Chesapeake Planning Commission Public Hearing – January 10, 2024
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Chesapeake Planning Commission Public Hearing – January 10, 2024
The Chesapeake Planning Commission held a public hearing on January 10, 2024, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The primary actions were the unanimous continuance of two related applications for the Copart Auto Sales project due to notification issues, a closed session to discuss commissioner communications with applicants, and the cancellation of the January 24, 2024, meeting. The pre-meeting included a detailed update on the Chesapeake 2045 Comprehensive Plan and committee assignments.
Consent Calendar
- No consent agenda was presented; the meeting proceeded directly to the continuance and withdrawal items.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made during the public hearing.
Discussion Items
- Continuance of Copart Auto Sales Applications: Staff requested continuance of two items (PLN-REZ-2023-014 and PLN-USE-2022-030) to the February 14, 2024, Planning Commission meeting due to notification issues with adjacent properties. The proposal involves a conditional zoning reclassification of approximately 30 acres from B-3 (Highway Business) to M-1 (Light Industrial, 22.9 acres) and C-1 (Conservation, 7.1 acres), and a conditional use permit for a wholesale used motor vehicle dealership with an 8-foot fence height exception at 3856 South Military Highway. The commission voted 9-0 to continue both items (motion by Steiner, second by Forbes).
- Closed Session: The commission entered a closed session from 7:07 p.m. to 7:19 p.m. to consult with legal counsel regarding planning commissioner communications with applicants and agents concerning pending applications, as permitted by Virginia Code § 2.2-3711(A)(8). The motion to certify that only exempt matters were discussed passed 9-0 (Crews/Forbes).
- Cancellation of January 24, 2024, Meeting: Chairman Gerloff asked for objections to canceling the January 24 meeting due to no business; there were none, and the cancellation was approved by unanimous consent.
- Comprehensive Plan Update (Chesapeake 2045): Deputy Planning Director Rebecca Benz presented an update during the pre-meeting. Key points included:
- Stakeholder committees are meeting; 13 events have been held, reaching approximately 300 people.
- Social media engagement: 2,500 individual engagements (clicks, likes, shares) and over 23,000 impressions across platforms.
- 500 responses received for the green space survey; a development pattern survey will run from January 15 to February 16, 2024.
- The plan focuses on seven areas: connectivity/infrastructure, economic prosperity, environment/resiliency, growth management/rural areas, housing/equity, placemaking/design, and quality of life.
- Land use districts will be less prescriptive, focusing on outcomes and character (e.g., low density residential, neighborhood center, urban mixed use).
- Upcoming meetings: Indian River Design Guidelines open house (Jan 25), Greenbrier Area Plan update to City Council (Jan 23), Trails and Connectivity Plan open house (Jan 31).
- Adoption is targeted for spring 2025.
- Committee Assignments: Commissioner Hackworth joined the Art Committee; the Deep Creek Area Plan was added to the project list. Commissioners were asked to review and finalize committee assignments by the next meeting.
- Bylaws Review: Chairman Gerloff proposed a 60-day process: review bylaws in February, propose edits, and vote in March.
Key Outcomes
- Continuances: PLN-REZ-2023-014 and PLN-USE-2022-030 were continued to the February 14, 2024, Planning Commission hearing by a 9-0 vote.
- Closed Session: Approved 9-0 to enter closed session; certification of closed session also passed 9-0.
- Meeting Cancellation: The January 24, 2024, Planning Commission Public Hearing was canceled by unanimous consent.
- Next Steps: The commission will review proposed bylaws changes in February and vote in March. The Chesapeake 2045 Comprehensive Plan updates will continue with stakeholder meetings, surveys, and commission “two by two” sessions.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everybody. The planning commission pre-meeting for January 10th, 2024 is now in session. Welcome to our pre-meeting tonight. Hope everybody had uh happy holidays. Uh, thanks everybody for taking part in the business of our city. First order of business tonight is the agenda overview discussion. We have a total of two applications, of which two applications are up for continuance or withdrawal. Mr. Bostwick, will you please provide the commission with an overview of the applications? Yes, both applications that are on tonight's agenda are being requested for continuance. Staff is requesting that they be continued. If you would like some additional details on that, Mr. Bell will be happy to provide those. If I understand correctly from the email, I think we all got in the updated staff report, it's due to notification issues with the adjacent properties. Correct. Okay. And we'll plan 30 days next month. We'll plan to hear it. Yes, sir. All right, very good. Any commissioners have any comments or questions regarding these items? All right. Without objection, these items will be placed on the continuance portion of tonight's agenda. So we will not have a consent agenda, we will not have a regular agenda, just those continuance items. So the next order of business is the uh planning commission committee reports, old business. We do not have an art committee report. I believe Commissioner Stickler will uh stay on the Art Committee, and Commissioner Hackworth is volunteered to also join the committee, so perhaps going forward we will have a report from ARC. Are there any other committee reports? Any other commissioner may like to chime in onks. Next we have upcoming items. Mr. Bostwick. This month's summary of new applications in the pipeline includes three conditional use permits, one rezoning, and two rezonings with companion use permits. I know uh in prior discussions uh there was a question about the uh three-acre text amendment that's been out there. Do you know when that may come before us? Yes. And it doesn't relate necessarily to lot size. It has to do with the agricultural subdivisions themselves. And some other items will be rolled into that. We anticipate, well, we're hoping that you may see it in February, but you will certainly see it by March. The draft ordinance is being finalized right now, and I believe at that point it will be sent out to the committee members that are on the subdivision and text amendment subcommittee. Great. Thank you. All right. Moving right along, we have a uh special presentation tonight on the comp plan. So with that, I will turn it over to Ms. Bins. Thank you so much. I am here to give an update on our Chesapeake 2045 comprehensive plan update. Um I'm gonna give an update on the uh activities for the past about six months, and then going forward, um, what will what our next steps will be.
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