Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

had a good crowd tonight. Mhm. Controversial. That's good. Lots of public support. Good evening. 6 o'clock. I'm going to call the meeting to order. Welcome to the June 18th, 2025 meeting of the Georgetown Planning Commission. Our first order of business is approval of minutes from April 16th. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion second. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carried. Our next order of business is a preliminary site plan review case number 2025-07 for Del Marva Christian School. an application by Delm Marva Christian School for the preliminary review and approval for the construction of a plus or - 74,27 foot one-story addition to the existing educational facility. A plus or - 6,460 ft maintenance concession building and associated site improvements. Property is located at 2177 Sussex Pines Road. The applicant would like to take the mic. So, good evening. My name is Alan Dector, uh, professional engineer with Penoni Associates. I'm going to start off by making just a couple introductions for part of our team that's here tonight and then, um, the school will make a little introduction backstory about the school and then I'll take it back over to kind of walk you

through the the project itself. Okay. Um, so tonight with the school there's Justin Ceini, um, director advancement. Um, we have Matt Quatowski, um, head of schools and Ron Lin Moore, sorry, um, on the school board. Um, we also have, um, Bob Blan from Ry. They are been selected as a general contractor for the project. Um, Teal Construction, um, has been selected as a site contractor for doing most of the work that we we'll talk about tonight. Um, and then possibly on the phone call, the architect of the project is from Utah, uh, specializing in Christian schools. Um, their company is, um, BGW Services. So, if there's any questions with the the building elevations towards the end, they may be able to help answer those questions. Um, and with that, I'll I'll turn it over to Justin, which will give a brief introduction of the school. Good evening. Um, like Allan said, my name is Justin Cevini with Delmar Christian School. I'm proud to serve as their director of advancement. And, uh, as you many of you guys know, we opened our doors in 2004 over on Airport Road, uh, to students that very first school year. Um, and then in 2013, we had the opportunity to swap properties with Sussex Academy. Uh, SAS has been operating on Airport Road. We've been over at Sussex Pines Road since 2013. Uh in 2015, we took over the operations of Eagles Nest Christian Academy. Uh they dissolved as a school and Delm Marva Christian School moved from just a regional Christian high school uh to a early learning center through 12th grade institution that was operating on two separate campuses since 2015. In 2020, uh we started to experience some unprecedented growth. So much so that we had to move our early learning center into a modular in Milton be outside of Eagles Nest Christian

Academyy's footprint. Uh and we saw enrollment growth uh every single year since 2020. So it's been five consecutive years of growth to handle that growth and try to figure out what it could look like. uh our team started to dream about the possibilities of having all of our programs two years old through 12th grade on the land that we own on Sussex Pines Road. And so we assembled a team, Penoni Engineering being a part of that. Uh BGW Architects, Richard Y. Johnson has been with us through pre-construction all the way from the beginning. And over the last three years, we've been working very diligently uh to raise the funds, but also develop the plans that you're going to see tonight to be able to bring uh our schools together on one location uh by the fall of 2027. Um we have over the last three years, just to kind of show the community's level of support for this project, been able to raise over 28.5 million. And um it is with that that we're going to be able to do this construction project completely debt-free and continue to serve our student population that currently is roughly about 600 students. Uh this project when approved and and built will allow us to serve closer to 800 to 850 in its first phase. Uh and then we have plans to potentially in the future continue to add on and get up to a thousand students there on Sussex Pines Road. And that's about as big as we see it ever being. But this first phase will allow us to grow from about 600 to 800 850 uh within the footprint that you guys are going to look at today. So I appreciate your time uh and your favor on this project as it is going to be an incredible blessing to allow us to have all of our students on a campus that is our permanent location. Uh we have been leasing from Eagles Nest Christian Academy and or from Eagles Nest Church uh for the last five years. Um oh gosh, I guess it's been 10 years now. for the last 10 years and um you know it is it is time they've got bigger

vision uh than than they have room for. We've got bigger vision than than we have room for there on that site and that is really the the catalyst for the need for this project. And so I'll turn it back over to Allan to walk you through the details. Thank you. So, as a start, we've been we've been working uh with the town of Georgetown for the last year or two on just getting the property itself up to um zoning and and uh there's a lot line adjustment done. So, just to kind of um show you this triangle piece back here, it's roughly 10 acres that was acquired um through a lot adjustment plan from Sussex County, which owns that property to the north. Um the the property itself that Delm March Christian owns before then was 50 acres. Now we're at the total roughly of 60 acres. That piece along with this half of the property was all zoned uh UR3. So over the last year or so, we've gone through a future land use map amendment and a zoning change to basically complete the entire 60 acres as education zone correctly for the entire property and the use of the property. just to kind of give you that background of what we've been doing up to this point um before we got into the the more technical engineering of the project. Um along with that um we went through the plus process back in March of 2024 um to kind of get the preliminary feedback from the different state agencies um as that as the zoning change was happening along with the preliminary site plan. Um the let's see so um the property itself is in a lot of the area that we're not using um it is cut up by the M key McGee tax stitch um

