Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Alright. Good evening, everybody. The 01/08/2026 Loudoun County Planning Commission work session will come to order. As is our custom, let's stand for the pledge of allegiance.

Under god, indivisible, for liberty and justice for

all. Alright.

First item is, nominations of the for the chair and for the vice chair. If anybody would like to make a nomination, just hit your light.

Did you have something before the nomination? No. Okay.

Commissioner Jasper?

I'd like to nominate Cliff Kearse to be remain as chair for the planning commission for twenty twenty

twenty twenty six.

Okay. Do we have a nomination for commissioner Miller? Is there a second?

Second.

I think I heard commissioner Combs first. So it'll be a nomination for commissioner really made by commissioner Myers and seconded by commissioner Combs. Is there any other nominations for chair? Okay. Would those that made the nomination wish to speak to their nomination. So I give that to the makers of the motions. So commissioner Jasper or commissioner Myers, if you'd like to make a comment. Commissioner Myers.

Yeah. I will. Give bit little a of about being chair a for consistency and how there would be opportunities for each person I wanted to to serve as chair for each year since now there's four years for people who get that opportunity. And I told her I absolutely supported that and thought that was a good idea. And then the second this past year, you know, Cliff had approached us saying he'd like to be chair, and and Mark would like to be vice chair.

And and we saw that happening with the idea that Mark would have the evolution then to move up to be chair after being vice chair for a year. And I still think that Mark has demonstrated the ability that he can chair a meeting very adequately. Adequately. He's been on the planning commission seven years now, six years now. He lost the opportunity because he had, I guess, an r behind his name with the previous planning commission and didn't didn't get an opportunity to serve as chair. And people that have told me that more than on one occasion. He has chaired six years of the library board in Lyon County of the board trustees. He does his homework. He knows how to run a meeting. And that's all this is about is running a meeting, really.

So I think that Mark has more than improved his ability, his leadership, and I think that we should give him the opportunity to chair this year and not need to think that we have to have people repeat chairmans when we said we were gonna give people each year an opportunity to be chair.

Okay. Thank you. So as I call your name, just, state who you wish to, vote for for chair, and I'll start at the end there with commissioner Barnes. Get your mic, please. Cliff. Okay. Alright. Commissioner Jasper?

Cliff Kears.

Commissioner Matarelli? Cliff Kears. Commissioner Combs? Mark Miller. Commissioner Miller? Myself. Myself as well. Commissioner Frank?

Commissioner Kears.

Commissioner James? Thanks. Commissioner Miller.

Commissioner Miller.

All right. Then so myself is reelected as chair for the upcoming year. Is there any nominations for vice chair? Have three lights. Commissioner Banks.

Would like to nominate commissioner Amateri for vice chair.

Okay. Is there a second?

Second. Second.

Second. So we have a nomination for commissioner Moderate for vice chair by commissioner Banks, seconded by commissioner Barnes. Any other nominations for vice chair? Commissioner Myers?

I'll nominate Mark Miller to serve again as chair. If we're gonna leave the chair in the same role, why not leave the vice chair in the same role with the idea that if the idea people have talked about that Mark could be chairman the fourth year in, seems like that would be a transitional step where he would then be ready to move forward to that leadership role.

Okay. So we have a nomination for commissioner Miller for vice chair. Is there a second? Second. Second. Okay. Alright. So that is seconded by commissioner Combs. And

I appreciate Mrs. Myers with that nomination, but I will respectfully honor the wishes of previous commitments that members of this commission have made and not seek that vice chair spot. Okay.

So are you withdrawing yourself from I guess I should have gone to you to see if you accepted the nomination first,

but Not voting for myself.

Okay. All right. And then I will vote for commissioner Moderetti.

There is no vote. He moved himself. Yeah. Right.

He's he's he's not voting for himself.

He's He's not removing.

He's just

not voting for himself.

Oh, Only one so you are removing your nominee.

Just Just go through and

Okay.

Whatever the result is real

simple. Commissioner Frank?

