Blacksburg Planning Commission Meeting – December 4, 2018
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Blacksburg Planning Commission Meeting – December 4, 2018
The Blacksburg Planning Commission held its regular meeting on December 4, 2018 at 7:30 PM in the Roger E. Hedgepeth Chambers. The meeting included a consent agenda with several administrative items, a public hearing on a right-of-way vacation request, and updates from staff and council. All votes were unanimous (7-0).
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes – The minutes from the November 6, 2018 meeting were approved with minor typographical corrections noted by a commissioner.
- Street Name Change – The commission recommended approval to change the name of Chickahominy Drive to Givens Lane.
- Zoning Ordinance Amendment #39 – A public hearing scheduled for December 4, 2018 was canceled and rescheduled to January 3, 2019. The amendment concerns changes to the General Commercial district regarding support facilities for upper-story residential, ground-floor residential allowances via Conditional Use Permit, and hotel/motel standards.
- Zoning Ordinance Amendment #40 – Also canceled and rescheduled to January 3, 2019. This amendment addresses R-4 Low Density Residential district standards: front yard setback averaging for infill lots, driveway size limits, and Floor Area Ratio (FAR) adjustments including attic and basement spaces.
- Rezoning Request RZN18-0008 – A request to rezone 4.215 acres at 1222 Patrick Henry Drive from R-5 to PR Planned Residential was referred back from Town Council. The public hearing was scheduled for January 3, 2019.
Public Hearing: ROW18-0002 – Vacation of Town-Owned Right-of-Way
- Staff Presentation (Maeve Gould): The applicants, Adam and Tonya Czesnowski, requested to vacate approximately 0.129 acres (5,629 sq. ft.) of unbuilt town-owned right-of-way along Glade Road. The adjacent 11.689-acre parcel owned by the applicants is zoned RR-1 and 86% lies within the Creek Valley Overlay District, limiting buildable area. The proposed vacation would provide sufficient space outside the overlay for a new single-family home. In exchange, the applicants would dedicate an additional 5 feet of right-of-way (5,927 sq. ft.) along Meadowbrook Drive, resulting in a net gain of 298 sq. ft. for the town. Staff recommended no appraisal was needed as the land values were similar.
- Applicant Presentation (Adam Czesnowski): He explained that the vacation would allow a buildable lot consistent with the RR-1 clustering of homes along Glade Road, maintaining a 15-foot right-of-way for future bike/pedestrian improvements. He noted that turning movements from the property would be toward town, not toward Meadowbrook, and that the 15-foot retained setback would remain grass and gravel, not impacting sight distance.
- Public Comment: None.
- Applicant Rebuttal: None provided.
- Commission Discussion: A commissioner noted the exchange seemed fair. No further discussion.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Agenda – Approved 7-0.
- ROW18-0002 – The commission voted 7-0 to recommend approval to Town Council of the right-of-way vacation.
- Rescheduled Hearings – Public hearings for Zoning Ordinance Amendments #39 and #40, and Rezoning RZN18-0008 were all rescheduled to January 3, 2019.
- Meeting Schedule – Due to New Year's Day, the January 2019 regular meeting will be held on Thursday, January 3, 2019, at 7:30 PM.
- Town Council Report – Commissioner Sutphin reported that Town Council had introduced the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for the next fiscal year, received a clean audit from Brown and Edwards, and discussed minor housekeeping changes to council rules of procedure.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to the December 4th Planning Commission public regular meeting. We have regular meetings of the Blacksport Planning Commission on the first Tuesday of each month at 7 30 here in the Roger Heads Path Chambers of the Blacksburg Municipal Building on 300 South Main Street in Blacksburg, Virginia. Citizens may address the Planning Commission during specified times on the agenda and are requested to adhere to the following. Please speak at the podium. State your name and your address. Please limit speaking time to a maximum of three minutes and speak only once during a specific hearing or comment period. A wireless microphone is available to anyone requesting the assistance. Please silence your cell phones, show respect for all speakers, and allow all opinions to be expressed in a tolerant atmosphere. And thankfully it's a really easy agenda, so maybe I'll have the opportunity to work out the kinks. But before I call this meeting to order, I'd like to take a really brief moment to recognize my fellow commissioners. I admire each of them individually and collectively. They each possess great dedication, experience, and expertise that's relevant and valuable to the work this commission performs. So in the context of this admirable group, I'm honored to have been asked to serve as their chairman. Thank you for your vote of confidence and for this opportunity to serve you in this great town. So with that, we'll call this meeting to order. Mr. Collie? Absent. Mr. Davis? Here. Ms. Jones? Here. Mr. Jones? Here. Mr. Castle. Present. Mr. Langreer. Present. Greg Mingan. I'm here. Mr. Sutton. Here. We have quorum. Great. Well, we have quite a consent consent agenda tonight. We have the approval of the Planning Commission minutes from November 6th. We have a street name change. Recommendations to approve a proposed name change for the Chicoman Drive to Gibbons Lane. We have a zoning ordinance amendment number 39, an ordinance to change the general commercial zoning district to one, clarify the allowed location of support facilities, such as parking for upper story residential development in the district, and two to add an allowance for residential on the ground floor with criteria through the conditional use permit process, and three modify the use and design standards for the hotel use and motel use. The action for that is to cancel the public hearing for December 4th and reschedule for January 3rd. Additionally, we have a zoning ordinance amendment number 40, an ordinance to change the development standards in the R4 low density residential zoning district to one allow for averaging of front yard building setbacks for infill lots, two to limit the size of new driveways or driveway expansions in the district, and three increase the allowed floor to area ratio for single family homes to include attic and basement spaces within the FAR calculation. And the action there is to cancel the public hearing for December 4th today and reschedule for January 3rd. Additionally, on the consent agenda is a rezoning 18008, an ordinance request to rezone 4.215 acres from R5 Transitional Residential Zoning District to PR planned residential zoning district at 1222 Patrick Henry Drive. And the action there is referred back to planning commission from town council and schedule the public hearing for January 3rd, 2019.
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