filed, CPA 14-0001, CPA 14-0002, and CPA 14-0003. The Long Range Planning Committee met from March to July of 2014 to review these three Comprehensive Plan Amendments and staff recommended edits and made a recommendation to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission reviewed Comprehensive Plan Amendments CPA #14-0001, CPA 14-0002, and CPA 14-0003 in September of 2014 through the public hearing process and made a recommendation to Town Council. Environmental Quality and Land Use Committee The Environmental Quality and Land Use Committee (EQ) reviews and makes recommendations to the full Planning Commission on all potential changes to the Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances. This year the EQ committee worked on four Zoning Ordinance Amendments. The first amendment—Ordinance #1722--was to amend zoning ordinance sections regarding the establishment and operation of farmers markets. This amendment helped specify the location and parameters governing farmers markets, in which the Environmental Quality and Land Use committee drafted recommendations that specifically defined and discussed the use of public and private farmers markets in the zoning ordinance. The second amendment—Ordinance#1724-- Amended zoning ordinance sections 1103, 1150, 1162, 2103, 3111, 3113, 3151, 3215, 4509, 5120, and 5531 and repealed section 5562 for updates/corrections. This was referred to as the “housekeeping” ordinance and combined a number of minor zoning ordinance text amendments. Such updates/corrections proposed consisted of increasing the internal consistency of the zoning ordinance which included fixing cross references, moving uses under the appropriate use type, and eliminating duplicative terms. The third amendment--Ordinance# 1743-- was to change the Town’s authority from the State of Virginia to accept proffers in conditional rezoning from Virginia Code Section 15.2 2298 to Virginia Code Section 15.2 2303.The Environmental Quality and Land Use Committee were asked to make a recommendation to Planning Commission on whether the Town should adopt the new enabling authority, however this amendment was later withdrawn. The fourth amendment--Ordinance# 1744—was to change the Town’s requirements for preliminary plats to reflect a State of Virginia code change. The changes addressed a state legislation that went into law that required localities to increase the threshold for reviewing preliminary plats for subdivisions from 6 lots to 50 lots.
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Review of Development Applications and Ordinance Amendments The Planning Commission reviewed a number of different development applications during the calendar year 2014, many of which were very complex and controversial such as the rezoning for the Retreat student housing development, the Fieldstone affordable housing development, and the Eheart Street multi-family development. The requests reviewed included six Conditional Use Permits; eight Rezoning requests; two Right-of-Way vacations; one Major Subdivision; one Special Exception request; and four Zoning Ordinance Text Amendments. In most cases, the Planning Commission serves as a recommending body, making recommendations to Town Council with Town Council taking final action. In some instances, however, the Planning Commission takes final action, such as in the review of Major Subdivisions. Planning Commission also reviews requests to amend the Agriculture and Forestal District (AFD), and applications to enter or withdraw from the AFD. However in 2014, no actions were taken as there were no requests for addition to, or withdrawal from the AFD. A summary of the development applications reviewed is provided on the following pages.
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Planning Commission Actions: 2014 Special Exception Requests
EXP Number Applicant Request Location
Planning Commission
Recommendation
Town Council Action
EXP 14-0001
Chrysolite Management
Group
Special Exception to Zoning Ordinance Sections 4553 (b) and 4559 ( c) for parking in
front of the building line of a Retail Sales Use and Fast Food
Restaurant Use in a General Commercial (GC) Zoning
District
1500 South Main Street
Approval 01/06/15
Approved 01/27/15
(Please see map next page)
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Planning Commission Actions: 2014 Major Subdivisions
SUB Number Applicant Request Location Planning
Commission Recommendation
SUB14-0018 Kipps Farm, LLC
60 lot major subdivision in the RR-1 Rural Residential 1
Zoning District
2240 Merrimac
Road
Approval 12/02/14
(Please see map next page)
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Planning Commission Actions: 2014 Conditional Use Permit Applications
CUP Number Applicant Request Location
Planning Commission
Recommendation
Town Council Action
CUP 14-0001
St. Michael Lutheran Church
Day care center in Rural Residential-1 zoning district
2308 Merrimac Road, Tax
Parcel #283-A15
Approval 06/03/14
Approved 07/08/14
CUP 14-0002
Michael Toothaker and Mark LeCraw
Starbucks restaurant drive through with external speaker in general commercial district
880 University City Boulevard
Approval 06/03/14
Approved 06/10/14
CUP 14-0003
Town of Blacksburg
Amend resolution 7-D-11 for a cultural services use for the
Alexander Black House
204 Draper Road
Approval 07/01/14
Approved 08/12/14
CUP 14-0004
Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation
General office use on the ground floor in the DC zoning
district
314 Turner Street, NW
Approval 07/01/14
Approved 07/08/14
CUP 14-0006
Shelter Alternatives
General office use in R-5 Transitional Residential
District
701 Progress Street
Approval 10/07/14
Approved 11/11/14
CUP 14-0007
Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation
9,253 square foot Research and Development use at the
North End development located in the Downtown
Commercial Zoning District
460 Turner Street, Suite
303
Approval 10/07/14
Approved 10/14/14
(Please see map next page)
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Planning Commission Actions: 2014 Comprehensive Plan Amendments
EXP Number Applicant Request Location
Planning Commission
Recommendation
