Planning Commission Meeting   9/10/2024

Good evening.

I believe we're ready to begin our deliberations.

would like to begin with the commission of reports.

But before we do that, I wanted to welcome back Mr. Solla-Yates.

You've been reappointed.

We are thrilled to have you back.

Ms.

Roettger has been reappointed as well.

We're happy to have you back.

Sure.

Hi, everybody.

I'm really happy to be appointed to the Planning Commission, looking forward to serving the city and the commission in this role.

I live with my family on 10th Street, Northwest.

Been there for a few years, and we kind of lived in Belmont before then.

I am a transportation planner by background and experience, so I have studied

Urban planning, but I've solely focused on transportation in my career.

So I'm looking forward to getting more involved with land use.

And yeah, looking forward to reading lots of reports about zoning, because believe it or not, I am interested in that kind of thing.

So yeah, looking forward to working with you all.

We need to get Mr. You know, a couple of committees.

So if you guys have anything that you absolutely don't want to do anymore, let me know.

Thank you, Chairman Mitchell.

So we are meeting right before the board meets there.

They're meeting tomorrow through Friday.

So there will be sort of news coming out of that.

Not so much sort of building related this time around.

But I did want to sort of give a couple updates related to sort of land use and some of the projects that are currently underway.

And so some of these I've touched on the past, but I figure I would just give an update.

One that you may start to see transformation as the car shins to a democracy.

So that is along Ivy Road.

It is sort of adjacent to the Virginia guest house, which is the large hotel that sits closer to the parking garage off of Ivy.

So that is now officially started construction.

They are currently doing site preparation, excavation of the foundations.

But you will see as this sort of fall progresses through the end of the year, you'll start to see some of the steel coming out of the ground for that.

And then similarly, another project that's kind of about to kick off too is the UVA health team is going to be taking the lead with a community outreach regarding the Oak Lawn and Grove Street property.

So I know I touched on that previously.

So my understanding is that is going to be announced soon.

And so as details come out, I'll be happy to report on that at a future meeting.

And then another project that's about to start construction is the Darden School of Business.

So I touched on previously they have some housing that's being envisioned to be as part of their sort of main core grounds up north grounds and so that is slated to start construction later this fall.

And then similarly up at Northgrounds, you may notice if you go up Leonard Sandridge to get onto 250, you see a temporary access road that's been put in place.

And so this is in order to create a pathway to Montesano, which is the old historic house that is now the home of the Center for Politics.

So they're having a modest addition that's being built to help accommodate public programming there.

So if you wonder what's happening there, that's what that temporary access road is for.

And then Fontaine, you know, there's a whole bunch of construction going on there between the energy plant and the parking garage.

So those are on track and I think some of the most disruptive phases are now complete.

You know, I don't have anything to report on the affordable housing effort with the foundation.

And so as news comes out of that, I will be sure to bring that up at a future monthly meeting.

So that's both the Piedmont and the Portland sites.

I have been appointed by the state to represent the city of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia in updating the building code, which we'll ask a little bit later for the thumbs up from this group to proceed.

You need a thumbs up.

I think we're all pretty happy to have you do that.

We'll keep you there.

So I think you get the thumbs up.

Okay, let's see.

Going in roughly reverse order.

So, Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission met last Thursday.

A matter of interest here would have been the consolidated annual performance evaluation report for

Well, basically home, but CDBG and home, which was largely prepared here in Charlottesville because we are the go-to.

That was presented with its last hearing.

I find it's interesting to read that report.

in light of having made some of the allocations and trying to connect the dots of where went when.

But I think we need a slightly larger timeline to really look at them properly.

And some of the data is kind of an interesting way of looking at things.

The CAF committee held an organizational meeting that was primarily driven at looking at the evaluation tools and how they're scoring and waiting.

I think there is still a conceptual conversation to be had.

We're cleaning up the questionnaire and the scoring model and all that.

But there may be some higher level discussions of how we're evaluating what priorities are and how that translates to how we score.

But we are cleaning up.

There are a few howlers just in terms of wording on the thing that drive us all.

They're just subject to multiple.

Interpretations, and so we're working on that and there's a second meeting to try to sort of bring that together towards the end of the month.