Commissioner Moderetti.

Commissioner Moderetti. Moderate.

Okay. Alright. Thank you. Commissioner Moderetti will be vice chair for the upcoming year.

Mister chair? Yes. I'm sorry. Did commissioner Miller vote for Moderre or or did he abstain? He he did I think he

did not. He just he did not vote.

I did not. That's why I stained.

The the what I was trying to clarify was whether he was withdrawing himself for consideration. He didn't he just did not vote.

That's an abstention.

So it'd be an abstention.

Mhmm. Alright.

Next up, minutes for the November 13 work session. If folks have had a chance to review those.

Swap seats were ready.

I made a

motion. If you want. Do you want to do that? Yeah. Okay.

You're swapping seats. The minutes of the November 13 work session?

So moved.

I move. Is there

a second? Second.

Second. Okay. Motion to approve made by commissioner Combs, seconded by commissioner Banks. Any discussion on the no. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion will carry nine zero. Disclosures, I will again start with commissioner Barnes. If you have any disclosures, just put your light up. Thank you.

Not today.

Nothing? Commissioner Miller? Mister Myers?

On December 30, I electronically met with Evan Aaron Switchner and those representing the Happy Paw, Happy Paw, whatever they are, group. They were reaching out to me electronically because of that I had made the motion in regards to send the work session to let me know that they were in agreement with staff of reducing down to the 30 dogs for their kennel permit. I wanna make sure and make it clear, and I'm putting it on the record that I let them know that I'm in nowhere near in support of the application. I also let them know that I would not be looking for anything more than 12 dogs, which would include their own four dogs they own when they come back. I also wanna put on the record because I felt like, some of the stuff I asked for may not have gotten put on, and I don't wanna be in a situation where I found myself at the public hearing not getting information I wanted because supposedly I had made it the day of the public hearing.

So when we have that work session, I wanna make sure that we have someone there from the office of animal control for that meeting. I wanna make sure that we have the full application from the Percival application that approved only the 12 dogs so that we can see what the conditions were around that application that got approved. I wanna know where the approved reserve drain fill is on that property, and I wanna know what type of drain fill was approved for the property and the capacity of people that are supposed to be on on using that drain fill. And then lastly, I want to know also if there is still a well that has not been abandoned on the property.

All right. And for myself, well, let's say that yesterday, on January 7, I had a phone conversation with Molly Novotny about the Concorde Industrial Park application that's coming back to us. And, commissioner Myers, if you could put in an email all of the requests that you're looking for from when you do the happy pause work session. Just if it's in writing, there's no chance it'll get missed. Anything will get missed.

I don't seem to be able to get my emails answered, but I'll be happy to do that. But okay.

Well, trust send it it to Brian and cc me on it, you will get answered. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

I didn't put up

the user. Alright. Next is the adoption of the meeting schedule, and then we can also have a discussion about the meeting location. And there also was a request to to consider days other than the second Thursday and the fourth Tuesday for our meetings. I I think we should probably address that first before we start talking about dates if the commission wants to look at changing those dates and then we'd see what's available. Was there any specific requests?

Just to provide background about, no. I didn't have a specific date, and it was just seemed like it would be easier for our scheduling purposes except, you know, to have one day rather than remembering second Tuesday and fourth Thursday and whatever just seem simplify life. So that it wasn't a specific request around dates per se.

So other commissioners, do you see a need to change the dates? Commissioner I

just know that

I had also brought it up the first year that it seemed for like just consistency also for the public and stuff to know is if you always know it's the Tuesday and it's the second and the fourth, it's a lot easier to follow. Then all of sudden, you better remember work sessions are Tuesdays and public hearings are Thursday. I know when I had asked about it the first year go around, I was told we couldn't do it because of the board of equalization and their schedule. So if there's a possibility or change of that, I think for the consistency, it would be nice to have them be the same particular day of the week.

Commissioner Barnes? Commissioner Barnes? Commissioner Frank?