area there's a couple prongs um on this too. So as part of this we are due to the expansion and this is kind of existing conditions to show you the the school which you'll see on the site plan in a little bit is expanding this way. So, the softball field and this multi-use field are both getting kind of wiped out. So, the whole purpose acquiring this land was to relocate these into that section back there. So, we'll be removing some of those trees to relocate those those fields, athletic fields back there. And then as part of that, we went through um with Denre and the tax association a court order change to install a pipe. basically fill that a section of that tax hitch in, put a pipe in there um for access to that back section. Um so that part of the process has been done. Quarter change was signed off last week. Um in our in our review and and site survey of the the the property, there was a small pocket about 0.2 acres of wetlands. It's tucked in the woods. It's not being disturbed. It's not near anything, but that is identified right here. Just a small pocket of existing wetlands that would remain and be protected. Um the property is fronting Sussex Pines Road on the main entrance and then also Zor Road um towards the west. Um as part of uh the process, these both of these roads are Delta maintained roads. Um so due to the traffic being generated with the existing and proposed uh expansion, we went through a traffic impact study. Um that was completed roughly November December of 2024. Um they've listed the requirements with uh widening the roads. Um this Sussex Pines Road is basically a two-lane travel lane, two travel lane road with a right turn lane into the existing entrance. Uh we will be adding a second entrance here.

Second entrance here. We will be having expanding the road to accommodate left and right turn lanes at both entrances. shoulders along the entire frontage of Sussex Pines Roads um and uh a shared use path along the frontage and Zora Road um as part of those TIS requirements along with some contributions and other um requirements um as part of this project with Delta. Um just to go over the site plan um to kind of explain just high level what's happening here is again the existing school is these this piece right here. So it's expanding with this large 70,000t addition. This is predominantly between being used for middle school and high school students. This building back here would be the early learning center uh for the younger uh preschool kids. And then this building over here is more for maintenance um possible concession stands and things like that for the athletic facilities. Um the parking lot, the existing parking lot here would be wiped out. It's being expanded along the front here and in the back uh to accommodate uh the growth of the school. The requirement for parking is roughly 270 spaces. Um we have or 200 spaces, sorry, and we we're proposing roughly 350. So we have plenty of parking for um for growth for activities that are happening at the same time as school or or not. Uh they have special events. So we wanted to make sure everything was accommodated um for the future. The as part of that in the zoning district of education there is a requirement for 100 foot setback for parking. Um we completed a board of adjustment um approval process just a few weeks ago to allow the parking that we show inside

the front yard setback. Um the closest parking is roughly 55 56 ft away from the front property line which was also dedicated uh a good 20 ft as part of delt requirements. Um but the the parking that you see that's closest um is faced inwards not outwards. Um but and I'll talk about some of the landscaping we're proposing around the entire property for screening and different things like that. Um the second entrance that's being proposed would be the the more heavily used entrance. School buses would turn in, turn left, follow along the front of the building for drop off, and then leave. And then students um would be using this area, teachers in the back possibly. And then, you know, there's some visitor parking spaces. Um The baseball field is being kept. The football field being is being kept and this multi-use uh field is being kept or just the two fields are being relocated. The for storm water um the site itself has three ponds now and all we're doing is basically modifying them. So this there's an existing pond right here. It's being expanded maybe three to four times the size. It'll be an effirmal constructed wetland. basically a planted uh basin with an overflow to the back to this pond which will be acting as a dry pond. The existing pond back here basically overlaps the tax ditch right away. It's heavily wooded. That's all going to be cleared out, shifted outside of the tax ditch um expanded to meet uh current storm water requirements. And then the discharge will continue into the tax ditch like it does today. And then a fair existing facility is basically if you look at the uh existing conditions, it's kind of like a skiing snake along the susp. So that's simply being this portion of it is basically

turning into a swale just for conveyance between from delt draining into the the swale and the parking lot and then it'll work its way down here into an expanded wet pond um that will also discharge in the same position it is today into the tax ditch. Um the site itself is serviced by town of Georgetown water and sewer that will be maintained. Water comes in off of Zor Road. It ends right here in front of the existing building. It'll be expanded and extended around the entire site. Added hydrants and laterals for domestic and fire services to the building. Uh we've gone through the fire marshall um process and have that approval as well. Um the sewer basically is gravity out the back connects to a manhole in this corner. that's basically staying as is with just some minor modifications on site for the the expand the expanded facilities. Um this is just a a blow up of the the front of the site out of the property itself. This is where most of the improvements are happening. Um everything towards the east is basically the tax and and wooded area. Um we we received related to storm water once we got the tax uh court order change last week we we obtained SEDD approval today. Um so that's finalized. Delot has given uh their entrance plan approval and uh letter of no um objection to recordation. Um and we also have office of drinking water approval um for the site itself. Um, we are finalizing. So, just some blowups. This is a blow. If you see the the darker gray area, that's the new pavement. So, on that side of the road, all we're adding is a 5ft shoulder. And