The hack met with Sam Sanders and James Fries about the land bank.

They wanted to take the pulse to make sure that they had the complete rundown from the hack

and understood where the pressure points were in warrants and we've been advised that it's now back with staff and should eventually go to legal but it would be, we don't really have an exact timeline.

The sort of next big semi-public step I guess would be getting it scheduled for a work session.

I had two meetings this month.

One was of Lupec and the other of MPOTech.

At both we discussed the VDOT Ivy Road Pipeline study.

which is finally wrapping up, not in time for this Smart Scale Round, but anticipated to be generating applications for next Smart Scale Round.

They're suggesting a number of improvements, roundabouts, closing off left turns,

and sort of the big subject of debate is like how to divide those up because there's a new rule from the CTB that if you do a pipeline study you have to apply for smart scale in the bundle specified, the entire bundle specified in the study and the study can say well you can do this bundle and that bundle but if

So it's likely too large for a single SmartScale application or even a round.

They're looking to split it up into something more manageable.

Speaking of which, we have now, smart scale applications for this round have been submitted and we're getting the cost estimates in that are going to factor into our scores and they are bad.

Actually, it was interesting reading our minutes and our agendas today.

In 2022, I was saying that our scores had just come in and they were bad.

They are worse this time.

Let's see.

We had two main projects from the MPO.

Since now, you can't submit as many.

The costs are coming in at, sorry, just ludicrously large.

The two projects, again, where the Barracks Road improvements, which is going to be split into two, could be split into two.

It's submitted both as one large thing and as a split thing.

I see the actual number is not in the online slides, but you can find that by watching the meeting, I guess.

It's something like 130 million for the whole project, which is like more than the district got in for all SmartSkill projects last time.

Meanwhile, down at Fifth Street, where they were proposing a DDI,

They have decided that to do the diverging diamond, they will have to replace the bridge over 64, which the diverging diamond was specifically chosen to avoid having to do.

And so that project is coming in at 57 million for that DDI.

So it's not looking good for us to get funded in SmartScale this round or put

possibly ever again in the future.

Let's things start changing.

So I hopefully are prudent in managing these smart scale funds.

We've already been awarded.

All right.

Well, last month at the Board of Architecture Review,

There wasn't really anything of major significance.

But we did get a report from Paul Josie on plans for the trees for the downtown mall.

And it was pretty interesting.

And I apologize.

I thought I had the report on my computer to email to all of you.

But I guess I don't think I actually got a copy of it.

Council, I assume, saw it last month.

I don't know if they acted on it.

OK.

So the BAR issued a memo saying, please do something with this immediately because it would be important to start replacing those trees as soon as possible.

Because there are a couple areas that may not.

Well, the report seemed to imply that there are some areas that may not live for much longer.

So it would be good to get started on a plan of action sooner than later.

Next month we will have a work session as part of our meeting on furniture and the cafe spaces on the mall.

We seem to have become a little bit more lax with

Everything that's been placed on the mold, so it's trying to get an understanding of, is that okay?

Is it not okay?

What do we need to set up some new rules for what type of fencing can be there?

What type of plantings, things like that?

Right, IE was on the road most of last month so I didn't make any meetings but the Parks and Rec Group has been very busy and I think I copied you guys on the Park and Rec Master Plan that I think they're getting ready to or have already presented to council so lots of work going on there and hopefully we're gonna get this right.

Ms.

We were able to deliberate and make a selection.

We have contacted the candidates who have agreed to serve again.

I would like to first thank Chair Mitchell for coming back.

Your service has been exemplary and we are grateful for it and grateful to get a little bit more from you.

So, in the outcome of those deliberations, we also consulted with our current Vice Chair, who we thank for his willingness to serve again and place his name and nomination as well.

Easiest job ever.

All right.

This is an opportunity for additional nominations from the commission.

All right.

Seeing none, this is the opportunity

for the election.

And I'll go ahead and call it, just because I can't.

All right.

And Mr. Mitchell.

Yes.

I'll get the gavel back.

All right, thank you for giving me one more, one more and one last year to moderate our deliberations.

It's been interesting, been fun.

Yes.

You want me to go over the work sessions real quick first?

All right.

Let's do that.

And then we'll turn it over to Mr. Fries for the next section.

