Architectural Review Board Meeting   6/5/2023

All right, we ready to go?

Can you call the roll, please?

Mr. Van Der Werf.

Here.

Stoner.

Matsuno.

Here.

Hancock.

Here.

Mr. Henningsen.

Do any ARB members have anything to disclose?

No, no, no, no.

The first is ARB 2023-36, 5th Street Landing Self-Storage.

I'd be happy to try to answer any questions.

Frank Hancock?

No, I don't.

Frank Stoner?

No, thanks.

Thanks.

It's time for the applicants presentation.

If Barry is also on, I'm not sure if he has anything he would like to add,

That's it for our presentation here.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks.

No, I don't have any questions.

Thank you for incorporating the previous comments.

I don't have any questions.

One question, how wide is the, I guess it's a buffer, the existing vegetation to remain?

Outside the wall area?

Yes.

We have a section that should show, I believe it, I want to say it's around 50 feet.

That wall average about five feet, four to five feet.

And then the grade is brought back up with the wall.

Yes, that's section B there.

Thank you.

So the ARB will now go into discussion.

Thank you.

Or actually, I'm sorry.

Are there any members of the public that would like to make a comment?

Thank you.

We are having technical difficulties.

Sorry, I'm just working through some technical difficulties.

We thought the architect would be joining remotely, but we don't see him.

Oh my gosh, there's no one wishing to speak on this topic.

Dave, do you have any comments?

Thanks, David.

Tara?

Seeing as it's now under discussion, I was just curious if there is a proposed or planned color for that.

That's something we'll raise with the developer to make sure that there's flexibility in choosing a more toned down color since it is a bit of an intense green.

I think as far as the color itself goes, I think it would be great for the applicant to work with staff to identify a color that coordinates with the eventual sign choice and beyond that, I have no other comments.

Thank you.

Frank Hancock.

And I appreciate the perspective view from 64, as I think that will probably likely have the most impact.

Frank.

Thank you.

So that would just be,

So if there are no more comments or discussion, we could go over the recommended motion.

I'm not sure if that's where you want to keep that information you've got.

But do any board members have any tweaks or additions they would like to make?

It might be worth considering the illumination levels for those interior things because I think there are a number of trademark designs developing where it's really the interior illumination that then becomes a very visible appearance, as a side note.

All right, well, if there are no tweaks or anything, is there anyone who would like to make a motion?

I'll move that we approve the application for ARB 2023-36, the streets, landings, health storage, without amendments.

Would anybody like to second that?

I'll second.

I could put it to a vote.

Mr. Van Der Werf?

Aye.

Mr. Stoner?

Aye.

Mr. Matsuno?

Aye.

Mr. Hancock?

Aye.

Mr. Henningsen?

Aye.

Our next regular review item is ARB 2023-39, Dunners Porch.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Frank Hancock, do you have any questions for staff?

Thanks, Margaret.

Frank?

So if the applicant has a presentation, now is the time for

We're just trying to make something a lot better looking, go in place of something that should probably go well.

All right.

Dave, do you have any questions?

I don't have any questions.

Are there any members of the public who would like to make a comment?

There are no members of the public wanting to comment.

So we'll start with Frank Stoner.

I assume they'll be the same, whatever their color is, but otherwise it looked very appropriate.

Oh, they are dark, sorry.

All right, thanks.

I think it looks great and wish them the best of luck.

Thank you, Frank.

No, I don't have any comments.

So best of luck.

So if we have a recommended notion,

So the recommendation is for approval with the conditions listed in the staff report and amended with the addition of the shingles on the addition.

If not, if anyone would like to make a motion.

All right.

We could put it to a vote.

Mr. Hancock?

Aye.

Mr. Stoner?

Aye.

Mr. Matsuno?

Aye.

Mr. Van Der Werf?

Aye.

Mr. Henningsen?

Thanks a lot.

Thanks.

All right.

I'm sorry, who was the second?

Mr. Matsuno?

Aye.

Mr. Stoner?

Aye.

Mr. Van Der Werf?

Aye.

Mr. Henningsen?

Aye.

Mr. Hancock?

So other items, and I know there's one other item from staff, but before we get into that, does anyone else have any other items?

I do not.

So I guess we will move on to the comp plan item.

Just.

And then we'll go through each of the questions and turn and hopefully they'll build upon one another.

So the first question that we had is what contributes to the identity of Albemarle County?

What assets do we have to really bolster, protect, augment in some way?

We're free to just blurt out.

You have all the time that you need, except for when you have to leave.

And that's one of the important parts of the board.

When you say agricultural and rural routes, do you mean like open landscapes or do you mean farms and farm buildings?

Community that is growing and that the board's work should also help to facilitate that in keeping with its character.

I would say that kind of contributes to question number two as well, just because if you were to differentiate Albemarle County from some other counties, even surrounding Albemarle, I think you have some major history here that we're lucky to have and doesn't necessarily exist in most places, not only in the state, but nationally.

If you were to give examples for a few, what would they be?