then all other improvements are being shifted and expanded towards us um with the right right and left turn lanes and shoulders, delanes. Um so this is what the infirmal constructed wetland pond would look like in the at near the intersection between Zoro Road and Suspines. Um heavily planted um wildflower seed mixes all all based on SEDD and Denre requirements. The Let me see. So this is one of the landscape plans. So not only are we where there is no buffer existing um we're we are adding the buffer around the perimeter of the site for town of Georgetown requirements. Um as you can see kind of here extensively and then once you get towards the back a lot of those existing woods would would be remain and act as the the buffer requirement. We're planting parking lot trees um and and throughout the site as you can see to meet all the town requirements. Um, even along the parking here, um, the parking spaces are, you know, this first row is spaced inwards, but we have, um, like a short evergreen shrub line to block headlights um, at night. Right now, there's nothing across the street other than a farm field, but you know, future development could have something there. So, we're doing everything we can to um, you know, look for the future and prevent anything negative. The entire site will have new updated lighting, all downward screen, um, no impact to adjacent properties. Um, um, and then this is just the the building elevations. Again, if there's any any questions with this, um, the architect may be online to to assist. Um, and I will, uh, I'll close with that and answer any questions that you may have. questions from the commission.

Good. Okay. Looks great. Yeah. Impressed. So, is there a motion? Yeah. I'll make a motion to approve as presented on the plan. I think it's uh great that Delmar Christian is coming to Georgetown with a whole K through 12. So to bring the whole school here in Georgetown. Okay. I have a motion. Is there a second? I second. Got a motion. Second. We'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs. I. Commissioner Allen. I. Commissioner Leates. I. And I'm an I as well. I think it's going to be a great addition to the town. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. Next order of business is case number 2025-11, Valvalene Instant Oil Change, Georgetown, an application by M&S Limited Partnership for the preliminary review and approval of for the construction of a plus or minus 2,18 ft one-story Valvaline instant oil change store. The property is located at 20859 Dupont Boulevard. the applicant would like to come forward. Good evening. For the record, my name is David Hut, a local attorney here in Georgetown with the law firm of Mars James. This evening, I'm representing both the owner and the applicant uh for the property that was just introduced. The owner is M&S Limited Partnership and the applicant is Mid-Atlantic Lubes LLC which does business as Valvaline Instant Oil Change as you can see on the signage that's on the images around the room. With me uh to assist as needed if there

are any questions from the planning commission or town staff. uh sitting the person who was sitting right next to me my right when I was sitting down is Randy Kazasian the third vice president of real estate with Valvaline. Immediately behind him uh is Anthony Verion construction and permitting manager and next to him is Travis Bennett uh with uh MRA Mars Richie and Associates which are the project uh engineers. So if you ask any hard questions they'll be the ones that will answer those matters. uh as was indicated when the chairman introduced the application and as you can see the address of this property is 28059 Dupont Boulevard located at the intersection of 113 and West North Street. Of course that intersection is not familiar with anyone because of its address or because of that intersection but because the McDonald's is across the street from it on West Street and everybody always knows where the McDonald's is uh in every town. Uh, as the commission likely knows, uh, the this property was used years ago, um, as a car wash, uh, and car storage. Um, but it has been vacant, uh, for many years. So, this is going to be a rehabilitation and repurposing uh, of the property. Uh, and again, the goal here is to redevelop it as a location for a Valvaline store. This afternoon is actually the second step uh, or public step uh, in this process. Uh the first step uh was uh a visit to the board of adjustment uh for a couple of variances and a special use uh that we'll go through in a second. Uh this evening of course the second step uh is the site plan preliminary site plan review by this commission and certainly Valvaline would ask that at the conclusion of this meeting uh that preliminary site plan be review be granted. uh in addition uh waiverss uh for parking lot screening and then a buffer yard screening and we'll go through the I'll go through those uh in

a moment. As I mentioned just a moment ago, this is the second step uh in the process. The first step was that board of adjustment hearing on April 2nd, 2025. Uh and at that hearing, there were two variances related to signage. One was the location of the pylon sign and we'll look at that, but a pylon sign uh that is going to be in the in a front yard setback by several feet. Uh and the second was to allow uh this wall-mounted sign that you see here on the face of the building uh to be on both frontages. Uh the town code only allows for one uh wall-mounted sign and because the store has and for other reasons, but because the store has this frontage on Route 115 and then also on West North Street, both sides of that tower would would have uh the signage. Uh the third item that was in front of uh the board of adjustment uh was a request to wave the requirement for a loading space. uh the nature of the business uh which one of the individuals from Valvalene could explain uh better than I could. There just really isn't a need for that loading space. Uh and so there was a waiver that was granted. So there is no loading space that's required as part of this application. Of course, after the board of adjustment matter, the next step is brings us here this evening. Uh in front of you on the screens around that room right now is an architectural rendering of what is proposed. Uh, and in order for you to have an appreciation of what those things, a three bay valvalene store looks like in action, these are existing Valvvelene stores that exist in other states. Um, but this is essentially what it would look like. Uh, you can see uh the tower on the left with the three bays uh extending to the right and that is what is proposed uh at this intersection for this site plan. The property itself, as you know, is a