All right.

So work sessions.

We have a work session on the 4th, Tuesday, September 24th.

We will be talking about the zoning ordinance.

We will be talking about two or three other things.

which we will get out to you so you can be thinking about them.

Nothing too taxing, so it'll be okay.

That'll be here.

And then as we're looking down the road, our October work session is on the 5th Tuesday.

You guys all agreed to that.

Is that Mr. Yoder?

But we'll see.

I think he'll be able to come.

And that is our joint work session with Albemarle County Planning Commission.

And that'll be on the Community Resilience Project.

So keep those in mind.

I will continue to send out kind of our schedule of upcoming work sessions and then things to think about in preparation for those.

And that's all I have.

Good evening, everyone.

So I'm very excited to share that we have a new NDS director.

Kelly Brown started with us on Monday.

Can you hear me okay?

Okay, great.

Well, it's great to be here.

My name is Kelly Brown and I'm really happy to be with the City of Charlottesville I'm coming to you all from Arlington, Virginia where I was a planner there for 16 years.

I worked on a variety of programs and projects and initiatives.

Most recently I was involved in the county's efforts to expand housing options So we have a very kindred relationship with the City of Charlottesville in terms of expanding housing options and

and so on and so forth.

housing stock in Arlington, corridor revitalization efforts and neighborhood planning sidewalk design options early in my career there in Arlington.

So very excited to be here in Charlottesville.

My family relocated to Richmond several years ago.

I grew up in Richmond so it was nice to be back in

Central Virginia, and I'm really happy to be here with the city.

Really looking forward to the opportunity to implement and apply the city's new comprehensive plan and new development code.

Also really focused on continuing to create a culture of very collaborative, inclusive community engagement

efficient development review and strong interdepartmental and interagency coordination.

So thank you very much for the opportunity to introduce myself.

Well, welcome.

We are very happy that you're here.

I've worked with this group, with this staff.

I've been on and off since 2006 and I've watched the staff that we've got to grow and mature and this is probably definitely the most mature staff that we've had in 2006 to 2024 but it is probably the best staff we've had ever and I think you're blessed you're walking into a nice spot so thank you welcome and good luck

You're the second that came out of my mouth, I said, yeah.

It's going to get you in trouble.

The consent agenda.

Mr. Schwarz, do you have a motion regarding the consent agenda?

Oh, no, no, no, wait a minute.

It matters to be presented by the public that's not only formal agenda.

This is Ropton he to talk to us about the work that we do.

And give us your input, give us your guidance, give us your advice.

The only thing that's off the table will be stripling because we're going to have a separate, we're going to have a separate public hearing on stripling now, but if there is something you want to talk to us about, something that may be on the consent agenda or the special exception request or anything else that we do, if you'd like to chat with us about that, now would be the opportunity to do that.

Ms.

Sure, so we have a good number of people in our virtual audience tonight, so we will likely be alternating as we previously do.

But just to provide the instructions for matters from the public, this is the opportunity for you to speak as the Chair noted on any issue

except for the stribbling issue because we have another opportunity for you to speak at the public hearing coming up.

What we do is we ask for our in-person audience.

We ask people to come forward first.

and then we move to our virtual audience and we'll alternate individuals back and forth until we've heard everyone who's interested in speaking.

You have three minutes and you'll be able to monitor your time as you're speaking.

So we'll go ahead and get started.

If you are in our virtual audience and you're interested in speaking,

Please raise your hand in the application.

At this point, we don't have anybody on a telephone line, but if you do, you can hit star nine and that will raise your hand in the application and we'll call on you at your turn.

So we'll start with our in-person audience.

Do we have anyone interested in speaking this evening?

Okay, we'll come back to you.

All right, our virtual audience.

We don't have any hands raised at this time.

Do we, if this is kind of a call for hands to raise if you're interested in our virtual audience and speaking this evening.

All right, no takers there at this moment.

We'll check back with our in-person group.

Any abstentions?

Any objections?

Ms.

All right, you all have seven minutes before you can start the hearing.

I don't know if seven minutes would be enough to address that probably would not be enough to address the other item on the agenda.

So I will note for the public that as we're moving forward, we had on the regular agenda later, we had a notation for the electronic

Meeting Participation Policy.