Town Council Action
CPA 14-0001
Whipple South, LLC
Request to change the Future Land Use
1505 & 1601 Whipple Drive Approval 9/2/14
Approved 10/14/14
CPA 14-0002
Whipple North, LLC
Request to change Future Land Use from medium high
residential to high density residential
1711 Whipple Drive Approval 9/2/14 Approved
10/14/14
CPA 14-0003
Oaknoll Farm, LLC
Request to change the Future Land Use on 131 acres on the north side of Prices Fork from High Impact Commercial, Low
Density Residential, and Mixed Use Area A to High Impact Commercial, Low
Density Residential, Limited-High Density Residential, Park Land and Very Low Residential
2010 Prices Fork Road Approval 9/2/14 Approved
10/14/14
(Please see map next page)
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Planning Commission Actions: 2014
Rezoning and Right-of-Way Vacation Applications
Rezone/ Ordinance Number
Applicant Request Location Planning
Commission Recommendation
Town Council Action
ORD 1734 RZN 14-
0001
Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation
North End signage district
Prices Fork Road and Turner Street
Approval 07/01/14
Approved 08/12/14
ORD 1735 RZN 14-
0002
Slack Investments, LLC on behalf
of Cook & Eaton
Enterprises LLC
Rezone 0.939 acres of GC and R-5 Transitional
Residential to PRD for the development
of 13 townhome units/39 bedrooms
908 Progress Street Approval 08/05/14
Withdrawn by
Applicant 08/14/14
ORD 1747 RZN 14-
0003
Whipple South, LLC
Rezone 3.087 acres of R-5 Transitional
Residential to PR for development of 30 units of multifamily
townhome dwellings
1509 Whipple Drive Approval 12/02/14
Approved 01/13/15
ORD 1739 RZN 14-
0004 Gregory Tew
Rezone 0.571 acres of R-5 Transitional
Residential to PR for development of 27 units of multifamily
condos
100 Eheart Street SE No
Recommendation 09/02/14
Approved 10/14/14
ORD 1746 RZN 14-
0005
Blacksburg APF Partners LLC and The Boatwright
Family Limited
Partnership
Establish a special signage district at
First and Main commercial center
on South Main Street
1440-1614 South Main Street
Denied 10/07/14
Approved 12/09/14
ORD 1752 RZN 14-
0006
American Campus
Communities
4.32 acres Planned Residential and RM
27, Low Density Multi-unit Residential
to Planned Residential
500 block of Green and Warren Streets Pending Pending
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ORD 1758 RZN 14-
0007
Bluestone Land, LLC
10.97 acres to Planned Residential
District (PRD) for age income restricted
multifamily residential dwellings
401 Givens Lane Approval 01/06/15
Approved 02/10/15
ORD 1760 RZN 14-
0008
The Retreat at Blacksburg,
LLC
41.722 acres from Rural Residential 1 to Planned Residential
for multifamily dwellings
2010 Prices Fork Road
Approval 02/03/15
Approved 03/10/15
ORD 1717 ROW 14-
0001
Turner Street Project, LLC
Vacation of a 0.063 portion of Barger
Street Barger Street Approval
03/04/14 Approved 04/08/14
ORD 1753 ROW 14-
0002
American Campus
Communities
Vacation of portions of Warren Street and alleyways associated
with RZN 14-0006
Warren Street Pending Pending
(Please see map next page)
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Planning Commission Actions: 2014
Ordinance Amendments
ORD Number Applicant Request Location
Planning Commission
Recommendation
Town Council Action
ORD 1722 ZOA 23
Town of Blacksburg
Amend zoning ordinance sections regarding the
establishment and operation of farmers markets
Town of Blacksburg
Approval 04/01/14
Approved 05/13/14
ORD 1724 ZOA 26
Town of Blacksburg
Amend zoning ordinance sections 1103, 1150, 1162,
2103, 3111, 3113, 3151, 3215, 4509, 5120, and 5531 and repeal section 5562 for
updates/corrections
Town of Blacksburg
Approval 05/06/14
Approved 06/10/14
ORD 1743 ZOA 30
Town of Blacksburg
Changing the Town’s authority from the State of
VA to accept proffers in conditional rezoning from VA Code Section 15.2 2298
to VA Code Section 15.2 2303
Town of Blacksburg
Withdrawn 11/04/14 -
ORD 1744 ZOA 29
Town of Blacksburg
Town’s requirements for preliminary plats to reflect a
State of VA code change
Town of Blacksburg
Approval 11/04/14
Approved 12/09/14
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2015 Planning Commission Goals
1. Continue Zoning Ordinance Amendments in 2015 to include: a. Completion of amendments related to Mobile Food Trucks, and Agro-Business/Agro-
Tourism uses; b. Completion of amendments intended to protect neighborhood character including
amendment to the R-5 district regarding duplexes, amendment to the Use and Design Standards for duplexes, and amendments to address parking issues in residential areas townwide and impacts specifically within the Historic District; and
c. Completion of amendment to incorporate work on design standards for urban infill including review of front yard setbacks.
2. Participate in any implementation of the Old Blacksburg Middle School Master Plan with a focus
on future development that will fully maintain the integrity of the OBMS Master Plan.
3. Support participation in sustainability initiatives that reflect the sustainability intentions and commitments in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission will draft a set of suggested guidelines for sustainable development that includes examples of sustainable development practices. The guidelines will be referred to Town Council and shared with the development community.
4. Request annual meeting with Town Council. Meet with Town committees and other regional
committees as opportunities arise. Continue cooperation with the NRV Planning District Commission as well as with other jurisdictions in development review and reporting such as the ongoing coordination with the Montgomery County Planning Commission.
5. Continue to offer new Planning Commissioners training through PlanVirginia and annual training
through the NRVPDC. Continue to explore opportunities for mini-training sessions at Planning Commission Work Sessions and Planning Commission Subcommittee meetings.
6. Conduct an annual Planning Commission Retreat Meeting that includes a discussion of
a. Land use issues and trends; and b. Other items as determined by the Commission.
7. Post the 2014 Planning Commission Annual Report to the Town’s website.