I was just gonna ask staff. It sounds like Tuesday and Tuesday are what people are naturally leaning toward for In this for simplicity's sake. So is that even an option, or do we still have other meetings conflicting with resources?

We're currently looking at the so currently, the work sessions are the second Thursday, and the hearings are the fourth Tuesday. Right. So right now, I'm looking at the fourth Thursday for the hearings. The problem with Tuesday is that the board business meetings are on Tuesdays. And we wouldn't want to have the overlap because one of the planners could have an item on both meetings and they can only be in one place at a time.

And then the second Tuesday is the FGO EDC meeting in the Boardroom and so we would need to be in the Dulles Room. The problem with having two of those meetings at the same time is that it puts a strain on the staff that's doing all the TV and technology stuff. They're basically on double duty doing two things at once. Let me do Thursdays first. I'm I'm almost there.

Was work. Thought you said.

Or Tuesdays. Or or can we move to first and third instead

of second and third? So the fourth Thursday is the BZA meetings. Second and fourth what?

Tuesdays or Thursdays.

Tuesdays? The fourth Thursdays are BZA meetings are that evening. The fourth Tuesday is us. Us. The second Tuesday Can we do the second Tuesday? Is the FGOEDC meetings. First

work sessions on the first Tuesday and public hearing on the third Tuesday. Is that what you're saying?

First and third Tuesdays are the board business meetings.

I bet your Fridays are open.

First

and third Thursdays.

Well, commissioner by first and third Thursdays, the town planning commission meetings. And that's his so commissioner Barnes is on the Leesburg Planning Commission, and they meet the first and third Thursdays. So I would not wanna put this us in conflict with that. Other hand? What about the Wednesdays?

Wednesdays, the board hearings are the second Wednesdays of every month. And then TLUC meets the third Wednesday. Let me look at the first and fourth.

Does that cause too much a problem with staff to have a work session probably the week after the public hearing? Because that's a pretty quick turnaround. Impossible turnaround.

Yeah. It

would be. Yeah,

It doesn't seem like there's a real easy

It would be easiest just to keep the current meeting cadence.

All right.

Put in your calendar. Well, we have added

change it for example. If we had to change a session in July, how early we have to change the date? Can we do it in, like, March?

Well, I mean, as far as setting the schedule, I'd rather try to set the schedule now rather than I mean, if something comes up and we need to change it later, we can I mean, technically, you need what about a notice how much notice do you have if a meeting date's gonna change? Three weeks, four weeks?

Three days. Well,

yeah. No. I'm not talking about the schedule. The set schedule. If for some reason, as we go through the year, we needed to change a date.

You have to It gets posted at least three days.

Three days. But

The commission obviously would have to settle on that at a meeting prior to that. Yeah. So okay.

If it's a hearing, it gets advertised before that. Right. Yeah. Yeah, like a month. Yeah.

I think we're where we're at. Commissioner Miller, did you have something you want to add? The

good news I can share is that I heard earlier today that you wanted the work sessions to be in the Dulles Room, and the Dulles Room is available for our work sessions.

So We had talked about that. Is the rest of the commission more favorable to the Dulles Room for work sessions versus the boardroom? Okay. Yeah. I yeah.

Having having participated in one of those recently remotely, I will say it's a little tougher to follow in the Dulles Room.

Yeah.

But that may also been part in due to the the fact that you guys had those new microphones for the first time that night. There were some silliness going on, so I kept losing everything that was going on.

There were

So I don't know how much of it was that, but having done two meetings back to back remote, I can tell you the dullest one was a little trickier to follow. But when you're in person, I the doll's room's nice.

I mean, I can tell you, I was there yesterday for the ZOOC, and they've completely kinda rearranged it and changed it where it's set up and stuff. And we get people watching virtually and stuff and have the TVs and stuff, and there wasn't any issues. Okay. So But then I was cold. Other than it was cold.

Maybe it does make sense in that we don't It was freezing cold the last time we were in there, and

It was cold in there.