Do we have, like, an applicant presentation and a staff presentation for that later item?

Recess.

We can certainly be in recess, Mr. Hoseberg.

Yes.

Are you going to go away?

Go someplace?

Well, you want to be able to check your email without being scrutinized.

So it's not cool.

Oh, okay.

Did people in your software just stare at you?

Depends on the software engineer.

Generally, we're in the conference room.

If we expect a large crowd, we'll make sure we get to a space that could accommodate that.

Of course, we can have a virtual audience now, too.

So work sessions are typically five to seven for us.

The county does theirs six to eight.

When did they say it?

Yeah, that's when they...

They saw the report, like a pre-meeting?

They were just seeing the report at the last meeting, like last week.

That's great.

She's got very good at it.

Very tremendous focus.

That's awesome.

Where's Jim's clothing?

Ah, she is now in trailblazers.

What's your name, Sticky?

I mean, I hope so.

Do you remember about Star Hill?

If you're of a certain age, you call it Mojo, you have to change that.

Is that true?

The Joma?

I'll let you know about that.

He used this beer that they called Mojev It was Mojev?

It was Mojev Until some folks on the Pacific West Coast said, yo, we had a Mojev Give us all your money And then they said, no, no, no They have a lot of it lately She played it so many times in history Yeah Now Mingo, we, because of that Of course they're whole Mojev

How long was your year?

Was it a year before 2000?

It was definitely 99.

Yes.

I don't remember.

That was the year I was in college.

I was in the early hours.

I knew the guy who worked at one summer.

I was at the chases of the year.

At the time, I missed the April one.

All righty, we are back at order, and what are we doing?

We are about to have a public hearing, and this is going to be for Strip Lane.

And it is a PUD proffer amendment.

Yes, Chair.

Matt Alfley, City Planner Neighborhood Development Services.

Chair, Commission, tonight you'll be holding a public hearing and making a recommendation to City Council on a proper amendment for proposed residential development at 240 Stribling Avenue.

Southern Development, on behalf of the landowner, Belmont Station, LLC, has submitted an application to amend the approved proffer statement, which was originally approved by City Council on April 18, 2022,

for 240 Stribling Avenue, the Planned Unit Development.

The request is to amend the proper statement to allow a portion of the required affordable dwelling units to be built within the Flint Hill Development, which is currently under construction.

The proposed amendment would also lower the required affordability to 50% AMI area median income from the current 60% AMI for a minimum of two of the required affordable dwelling units.

If this request is approved, up to eight of the required 26 affordable dwelling units at the 240 Stribling Avenue development could be built within the Flint Hill PUD development.

The remaining 18 required affordable units would still be built within 240 Stribling.

Also if approved, at least 10.5% of the new units at 240 Stribling will be affordable dwelling units.

This concludes staff's report.

I'm here to answer any clarifying questions.

The applicant is also here to answer questions.

They do not have a presentation tonight.

Any questions for Ms.

Joplin?

Ms.

For staff now.

Anything else?

No, staff's recommendation is approval on this.

The affordable dwellings will either be built in Stribbling or they'll be built in Flint Hill.

We're still going to get the units.

We just will get some of the units quicker if they're put in Flint Hill as opposed to the Stribbling Avenue development is still under site plan review.

So we are still ways away from that getting approval and actually breaking ground.

Flint Hill has actually broke ground.

Thank you all.

I'm Charlie Armstrong with Southern Development.

It's interesting to be back here when the genders are so light and kind of nice, but I'll keep it short because Matt as usual presented everything pretty comprehensively.

This only adds an option.

If they are built at Flint Hill.

Only if they're built at Flint Hill.

That's what HUD uses.

That's what 50% of MI is.

Very low.

Actually, low and moderate is the misnomer, because low is 80% for HUD.

Well, it's hardly universal.

That's why I asked.

Very true.

The question, well, the reason I ask that is, I find that sometimes these definitions get used in there with the unintended consequences of what they're used and what they're really coming to.

For example, some more problems that are deeply immoral, which actually doesn't actually mean anything to me.

My second question is, why are we doing this?

Why are we doing it?

So it's an opportunity for us to get an obligation satisfied.

We're developing Flint Hill right now.