very small uh corner property. Uh it's comprised of just a little over 18,000 square feet uh which is approximately 4/10 of an acre. The zoning classification for the property as well as all of the properties uh that surround it uh is the HC highway commercial district uh within uh the town's limits. Uh Valvaline's goal for all of its store locations is that they have an attractive exterior. as you saw on those renderings and the actual construction. And they always strive to benefit the streetscape wherever their stores are located. Uh and one of the ways they do that is by using consistent architecture, specifically colonial style architecture. Uh and they do accomplish that in a couple ways. One is to have a full brick exterior. Uh as you saw on those prior pictures, all the buildings there have a full brick exterior. Uh in addition, they all have a pitched roof. uh and they've added in the tower element uh as an architectural uh design feature. Of course, another way that they have consistent uh marketing uh and uh and such is of course through the signage, the colors and logos that you see at at all of their various stores uh so that they have easily recognizable branding in all their various locations. to help further orient everyone to how this would be oriented. You can see on the screen the architectural renderings. Uh this is at the top. As you can see, this would be the front of the store as you would look at it if you were on Route 113 with U West Street would be on the left hand side of that image. On the bottom picture is the rear of the building. what you would see if you were try driving on West North Street towards Route 113. And as you can see, there's no signage on the back of the building. I know there was a comment about that. There was a rendering that showed it,

but there is no signage that's proposed for the back of the building. With respect to the north and south sides, uh this north side, that is the side of the building that would be opposite McDonald's. And and that is where that second sign is located that the variance for on the south side of the building. Um that would be adjacent to the newer advanced auto parts store that is located there. And again, there's no signage that's there um as that is not proposed any longer as part of as part of this application. The um size of the store uh is uh 218 square feet. So, it's a a small footprint uh that this store has. When you look at the at the site plan, as you can see, this is the Route 113. This is the front of the store. And so, cars would be drive in here into the entrance doors, be serviced within the building, one of the three bays, and then exit this way. Uh so that that would be the the traffic circulation here would be through the site in in that fashion. One thing that does exist that's somewhat unique about this property uh there is a cross access easement with advanced auto parts that exists uh and so there this is a drive aisle that connects ultimately and allows for interconnectivity with that advanced auto parts store. the uh with the small lot size and then that cross- access easement uh that I just mentioned uh and of course the limited dimensions of the site uh itself uh that led uh to the waiver requirements uh that I was describing at the very outset of this uh and those two waiver requirements within the town's

development design standards when you have parking between a building and and a roadway. Uh there's some screening that's required and there actually is some areas uh that screening a little bit of landscaping can be placed in those. So the waiver request would be that the screening requirements just be reduced and and that the applicant be required uh to put as much screening as possible uh within that area. Um, and it's called a landscape buffer there, but it's actually a parking lot uh screening uh requirement uh that exists. With respect to the second uh waiver request that relates to the property's boundary line with the neighbor to the east of the property, this is a residential home that's there. Uh that individual um their property is zoned the same as this property, a highway commercial, but it is a residential use. Uh and what the code says in the develop town's development design standards is that there should be and you can see it's dimensioned on the screens that there should be a 25 foot uh buffer yard requirement because of you have commercial against residential and that makes it a level four or buffer yard area 4 as it's called in the development design standards and as you know there's various ways to try to satisfy that between a mixture of plantings and fencing. Uh what was proposed as part of the original plan was to just simply put an 8 foot 8 foot high fence along that boundary line. Um the comments from the town's uh review uh where that uh 6 foot is the maximum height of a fence. Uh and even with the limited space, it was a good suggestion from the town reviewer uh that a proposal be made to the neighbor uh that the plantings be placed