I don't really It's kind of I I don't know how it's configured now, so I I can't speak to it. But the configuration where we were in a u shape and then people came up and joined us on the u, I didn't think was I what was nice was not being on a dais, but I didn't think that that really facilitated conversation being in a U and having applicants right next to us. I think a better configuration is the one we use when we do the committee meetings and working groups where there's tables set up here, and then we can sit down with the applicants at rectangular tables altogether but not in a u shape.

Yeah.

And so and we wouldn't have to worry about cold or bad video, which which I think suffers from on both those counts.

I mean, this we can set the room up however we want. I don't think there's any

Cold was just an HVAC.

Yeah. Still not fixed.

Right.

Some of them are hard to balance.

That was the first meeting that was in that room.

Yesterday, it was still cold.

Okay. I was there this morning, and it wasn't So I I think they're still working it out. So

are we planning our work sessions on being in the Dulles Room? And then

Work session in Dulles Room up there?

The work sessions in the Dulles Room, public hearings here. Oh. Right.

The Dulles Room's on this level, not upstairs.

It's by the bathroom.

It's past the bathrooms. Yeah. Know where they did. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. I know we were there last time.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But they were talking about get cold in there. Well,

hopefully, it'll be little difficult. Me. I'm not sure about it. Alright. So looks like we're sticking Well, think there might be some. I think you said there's something we have the printed schedule here. Are there changes to this?

Well, the July hearing is on a different date to accommodate the APA Virginia conference. That would ordinarily have been on July 28, and I have proposed July 23, which is a Thursday.

What day is it?

Yeah, that's on there, but I just want to make sure that you're on mute that because it's a different meeting.

What day is it?

It's Thursday the twenty third.

What what Thursday? Third Thursday?

July.

Fourth? July. Oh, fourth Thursday. Okay. That's okay. Okay.

Yeah. I can't I won't be there either. I'll be out for that meeting. What? Twenty eighth?

Twenty eighth?

Twenty third. Twenty third.

We won't be here. So Well, if three of you won't be here, let's talk about the alternatives. I can go over the alternatives. Is 30

still an alternative? Or is that too much of a conflict with the your conference? Because all

I think it's a conflict with the conference, but it would work. The other options are

it sounds like we've only got two to go to this.

We got three. Three are going be missing.

She

just corrected her. Oh. Okay.

So she will be here. So now we're down two, not three. Okay. If we stick with the twenty third.

Okay. Okay. Alright. Thank you. And then the next issue is the November work session, which is shown on your tentative schedule as the twelfth.

That's the day it would ordinarily had been. But the board adopted their schedule on Tuesday, and they moved their hearing from the eleventh to the twelfth because Veterans Day is the eleventh. So I would discourage you from keeping your meeting on the twelfth. I can go over three potential alternatives if that's okay. Those would be Wednesday, November 4, Monday, November 9, and Tuesday, November 10.

Tenth? Tenth.

Seems like Tuesday, the tenth?

Tenth. Tuesday the tenth. We have a winner. And

that's all I had to go over.

Okay. So the rest are?

Well, the November public hearing would be moved a week I'm sorry, the December hearing would be moved a week up because of Christmas. Right. Yeah. We always do that.

You want to give a copy of the

Yes. I'll send it out to you, and we'll send you calendar invites to your county email address.

Thank you. Yeah.

Public hearing is the Tuesday after Memorial Day, which is fine with me, but in past years, that has been objectionable to the members of the commission. I don't think it should be, but it

hasn't been.

I don't think it was this year. I think it was a problem a year before.

I'm saying in past years, it has been an issue for some members of the commission.

Does anybody know if that's an issue for anybody?

If people miss, people miss. It's okay.

No. But if we know it's gonna be a problem, we can look at no. So commissioners, you want a chance for Brian to send us the updates that he talked about, review it, and then we actually adopt it at the next meeting. Is that or do wanna Is everybody good with adopting it? Okay. Yeah. Alright. So let's go ahead and do you need a motion and forget? Okay. So is there a motion to accept the meeting schedule as, we amended by, mister Wagner?