I'd say Monticello, Ashlawn, the UVA campus.

Everything else the county is doing is great as well.

Yes.

I assume you'd include VDOT in there.

VDOT, yes, yes.

Are you talking about mountain biking trails within the parks?

I thought that was pretty unique and needed to kind of relieve pressure on 29.

I think maybe I didn't capture your statement as well.

The preservation protection natural resources in comparison to other places or it's just more prominent, it's more visible.

You could also talk about the amount of acreage under conservation easement, those sorts of things.

But I think it's protecting what makes us unique or one of our greatest assets.

County zoning regulations that have kind of kept development away from our rural areas.

You used another word.

I don't even remember what, but pleasing, you know, pleasing sounds good.

I didn't want to put words in your mouth that you didn't.

I'm never offended.

What signals Albemarle County or what could signal Albemarle County?

Some of the work that we do I think is reflected

The current appearance of those, and I think people do notice it.

Albemarle tends to rank, I think, pretty high.

I tried phonetic and it didn't work.

That was a dictionary.

Thank you.

I will just say that was not what I was good at.

And I think it's a good case that a county with a strong historical identity doesn't necessarily have to be building new buildings directly in historical styles and that there's a lot you can do with reference and with context that can continue to establish that character.

That makes us unique.

I mean, there's certainly exceptions to it, but I think that the historic sites and the new buildings and other things, I think that they're, I guess, within the county, as others have observed, is a great attention to how things fit within it rather than overwhelming.

So I think we've answered, we've had many answers to this, the historical sites, attention to landscaping, just to carry a couple forward.

I think to add to Frank's noting the good work of the county, I think the existing comp plan and zoning plan, you know, focusing development around narrow areas and, you know, and the aim with the aim of preserving the rural area has been effective in many ways.

Sorry.

That would be an alarm.

Was that Chris's alarm?

Yeah.

We're not finished yet.

We're only at two.

I think the cultural resources are a competitive advantage or make Albemarle somewhat unique for its size.

And there are a lot on that list.

Not Rosalind, but... Rose and Wall schools.

Yes, the Rose and Wall schools.

That there aren't many left in Virginia, but we have like three that are still in Albemarle County.

This is not going to be popular, but I'll say it anyway.

Like there's so many cultural resources that are available that aren't historically focused.

draw for people coming into the county, the county specifically, not just like connected to the, that I think is like a really good benefit to the county's identity.

It's like Monticello wine district or.

ABA, American Digital Cultural Area.

But it's a Monticello wine trail or is it, what's, yeah, okay.

What do we have, 15 private schools, something like that now?

Such a good public school system to be able to live in a rural area and have an exceptional public school system.

Yeah, I'd say the same thing about the healthcare system in this area.

If you were to promote Albemarle County to people coming in, what would you say it has going for it?

Your elevator pitch if you were a real estate agent.

all the resources that we have here.

And maybe not be able to get the natural resources as readily or as extensively, because so often sort of the cultural and other offerings are associated with more urban.

Oh, go ahead.

I was just going to say it's kind of like the larger city level of amenities, but set in a real beautiful rural context.

If you were to go over to the mountain, you can access all kinds of outdoor activities.

I guess you could access that within the county too, but thinking about all of the mountains,

I've actually been shocked driving down 29 and you're on this very just dense corridor of highway commercial and then you take any turn and you're just, what happened?

Where did the lights go?

It's easy to get to DC, it's easy to get to Richmond, to the coast, like we're kind of... That's a great point.

I guess in addition to some of the sort of cultural resources that like a lot of people who are interested in like outdoor activities and stuff like it's not just that the landscape is beautiful and it's there but also that there's been investment and development of the opportunities to take advantage of them like trails have been built, places for people to stay like just that infrastructure exists for people to take advantage of and experience the landscape that we have.

We do have our share of private farms, estates that aren't necessarily accessible, but I feel like there's lots of access points in the county.

Want to hear the drawbacks?

Do you want to do that?

Think about a comprehensive plan.

Yeah, I mean, there's limited development opportunity, limited housing supply, limited.

Public transportation, Cismont.

Oh.

The character philosophy.

You're doing a great job.

In parts of the county, a big disparity maybe between sort of the richest residents of the county and the poorest residents, that you can have a pretty big gap within rural areas between the richest and the poorest.

Yeah, right.

I mean, I think we do, for whatever reason, good or bad, it has a reputation as being a somewhat racist, like much of the South, but Charlottesville, unfortunately, is.

Is that it's- Is that we have, like, Fox 12 to-

List of things people know Charlottesville for.

Yeah, tiki torches.

Yeah, right.

Would you say the county ends in Charlottesville or the county?

I think the county by virtue of being, yeah, but also among people who know Albemarle County.

I'll just leave it as not specific.

I just mean like we were talking earlier about you know positive light right like Charlottesville and Albemarle County are developing a reputation beyond the university right but also like beyond the university one of the things that people know about Charlottesville are like you know the attacks that happened yeah yeah make sure you weren't saying that inside you today it's all okay

Should we move on to question three, maybe?