on his side. Of course, at at Valvalene's expense if the neighbor wanted those plantings that the essentially it's 10 when you have a six foot high fence. Buffer yard four says there's 10 plantings, five trees uh and five shrubs. uh but that those 10 uh plantings be proposed to be here. But it would still require a waiver uh of the 25 ft uh and also uh that the plantings if the neighbor would approve be on the neighbor's property and there is uh Valvalene has as I mentioned they they strive in all their various locations to to be a good neighbor. uh and they do have a letter of support um which I can hand uh down to uh there's enough for each member of the planning commission to have. Thank you. But through contact with the neighbor um the neighbor is okay with an 8 foot high fence. Um with respect to the the new proposal of a six foot high fence and the plantings uh have not directly consulted with the neighbor yet. Uh but there is a good working relationship. Uh as many of you know uh the unhoused sometimes make use of that building and the neighbor does helps to look out for that uh and also um takes care of the property and manages it, mows and cleans up uh the trash that gets left at that property. the um so again with that with that waiver the request would be that the 25 ft not be required and that uh there be a six-foot fence with an option for the neighbor uh to have the plantings on its property if the neighbor wants to of course at at the applicant's expense for that overall that is uh the the the site plan that's proposed. Um again this is an architectural rendering of that three

bay uh building. Certainly myself and all the individuals I introduced uh at the outset of this are happy to answer any questions. Uh the individuals from Valvalene could answer any questions you have about operations, how a Valvalene store operates or how this three-bay store might operate and certainly uh Mr. Bennett could certainly answer any questions you have about specifically to the site plan. Uh the number of the agency approvals are in in process. Uh and the remaining comments from the town's review are things that I would consider to be more clerical, just things that will be worked through uh and responded to uh updates to the plans as uh all of the various approvals are obtained. Happy to answer any questions that that any members of the commission or staff may have. I have a question. What's the material being used for the fence? what's proposed is a vinyl fence. Okay. Um and and do you prefer it to be 8 feet? Do you usually use that height in your other locations or you haven't had the need for that? I'm going to ask uh Randy if he would comment on the other locations. But it was essentially to be a good neighbor and try to ensure privacy when people parked their cars there. That was the reason for it. But R if you want to talk about other locations. Sure. Do you prefer eight? Do you prefer that for your location? Um no. So the the 8oot was really um we we met with the neighbor on site several times and we talked about it and so he had a preference for the 8ft fence. He preferred that. Yes, that's my you know that that was our conversation. There was six or eight foot and then we talked about the materials and obviously the vinyl is easier to maintain. Okay. And looks good. It can just be washed periodically by him but he was just more concerned with having the yard continue to be fenced in. There is a wooden fence there now that does need some maintenance. No, it'll be gone. Yeah, that'll be good. Yeah, that'd be replaced. And just for the record, I'm I'm actually Randolph Gazian the third. I'm vice president of real estate um for M

ands Limited Partnership and I'm the vice president uh of real estate for the applicant Mid-Atlantic Loops. We're um affiliated companies. I have another question. Do we have to put the plantings in on the neighbor's property? I mean, is that something the neighbor really wanted? because I can see that's doesn't benefit you. You don't get to see them and maintenance of shrubs on that side could be a mess. So our our goal would be to meet with the neighbor again. We have a good working relationship. We we talk text. Did they prefer that? Did they want We we have not um we have not we could not meet with them today. We didn't have a chance to meet with the neighbor today before the meeting, but we'll propose it to him. He's actually a landscaper, so if he prefers those those trees and shrubs, uh we we're happy to pay for him to beautify his side of the fence if he'd like it. Just it's hard to maintain things with this kind of weather. Yeah, I agree. I agree. You know, trees will need the sacks on the water every day. Yeah. But u we we would leave it to the neighbor, so it would be his his choice. Um, I believe that the code may specify trees and shrubs, but we we try to stay obviously within the the code. I myself don't have a problem with the 8oot fence if that's what the neighbor preferred. And since the neighbors living on commercial property anyway, it's just my opinion. It's um it's a vinyl fence, so six foot of it is solid and then the top two is a lattice, so it' be open a little bit to the air. That's nice. Um, so again, that that's that's our proposal. But such an improvement. That's nice. Other questions for the applicant? I I have a little concern in that if the plantings are on the neighbor's property, we're going to depend upon the neighbor to take care of them. And it kind of leaves Valvaline off the

hook here, doesn't it? Well, we we had obviously um well, the neighbor is a landscape contractor, so we we've using him to m try to maintain our property on a on a a bi-weekly schedule, but again, it would be his choice if he wanted that and he'd benefit from the shade and from that he's welcome to have. We won't force it upon him, obviously, but Okay. Right. And that's it's my understanding that that was a recommendation from the town as a possible solution to you know to further compromise for for the granting the waiver. That's correct. And it would also the only reason I mean I understand that he may not certainly he may not want that. The only reason he may is that rather than looking at vinyl fence he'd be looking at some greenery. But they he can have that option. Yes, it'd be it'd be we'll we'll actually we we have a letter of recommendation for so we can certainly uh have his um his um preference in writing. I I I want to just uh let the planning commission know that, you know, while an 8ft fence may be preferable to the neighbor, we're we're at at present the the code uh does only permit a sixoot fence. And I'm not positive that the planning commission can um can can grant a modification to to the height. It can grant modifications in other respects to the buffers um and maybe to materials as well. Um though I'm not sure if yet um 23022 which is a section deals with screening required near residential districts I think is what they're addressing. and it talks about the landscape portion and then it says um andor a fence of a size and design approved by the planning commission. So I think it gives you that discretion because this is not even it's commercial technically the neighbors living on commercial property so it's not really a residential property. Yeah, I think you can I mean you can do the waiver but you