So moved. Second?

Second.

Okay. Motion by commissioner Combs, seconded by commissioner Jasper. Any discussion?

I have one quick point on the schedule. Think last year we had 21 scheduled meetings, and I don't know that all nine of us were here for more than eight or nine times. So things happen, and if you're not here, you're not here. And if we get to a critical mass issue, then we can address it at that point after we schedule a meeting.

I did wanna bring up one other possibility to avoid what happened this year, which is pack in the July meeting so we're here till two in the morning because there are no meetings in August. If we need to. Based on our normal schedule of a work session on the second Thursday. Or a public hearing on the fourth Tuesday or some combination if we did them that we have the potential for an August meeting if that would avoid overloading meetings. Is there any commissioners have any issue with that? Meeting in August? Possibly. I

don't think. I think we better keep it on that the way it was.

Well, I'd like to recommend that, if staff could give us we could vote on this in May, or we could relook at this issue to once we understand what the calendar's likely to be.

Yeah. I'd just like to throw that out. I would much rather have a meeting in August rather than a meeting that goes till two in the morning again.

Yes. Thank you.

Probably one of them. And we can always we'll know well in advance of that if it looks like we're building up to that crescendo again. So I just wanted to put that out there for commissioner's consideration.

I'd also like just to bring up the if we decide to do that, I'd like to get the input back from staff because I know that in the past, a lot of the staff, that's when they try to take their leave and stuff because they know that the board's in adjournment. Mhmm. So you have a lot of your more senior people. That's when they're trying to take their trips and stuff away. So I also don't wanna try to be doing something when we're looking that we've got half and I don't wanna say half, but we've got a lot of the more senior people not here for doing their projects. So I would say if we're gonna look that, then we need to also look at what's the state staffing capability when we're looking to do that.

And that would all go into the consideration of of an August meeting if we have one. Question? I

was just gonna say school starts as early as the seventeenth, that Monday in August this year. So, it will be early. So.

Really early.

It is early. So, if, you know, staff again, know, are are not as much of as many of us but maybe more staff and other folks. Their folks may be back a little earlier than normal. That might help facilitate if we did wanna meet in the second half of the month.

Okay. So all those in favor of the motion, say aye.

Aye. Opposed? No.

Okay. It's nine zero. So we got that covered. Right. Brian, take it you're doing the briefing for the January public hearing items.

Right. We have three items on the agenda for the January public hearing. Concord Industrial Park, which I will explain in a minute. Sharas Farm, that's a kennel proposed in the AR2 District in the Southwest part of the county. And Aspen Substation which is proposed in the Leesburg JLMA.

So

let me explain this. The applicant and county realized that access to an adjacent strum water pond managed by the county would be impacted by a berm that was proposed in the buffer. The applicant had to add some minor special exception applications to modify the buffer to accommodate the existing easement which would allow access to that storm water facility. That involves eliminating the berm and modifying plant units in a small area in the southeast corner of the site. If you look at this vicinity map, I will show you what I'm trying to explain.

So in yellow is the Concord property. This little rectangle right here is a county property where storm water flows to. And the county manages this and access to it is from the Concord site right here. And right where my cursor is is where the buffer needs to be modified because the berm that's required would block access to the county property. So they need to modify that and in accordance with the zoning ordinance and Virginia code, it needs to be reheard.

Staff anticipates identifying, you know, similar issues for consideration as last time. You might recall there were a couple of issues with the intensity or scale with the surroundings. Otherwise, the application isn't that different. The commission did send it to the board with an approval recommendation, I believe, at their July meeting. And as you can see from these slides here, you still have the same three use scenarios, OCL distribution, warehousing, and storage, flex building, and data center and substation.

Are there any questions?

No questions.

Okay. All right. Next is Shiraz Farm. So this is a kennel application. It's a special exception in the AR2 District as well as requests to modify the width of the required buffer from 20 feet to five feet and a minor special exception to reduce the required kennel setback from 100 feet to five feet.

