Facility Standards Manual Public Review Committee Meeting - February 6, 2025
Facility Standards Manual Public Review Committee Meeting - February 6, 2025
The Facility Standards Manual (FSM) Public Review Committee met on February 6, 2025, to discuss proposed amendments related to state agency requirements from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR). The committee reviewed and discussed revisions to the FSM to align with recent zoning ordinance changes concerning natural heritage resources and threatened/endangered species. The meeting included the introduction of a new member, Philip Jones.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the abbreviated minutes from the previous meeting, with a motion carried unanimously.
Discussion Items
- Presentation by Alex Starr (Natural Resources Team): Alex introduced proposed FSM changes to implement new zoning ordinance sections (5.04 and 6.04) regarding natural environmental resources (steep slopes, river/stream border resource areas, and non-residential activities in the mountainside). The changes require identification of natural heritage resources (via DCR) and threatened/endangered species (via DWR) within sensitive natural resource areas (SNRAs).
- Key Clarifications from Zoning Administration:
- The zoning administrator determined that NRT (Natural Resources Team) is responsible for reviewing avoidance of impacts, not DCR/DWR.
- “No impact” was reinterpreted to allow impact avoidance and mitigation, consistent across both tables.
- The review of Virginia Wildlife Action Plan species is limited to federally and state threatened/endangered species, not all species listed.
- Committee Discussion on Implementation:
- Members raised concerns about the need for field habitat assessments, the timing of reports (at preliminary plat vs. CPAP/site plan), and applicability to grading permits for homeowners.
- Consensus that for preliminary plats, the requirement should be limited to providing DCR/DWR letters and initial findings, not full mitigation strategies; mitigation strategies would be required at CPAP/site plan stage.
- For grading permits, a streamlined process is acceptable for small homeowner projects, but larger projects (e.g., breweries) may still need full reports.
- Discussion on proffers: members noted that species and habitat conditions can change, so proffers should be flexible and avoid locking in specific requirements that may become outdated.
- Clarification that the requirements apply only to disturbance within SNRA or non-residential activities in the mountainside; if no disturbance occurs, no additional assessment is needed.
Key Outcomes
- The committee agreed to refine the proposed FSM text based on the discussion, particularly to differentiate requirements between preliminary plat and CPAP/site plan stages.
- A draft tech memo incorporating the revised language will be prepared for review at the next meeting.
- The committee discussed the timeline for implementation: the tech memo may be issued after a zoning ordinance quick fix (anticipated in ~6 months) or sooner if legal pathways allow. The committee expressed preference for a separate tech memo rather than bundling with other changes.
- A joint meeting with the Zoning Ordinance Committee is scheduled for the first Wednesday in May (9:30-11:00 AM) to discuss floodplain updates.
- The committee will also revisit sidewalk text amendments from a previous subcommittee and a mid-block passageway issue at a future meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Yeah, here is Alp's big today, so I am filling in for him, so hopefully he's better by the time next time we meet. So starting off here, I would like to call orders February 6th, 2025 facility standards manual public review committee. New members being committee members that they are members of one or more affiliated groups and of the declarations of interest. Jump us off here on the agenda. Sure. I would be glad to. So I'm happy to say we have a new appointee with us today, Philip Jones. Um, so that is makes 14 members out of 15 total on our committee. And I want to welcome Philip and give him a chance to maybe just say a few words about what you do. Sure. Yeah, thanks for the introduction. I'm Philip. Um I work at uh GOM Engineers based in Fairfax, Virginia. Um, I've been working in Loudoun County for the past 14 years with a specialization in water resources engineering, so stormwater floodplain. Um, I know some folks in here through past students at a Blueberry, JMT, and at the town of Leisburg. So looking forward to getting to know the rest of you that I don't know yet, uh, and looking forward to contributing. And we need to look at the minutes. And this was the new style minutes. They were the abbreviated version. I'm hoping I didn't swing too far the other direction. Uh in terms of Kevin had asked that we kind of shorten them rather than giving everything um verbatim, like in terms of what was amended, just um kind of the topics sections, that kind of thing that were methods. So I'm curious to see what everybody thought. Um they were much shorter, only two pages long, even though we covered a lot of ground at our last meeting. I actually went over a few minutes. Uh so open to feedback. One minutes or motion. Did it save you considerable time? Oh, yeah. That's important. I mean, no, it didn't ever take on anymore. Oops. Comments. We didn't make a motion yet. There it did it. I heard of sorry, I was talking at the same time anyway. All in favor. Oh, yeah. All in favor. Okay. So that I guess really fast. There are opening items. Um we have one item on the agenda today. It's the these are abbreviations. Uh, Department of Conservation Recreation, Department of Wildlife Resources. Uh, these are state agencies, and these are amendments pursuant to the zoning ordinance. And we have Alex Starr with us today, and he is from the natural resources team, and he is going to give us a presentation to introduce this topic. I'm gonna cue that up real quick. Excellent. Great. Thank you very much, Laura.
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