can you it it's pretty broadly written as a size at your discretion. You rarely see that language. So it certainly doesn't preclude it. I think you can do eight. The the thing about the plants is is that's just sort of gratuitous. You can't control what's on the the property that's not in front of you. I think they're just trying to be good neighbors and say, "Hey, we'll put some plants up." It's not like they're um giving them cash or anything. So, yeah, I think you can do it and I understand your point though. Okay. And I think the lattice at the top is nice. I mean, so it's not totally a eight foot wall. It's got the lattice at the top. Certainly. I Yeah, I think I would probably want that. Not that that matters. Yeah. Is Is the um Is the neighbor down slope or ups slope from from this um it's relatively flat, but it's slightly upward. And as I said, there's a there's a six-foot wooden fence there today. So I just also wanted to clarify it's um the waivers discussed are slightly different than those waivers that were presented in your original narrative. So just wanted to clarify that it's a waiver from the uh a partial waiver I guess from the parking lot screening requirements between the road and the parking right and then there's the waiver regarding the buffer on the side of the property. That that is correct. We've refined those waiver requests based on the comments from the town. Uh and so yes, they have been refined and those are, you're correct, those are the refined waiver requests. Um the town clarified for instance that there's no park requirement at the entrance into West North Street and that was part of the original waiver request. So that's one of the reasons that have changed. Okay. So, so I would advise when the planning commission is ready to make separate motions on each and it's it'll be slightly different than what's in your notes. Um, so you might want to start with the planning or the parking

lot screening one first and then move to the buffer. Um, so the parking loting is the fence, correct? Uh, no. The parking lot screening is um landscaping related to the um that's to the north site or yes that's on West North Street. Um so I think you you could use the first the first note there as your as your guide. Um keeping here which does not fit with the buffer yard area on the neighbor's property with their consent. That's what you Well, those are those are options for I think what you want to say if you want to approve prove it is the for the uh landscape buffer buffer between the parking and the road on North or West North Street to require uh landscaping in an area that is um Mr. Hut might help me out here is in an area that it could be sustained. Um, I think you don't have enough space, but you've agreed to landscape that area. It's clear on the site plan where it is. Can you say that again? The area where we're talking little rounded like like the corner. This these are parking places. So, you're talking about this area here, right? So, what would I call that adjacent to the parking? You could call it the parking lot screening. Parking lot screening. Okay. Are we ready to make a motion? Yeah. I'll do my best. Okay. I'm making a motion for the landscape buffer between the parking lot and and the road um be parking lot screening.

Too vague. Is it a motion to approve the waiver or I'm making a motion to approve that waiver? Okay, I have a motion. Is there a second? Second for the same reason. All right, I have a motion second. We'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs, yes. Commissioner Allen, yes. Commissioner Leates, yes. And I'm a yes as well. All right. So, our next order of business is the fence and that the back buffer yard. So, um, you're waving, you know, encroaching upon the 25 foot setback and allowing whatever fence we're going to discuss. And if we want to offer the c the adjacent property owner the option for sure I if I may you could just I think the record would reflect that the the applicant has offered to provide landscaping on his property. You don't really need to put that in your motion. It might confuse things. Okay. So don't put the landscape in the motion. Yeah. They're offering to put some landscaping on his property and you don't really want to get into um making conditions on other properties and true, but it's clear for the record if they don't that I know some council some members of the commission will be out there and check it out. So, we need a motion to approve the waiver waiver for a fence to s to simply allow an 8ft fence between the residence and the applicant's property instead of the 25T. Instead of the 25 foot Yeah. Make a motion to approve the 8ft fence between the property next to that and Valvaline in lie of in le of a 25 foot. In le of 25 foot. Yeah. We have a motion. Is

there a second? Second. Motion to second. All in favor? Oh, sorry. We'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs, yes. Commissioner Allen, yes. Commissioner Leates, yes. And I'm a yes as well. And now we just uh is there a motion to approve the overall application for preliminary site plan? No, we we need to approve the site plan. So make a motion to approve the site plan as presented with the uh we already approved the other two, right? I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. We will take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs, yes. Commissioner Allen. Yes. Commissioner Lee, yes. Um, yes. As well. I'm excited to see the property being redeveloped, too. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very Oh, yours are dead. Say a few words. Sure. All right. Our next order of business is case number 2024-10-01, a minor variation determination. An application by Davidson Realy to determine if a comprehensive plan map amendment request can be classified as a minor variation. It's an amendment to the previously approved variation request properties located at 20304 Dupont Boulevard um zoned highway commercial. So yes, just a brief explanation of um