The property is North of Route 50, East of Blue Ridge Mountain Road, and West of and accessed from Trap Road. And it's in the rural South Place type. The limits of special exception comprise 1.2 acres and the overall property is 99 acres. The kennel would allow up to 50 dogs which would include the owner's pets. The owner does live on the property but the house is not a part of the kennel use and is about 1,000 feet, I believe, to the west.

If you look at the vicinity map here why do I keep doing this? Here is the access point. Here's the driveway. Here's the kennel use right here. And then the house is right here.

So if you look at this plat, the red rectangle is a one story building that's a part of the kennel. The yellow rectangle is a two story barn. Only the 2nd Floor is a part of the kennel use. The gray area is the parking, and then the green is the outdoor play area. The nearest home is about 900 feet to the south.

Staff anticipates supporting a recommendation of approval to conditions. But we also anticipate raising an issue for consideration just relating to the setback request. Is it appropriate to reduce it down to five feet? I do note that the applicant is proposing enhanced plantings and fencing within the setback area, and the nearest home to the north is about 2,000 feet away. Are there any questions? Mister Coles?

Yep. Brian, you said the specs area is how big? 1.2 acres? 1.2 acres. For 50 dogs.

Do we know whether the and there's a ton of conservation easement over there. Do we know whether this property is in conservation easement?

I'll have them answer that question. Okay.

That was

one.

Thank Mister Jasper?

Do we know whether adjacent property owners have been notified and have they provided any input?

I'll have them answer that question.

Okay. Commissioner Myers.

Is this already in operation? Yes. So it was caught. Okay. I think it's important when you're giving us information like this to let us know if this is somebody that's coming in with a proposed use or if this is somebody that's been found to be non compliant. Now they're trying to do something because to me it gives a totally different flavor. So this whole rectangle unusual shape here is only 1.02 acres.

1.25 acres.

1.25 acres. That's it. No. The whole acres. The whole property

is 99 acres. 99 acres.

Commissioner long the long Rectangle is his all his property. I mean, my my my first question is gonna be if you have a if you have 900 if you have a 100 acres, why are you trying to sandwiches all on one acre? I mean, that makes no sense at all to me. It does the spec part itself have the road frontage or does the 99 acres have the road frontage? Age?

So Trap Road is down here. Yeah.

Correct. But what I'm asking the question is the one we're only dealing with 1.25 acres. Uh-huh. The 1.25 acres, does it go all the way back down to Trap Road? No. No. So so that's my point. So the special exception itself has no road frontage.

The specs area is where my cursor is right now. This is where the kennel is.

So we have to proceed the specs superimposed on top of that. It would be easier to come, you

know, understand. It has no road frontage. Because it's not part of the application. The road that's coming into the special exception use is not part of the special exception.

I'll have the the planner address that, but it's not

going down

to the public road.

The special exception use is not going down to the public road.

So it's right.

It doesn't it doesn't need to touch the road.

I'm just saying to me it just there's another way where they could have picked up some more acreage. Think I

think the area of the special exception might need to include the access.

That's my point. It's to get no access to get to it, so you've gotta have the access to get the special exception.

I don't think it does because we have special exceptions all the time that for a use to locate, like, in a strip mall, and the the limits of specs is just their unit.

No. But it was done overall all the the whole whole unit. Unit. Okay. So

it I've never been Will confirm that.

I've seen this county approve a special exception that didn't have road access.

It's definitely worth looking into. Yep. Commissioner Maturidi.

Did I hear that this is in operation right now? So is this same thing like a happy pause that they got caught and now they want to regularize this whole thing?

There was a complaint and a violation issued, and now the property owner is trying to bring the the lot into compliance.

Do do we know the reasons for those setbacks they're requesting? Is it like a do they have some kind of a barrier there or

No. We would have to defer to the applicant on that, it's, they're memorializing what's already in existence.

Okay. Because they have 900 acres. Just want to make sure. So

Mister Jasper, go ahead.

So now I have two questions.

Mhmm.