We have space for additional units at Flint Hill.

We're not up against the density cap there with our site planning and it opens up

Future possibilities for shriveling to do market rate units if we take care of them now.

So from the city's point of view and the citizen's point of view, I would say the reason is to get the units sooner and to get a little bit deeper affordability.

Provide you with more maneuvering.

Certainty is always better than uncertainty for my business, yes.

Right.

Things don't get cheaper all the time.

Things don't get cheaper.

So I remember Flint Hill, it's been a while.

So my recollection is that on the south side of Flint Hill there were in the plan two notional eight-unit townhouse buildings.

and that the thought at the time was that you'd probably sell both of them to Habitat and so eight would be required, but 16 could be built.

What happens if we don't approve this?

Either way, we are doing eight units with Habitat in one of those buildings.

Without this, I don't know about the other building.

We haven't determined a definite plan.

Will the units built at Flint Hill be a different size than the other units?

If they were built at Stribbling instead, would they have the same number of bedrooms?

I honestly don't know the answer to that.

We haven't planned Stribbling far enough along to really know.

If they are at Flint Hill, they will be Habitat's townhouse condominium product.

They're doing something similar I think in Southwood right now.

I don't know that it's identical, but I think it's pretty close.

For Stribbling, we have in the site plan a mix of townhomes and multifamily building.

It could be condos or apartments.

Only to say thank you for the creativity.

Very few people come to us with solutions.

Thank you.

All right, I think we're now ready for the public hearing.

So we're now open for public hearing.

Ms.

So I'll repeat the instructions, the same instructions that we had for matters from the public, where each speaker will have three minutes.

We'll begin with our in-person audience.

alternate from there with our virtual audience.

We still have a few members of our virtual audience, and we'll alternate until all speakers have had an opportunity to speak.

If you're in our virtual audience and you're interested in speaking, please raise your hand in the Zoom application.

No one is on the phone at this moment, but they would use star nine, which would raise their hand and then we could

Recognize them at that point.

So our in-person audience, do we have anyone interested in speaking?

Okay, we'll move to our virtual audience.

Do we have anyone interested in speaking?

I don't see any hands raised.

This is a good opportunity to do that if you'd like to.

All right, back to our in-person audience and our virtual audience.

Right.

The public hearing is now concluded.

So what do we think?

Mr. Schwarz, any thoughts for you?

Good.

I'm good.

Mr. Stolzenberg.

I have no comment.

To be exact, I have one might be that this and we don't necessarily have to do this now, but this opens a conversation perhaps in the context of our work session about

Offsite or Semi-Offsite for the relocation of affordable units.

And do we want to have some further thought on how that process might work or not work?

Yeah, just to, because I mean, this one seems, you know, extraordinarily straightforward and simple and we've got one set of players, but what if we don't at some future time?

No comment.

Right, what would we like to do with this?

I will second that.

Ms.

Sure.

Mr. Solla-Yates.

Mr. Yoder.

Aye.

And Mr. Mitchell.

Right now we all know it has been approved.

And just for purposes for anyone who's viewing, this item will move forward to council.

Absolutely.

Carrie Rainey, City Planner with Neighborhood Development Services.

Before you tonight is a special exception permit, a request to allow offense courtyard along West Market Street on the subject property.

A special exception permit is one of the new relief

Processes allowed through the new development code that was made effective in February.

Our other new relief process outlined in the code is considered the administrative modification, which generally allows the administrator to make changes up to 15% to physical dimensional standards.

The development code continues to allow our previously permitted relief options, including our special use permit, our critical slope, now called special exceptions, and our variances from the Board of Zoning Appeals.

It's one update to note is that special use permits are no longer an avenue for additional building height and apply only to specific uses.

Specific physical dimensions within standards within the code.

These permits cannot be granted for additional building height, additional dwelling units per lot, or for development bonus standards.

Examples of these dimensional standards could include parking design standards, entrance spacing, transition requirements, and fence heights as we are here tonight to discuss.

Special exception permit applications do not require a public hearing but do require a Planning Commission recommendation in a city council decision both during a public meeting.

When making a recommendation, the planning mission should consider the following factors.