actually not just this application but the next application. These are two separate applications but the same applicant uh because it refers to two separate properties which are adjacent to each other. Um, as Larry mentioned, the first is an amendment uh to uh a an application that has already been approved um for a remapping and a resoning um of a property um with the intent to develop it. Uh and then the second one is a is a new um is a new application to basically expand the um development contemplated by this developer. And um and so this was the first one you're looking at was previously approved in uh 2024 uh by the town council. And then so tonight you're just looking at the request to determine whether it it can be considered a minor variation from the future land use map. uh which of course at after that point um if it if approved uh by this commission it will go to the um office of state planning coordination for their concurrence and if they do concur then the applicant will come in front of us again to um ask formally for a uh remapping of the future land use map um and the zoning map to their desired um to their desired designation. Um so uh at the end the planning commission can either choose to approach these separately uh or they can take them together as they're as they warrant. So we're looking to request the minor variation in the land use plan. Yes. For Yes, that's right. That's right. So that's the stage we're at. Yeah. This this is a preliminary step to say whether or not we agree that this is a minor variation to allow them to go through an expedited approval process. That's right. If I may, Mr. Chairman too. It's um I do agree with Brian that you can hear

his presentation applies to, you know, the the same sort of standard whether this is minor. And I should point out to the commission that the the previous commission has already declared it was minor. This is as far as far as I can tell and and I had to be briefed on this a little bit today is um it's kind of a lot line change and so it's it's uh the There's not much to it other than a lot line change, but but the applicant can address that. So, correct. And that's that's where you come in. All right. Thank you. U for the record, my name is Doug Liberman with Larson Engineering. I'm here with Bill Davidson uh from Davidson Realy who's developer on the project. And as as Brian said, um we'll go through um go through the change and and really it's a correction to what was shown to everybody previously. Um when we made our initial application for this piece of property, um we showed we showed the setback line or the the change future land use change line right there and we listed as 14.08 acres. Um but that was a drafting error on our part. We intended the line to be across here. which when we drew the line here and and everything, all our concept plans showed the line in that location and it is the 14.08 acres that we intended even though you see this is a small triangle and this is a big triangle. This is, you know, they don't add up to the same thing because this was the intended line. So, we're really just correcting a drafting error on on uh this particular

application um where every we approved we were approved for 14.08 acres and this line corrects that to get us to 14.08 acres. So in in doing this um as far as future land use change goes right now this parcel is zoned commercial and it'll be go it'll be changed to residential and then this portion which is zoned residential will go back to highway commercial future land So that's that's the only change uh with this one. Okay. So again, minor variation. You guys approved the same acreage before. We're just cleaning up uh drafting issues with with this. Okay. Ready for a motion? Sure. I make a motion to approve the request for a minor variation of the land use map. Motion. Is there a second? Second. We have motion second. We'll take a roll call. Commissioner Briggs, yes. Commissioner Allen, yes. Mr. Leates, yes. I'm a yes as well. All right. Move on to the next one if you want. Okay. Sure. So, uh, next one. Next application. It is a separate application. Obviously, you guys voted on the first one for the second one. So after we came through the process and went through the whole process with uh with you guys, we received uh the approval for the previous plan. Uh the owners of the property for the northeastern supply uh approached the developer and said, "Hey, we've got this piece of property. It's right adjacent

to your property. would you guys be interested in grabbing this portion and adding it on to your development? And the reason uh it made sense for them to do that is is they have their commercial commercial use up front along 113. They've got a huge storm management pond that goes all the way across uh the property and this was just leftover property that they weren't going to be able to use. So um it's it's 1 32 acres. Uh their existing parcel is 6.91 acres. So it leaves them with 5.5 or so acres of property left um of commercial. So that commercial will remain uh consistent with uh the existing use and also with the comprehensive plan. Uh and then this parcel future land use change would go from uh commercial to residential. uh and that will match what we have for the remaining portion of the property and then even properties to the west in Village College Park. So, um that's really again minor change for for this one. Uh trying to make best use of the property that's out there for everybody. Any questions? Is there a motion? I just I'm sorry. If I might um I just wanted to offer an additional clarification is that the intent um of the applicant is to um do first do a subdivision of the um uh of the larger site of of the church site and then to do a subdivision and this could be done at the same time, but to also do a subdivision of the um of the current commercial property um and then to basically append that to correct