And actually what I'll do is I'll copy these over so we can get them.

Okay.

I think it would be great if the policies could support sort of the continued conservation and preservation of the natural resources and find ways to promote development that's consistent with that.

Can you repeat that?

Support continued

Preservation and conservation of natural resources and rural character while identifying means of consistent development opportunity.

Perhaps by continuing to focus that in designated areas.

I can also go back and listen to the recording.

Thank you.

I think there should be a more robust process for preserving historic resources.

Downey.

When I say more robust process, I mean like a process.

You mean a process for logging them, a process for making sure they see tomorrow?

even an approval process, which on one hand I appreciate that, but I think in terms of like a county-wide cultural and historic resources perspective, it seems like that would be a worthwhile process to have.

I think it's also important to think about the sort of significance of them in a way.

Well, yeah, you're right.

I think it gets taken too far in a lot of cases where there is a process like buying them out and the fact that there is nothing now further in the

That I think is a useful example, just because then you don't have people trying to wear two hats in the same committee.

City investing in other forms of parking in the development areas could be a real game changer.

People can.

Call of Preserving the Rural Character.

Traffic is becoming a problem.

Yeah.

I guess public transit has done it maybe.

Right, yeah.

I think that's an example where like the development focus in Crozet is successful also developed Crozet, but it also has created traffic issues getting wide from that.

So connectivity, yeah.

If we can encourage development in the county, kind of a win win.

You look at what's going on in Waynesboro, residentially, all a function of the fact that Albemarle is no longer affordable.

It's like making sure that the work of this board is coordinated with the other boards and coordinated with the comprehensive plan, I think would be a good way of both preserving and allowing for the development that needs to happen.

To say it in a summary, was it understanding the context of the area to better act on ARB or ARB applications, or is it kind of overlapping an alignment of other initiatives and taking that into context when acting on?

making sure that the efforts of the board are harmonizing with the efforts of the county as a whole and the other initiatives throughout different departments.

Well said.

So something like that where it's, we are doing something now, but what does the next step kind of look like?

I think the thought of getting scenic highway status for some roads and roads that may not qualify as arterials but still be significant to the character may be another measure to consider.

And then

So it's it's a tough balance for a balance and what's there and what's what's great with and what is creating all the interest in the county and being here and developing that still again.

An opportunity for it.

That's great, I think when we were evaluating

They're closed in and so that might be an example of where on one road you could have two very different conditions and it would still be appropriate.

I think we tend to struggle a lot in this

But part of that's what creates interest is that timestamp.

Not that it's very concrete, but.

is sitting in the landscape instead of overwhelming it, it leaves a lot more room for that invention and interpretation.

That architecture is sitting in the landscape?

How did you say it?

Context again, that allows maybe more flexibility, Frank, to your point in interpreting traditions and materials.

Sort of setting the board's purview at like these edge cases and the things that can't be determined quickly and easily by a set of standards like

I think that's very helpful and good that the board does.

That might be some way to then build a form-based code as a

Have we received any applications or not necessarily we, but the county for the form-based code?

So it seems to be as developers seem to be wanting to have a taste for it.

That's in the Rio 29?

So Woodbrook, and then there's a neighborhood south that I forget the name.

Just out of curiosity, would there be a way for board members just to view the applications and see how that's being interpreted and applied?

Sure, we're also figuring that out.

Not that we would comment or participate in your respect towards establishment, but it would be of interest to you.

Yeah, totally.

Are there any thoughts that the board may have on those programs?

They're valuable, except where they interrupt what would otherwise be considered a sensible growth pattern.

We incentivize easements.

I'm sorry, I missed that.

To incentivize easements or not to?

To be thoughtful about where we incentivize easements so that we don't create a problem in the future when at some point the growth area in the county is going to have to grow.

If height doesn't grow.

Right.

And maybe it's worth including here, just as Chris has pointed out on the previous question, creating or adding some process and policy for identifying and conserving or otherwise protecting historic resources.

How would you summarize the goal of this work?

This work meaning the comprehensive plan?

How would you summarize that statement?

That's a hard one.

It is.

When I was thinking of this question, I found myself wanting to draft out many things with many descriptors.

It's essentially asking a goal statement without actually asking.

Keep Albemarle unique.

ruin it.

You're just one step away from keep Portland weird.

be assured that the character that brings people to the county that allows it to further develop its natural resources and its cultural resources is gonna remain consistent with the way it has been.

as this shared resource.

Like I think that there are things that, I think like when you look at the changes that we saw earlier on today, I was like, oh yeah, I think the board managed to help improve that project in a way that needs to be moving forward.

But it's compelling, right?

And it's like, I want to go check that place out.

That attracts people to it.

That attracts weird people to it?

I mean, if you find yourself falling into the category.

They're stuck up, maybe we don't want more people.

There have been several meetings about that.

Nimby's welcome.

But that's the end of this.

Nice work.

I don't believe I'll be present.

Sounds like we'll have room.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you.