One, whether the proposed modification to physical dimensional standards will be harmonious with existing and approved patterns of development on the same or an opposing face or abutting property, excuse me, opposing block face or abutting property.

Two, whether the proposed modification supports the goals and strategies of the comprehensive plan.

And three, whether with conditions a special exception permit is consistent with public necessity, convenience, general welfare, and good zoning practices.

The planning commission may set forth any reasonable conditions to apply when recommending approval.

And before jumping into this application, I'm happy to answer any clarifying questions about the special exception permit process.

So the application before you tonight is for the property at 113 West Main Street, which has a double frontage on both the downtown mall and West Market Street.

The DX downtown mixed-use district does not permit fencing in front yards or side street yards unless a special exception permit is granted.

The applicant has requested to install perimeter fencing in the front yard along the West Market Street portion of the property.

in order to create a courtyard for residential use.

The applicant proposes two gates along that west market frontage to provide pedestrian and vehicular access.

Staff finds that the proposed improvements are harmonious with the existing patterns of development within the neighborhood.

The front yard use of surrounding properties includes parking lots, lawns and landscaping, and fenced outdoor dining space.

The proposed fences and gates are of a similar scale to existing fencing in the area and provide a visual connection with West Market Street to activate that pedestrian realm on the street.

As the property is located within the downtown architectural design control district, the Board of Architectural Review reviewed the application at their March 2024 meeting.

The Board found the proposed improvements to be compatible with the downtown ADC district.

The Board provided a certificate of appropriateness with the condition that the wood planks are either painted or have an opaque stain with the color to be approved by the preservation planner, Jeff Warner.

The future land use plan of the 2021 comprehensive plan designates the subject property in surrounding properties as downtown core, which is a primary central mixed use activity hub for the city.

The proposed fences and gates will allow the creation of a resident courtyard adjacent to and visible from the West Market Street corridor, which will increase activation and pedestrian interest on the corridor and along with in line with the goals of the downtown core.

Several goals of the comprehensive plan also speak to a desire for context sensitive redevelopment.

The Board of Architectural Review has confirmed the proposed fences and gates are compatible with the downtown ADC district, and therefore staff finds the proposed improvements

support the goals and strategies of the comprehensive plan.

As the application aligns with the comprehensive plan and provides outdoor amenity space for residents and street activation for the West Market Street corridor, staff finds that granting the special exception permit is consistent with good zoning practice in general public welfare and recommends approval of the permit.

Staff does not recommend any conditions be placed on the permit at this time as any proposed modifications to the fencing and gate details would be reviewed by the

Board of Architectural Review for consistency with the issued certificate of appropriateness or a new certificate as required.

I have the most niggling question in the world.

Looking at the image for Context Map 2 zoning classifications, I've just never noticed this before.

I don't have a solution tonight, but somebody to think about.

So, I believe you answered the question, but you do not mention the wood planks condition that the bar was imposing, or the bar was asking for the wood planking, the treatment of the wood planks.

Hi, I'm Adrienne Strong with the GAINS group here to represent my client.

I don't really have anything formal prepared.

This is my first planning commission meeting, so I didn't want to come unprepared.

Essentially, our client just wants to turn a little used loading zone into something his residents can use.

And right now, it tends to be viewed as an extension of the road or the sidewalk.

He's trying to prevent some of the maintenance issues that have come up because of that and unintentional parking being used as parking there.

So there's no latching gates.

It's not to keep people out or keep anybody in.

I move to recommend approval of this application for a special exception permit in the DX downtown mixed use zone at 113 West Main Street to permit installation of fences and gates.

Can I get my thing in there before we... You want to get your thing in there?

Just...

There was a motion.

There was a second.

Ms.

Mr. Solla-Yates.

Aye.

And Mr. Mitchell.

And aye.

The application is approved.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Yes, so the next step for this application would be to go to council during the public meeting, much as we're having here today.

I don't have much except to point out that today happens to be the 515th anniversary of a great earthquake just outside Constantinople that knocked down several hundred minarets and fifty mosques.

That in and of itself, earthquakes happened, but it became known at the time and subsequently

and which is why I mention it now as the lesser judgment day because of the catastrophic effects of it all.

And I just thought that might be relevant in terms of whatever television viewing you might have in mind.

We are adjourned.