their new Another Brian was good enough to kind of get me in the right direction with with what we would present to everybody. Uh so so we have we have the two commercial got the the church commercial supply commercial and then all of this in blue would would be residential. Residential. Yes sir. And specifically it would be it would be uh multif family residential and then zoned uh theoretically as MR2 for town houses. Yes. For town houses. Yes. Can I use the same motion? Okay. Okay. I make a motion to approve the request for the minor variation of the land use map. I have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second it. Motion second. We'll take a roll call vote. Commissioner Briggs. Yes, Commissioner Allen. Yes, Commissioner Leates. Yes. I'm a yes as well. I think it makes sense to straighten up the lines and All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Thanks. Okay. Now, it's time for public comment. Don't believe there's anyone on Zoom. Checking. No. Okay. All right. So, community development department report. All right. So, thank you everyone for coming tonight. Uh, firstly, of course, and this is uh you've already met him, but of course, we have a new planning commission member, uh, Thomas Allen, who we welcome. And, um, Tom, do you want to say anything to Yeah, I've said enough. We're happy to have you. Um, speaking of, uh, vacancies, um, we we did send around a notification that Edwin Weise submitted his resignation from the planning commission. I believe was at

the end of May. Um, and so now we do have a vacancy posted um, in a couple editions of the Cape Gazette uh, for letters of interest for a candidate for the remainder of that term. We are accepting letters of interest through June 20th, which is this Friday, uh, till noon. So, if you know anyone who's interested within town limits and has an interest in urban and rural planning, then you may, you know, you're open to soliciting them to submit a letter. Um, and then the appointment would be uh would happen at the June 23rd uh town council meeting. Uh uh we do have one do have one um letter so far. Uh so a couple developments that have been moving through the pipeline. Uh Georgetown Apartments um had um on Ingramtown Road there uh has an application in for 12 uh 12 units in two buildings to expand that apartment complex. They're currently going in front of the board of adjustment for a couple variances probably in the July at the July meeting. Uh but they will be coming in front of you likely within the next couple months. Um the Georgetown Fire Company is uh and their storage building application is is approaching final plan approval. Um the Cheer Gateway East um development um at the um corner of Sand Hill Road and um nine is uh has already received final approval. Um and we'll probably see building permits uh the next couple months as well. You will also be seeing a couple historic site plan reviews come down the pike. Um Sussex County Superior Court has some improvements that will um affect the facade. So, you will see those uh not

sure when. Um possibly in July, maybe August. Um and then a couple approvals that already happened. Um the Sussex Pines zoning amendment uh which you all uh approved or um recommended for approval in January ha um was approved by town council in May. and the um James Place or North Bedford Street um future land use map amendment um was also approved by town council in late April. Can I ask what was the Sussex Pines when I wasn't here? Oh, sure. So that was a reasonzoning of I think it's eight 16 or 18 lots uh from UR3 which is the least dense um uh the least dense zoning district to UR1 uh which is of course also residential but it will allow more lots essentially. Um so we haven't seen any plans or engineered plans for that as of yet but they do have the go-ahhead zoning wise to submit. What property is that now? That's the um it's on the other side of the street of um uh Delver Christian Schools. Oh, okay. Yep. Yep. And then um just a couple other interesting things. Um we we have started to um get access to some um online permitting um software. So, we do we do actually we were trained um in it uh la a couple weeks ago and we're working to um build the online portal application process so people will start to be able to apply for building permits online and uh maybe one day to create a paperless you know process um which would help us out a lot I think um and help out applicants a lot too I think so so that's exciting uh to me and Um, and yeah, we're all just chugging along, trying to

uh do our best. So, yeah, that's all I have. Mr. Chairman, could I just say something? Welcome, Tom. My name's Tim. Thank you. I don't like this dis because I can't see anybody. I should just sit out there. But uh when you the these guys put together a pretty good information sheet, Brian does where it's the the cover of every application and usually at the bottom of it is the code section and it's a you really should when you when when the chairman's polling you for a vote uh it's a good idea at least for the person making the motion to say you know I I grant the 8oot fence because in a site plan it's pretty broad because it meets the safety and the standard or something and yes for example the minimum one the minimum variance to the comp plan. You'll see in the cover sheet, there are just three factors that it's minor. And you know, why do I say that? You just if you don't say it and there's an appeal, the record's not to be deficient. Somebody turn it over. Doesn't happen a lot with you guys because you're a recommending body. But it's good to get into and that that information for you. It basically it's best if the motion maker makes it. It doesn't have to be elaborate at all. Then the subsequent votes would just be you know for the reasons stated by the motion. So somebody should cover the elements a little bit. So I have to speak about the statement of the code but not the code number. So no not the code number. I would speak to the like I I move I move to uh approve the the designation is minor because it's and you'll see three things there. It's it's the size is not too big. There's consistent stuff in the area or whatever. just touch on it. Okay. I also can't take credit for those those packets. That's all Jamie. So that's that's all very much appreciated. She I trained her Jamie. Yeah, she's been instrumental in um getting me getting you know getting me on board and uh having everything move along and I'm

you know I'm slowly trying to take some you know some things over her. So no, it's been very much appreciated. All right. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Second. Second. Motion. Motion to second. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Meeting adjourned. I have a question. Does anybody know um Davis's are they moving out of tag doctors? They've sold their cash.