One, is this a commercial operation, or is this, a beagle club, or is it is it private club, or is it like a hunt, or what is it?

I think it's a commercial operation.

Okay. So that's important to know and understand the magnitude of it. The other thing I would like to know, not just have adjacent property owners been informed, but also the character of the adjacent properties. Are they in conservation easement and ownership, etcetera? Because if suddenly that those prop you know, we're looking at the future, we always say.

So if those properties may be subject to some sort of development consistent with the AR two place, which isn't a place that's a zoning. But I, you know, I I think we need to think about a five foot setback pretty hard.

Alright. Another question.

The phone.

Commissioner Franklin, let me go back to you, Commissioner Myers.

I I just wanna make confirm and somebody can probably do this for us at our next meeting. But if if the specs plat page that you have in your briefing with the green, Yeah. Thank you. With the little color blobs. So that orangish red line is their property line? That's the entire parcels. Okay. Because it says That's the boundary.

General boundary. That's what I was calling the limits a special exception.

Okay. So so the big black line that's kinda on the north of the sheet would be the the one property line. I'd be curious how it's a long narrow parcel. It's 99 acres though. So that might be a little misleading. I'm I'm wondering how much width they have to work

with if we're.

Okay. You know, we're considering the reason the appropriate setbacks. It'd be nice to know if, you know, if that's truly 200 feet or if it's half a mile. I mean, it's not but.

Mister Myers, you had a follow-up?

Yeah, I just wanna also make sure so that I can get it for the public hearing is I wanna know if where the drain fill is in relationship to the special exception request and the alternative or the reserve area, and I also wanna know where the well is.

For myself, similar to the Happy Paws, staff put together a kennels approved in the AR1 and if we could see that if they're for AR two, if there's other kennels that have been approved in in the the same kind of statistics. And then also, I'm interested that why this has a far reduced setback and staff is recommending approval versus happy pause was recommended, was listed as one of the reasons staff couldn't support it was because of the lack of the setback. Here it's a smaller setback but staff's approval is okay with it. I just wonder what the logic is. There probably is. Maybe it's

because of what's around it. 40 feet versus 2,000 feet for the nearest home.

Yeah.

So part of that goes to okay, existing home. I don't know if somebody could Right. If the next door neighbor wanted to build a house, they're like, oh, great. I got a kennel right up to my property line. That goes to commissioner Combs' comment. Well, that's an if the land around it is in a conservation easement, that's not so much an issue, but it's it'd be good to know what's around

it. Okay.

Alright. Anything else on this one? Alright. Next. Okay.

Aspen Substation. This is a special exception for a substation use and a minor special exception to modify buffer requirements in the JLMA zoning district. The property is located Southwest of Cochrane Mill Road and the WNOD Trail in the Leesburg JLMA employment place type. There is existing substation already on the property and this application proposes another. Staff anticipates outstanding issues relating to screening and environmental considerations.

The application proposes to remove 10% of the tree conservation area and staff would like to encourage that it be replaced elsewhere on the property. Otherwise, the use is consistent with the place type and in an area that is adjacent to existing substations as well as high voltage transmission corridors. And this is what the plat looks like. The yellow is the existing substation, and purple is where the new one would go. Are there any questions?

Questions. Take your break.

Brian, do you happen to know, is this an alternative location for what the substation that was being proposed on the Tuscarora Crossing space just to North West or whatever of this?

I I think they're unrelated.

They're unrelated.

I think so. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Mister Myers?

It looks like from looking at your existing and then looking proposed that they're proposing to have part of this substation literally right in the where the water is. If you look here at your back if you look at your existing and you can see and you can see it, and then you go to your next one with the purple and it shows the outlines of where the proposed is, it's going right through the middle of that watershed and that pond.

The substation is outlined in purple and red. That's the limits of special exception.

I understand. But look at the purple. And what I'm saying is the purple halfway down through the straight line that goes towards the W And OD Trail. Okay. It's going through the pond.

Look, Brian, look at your aerial photo, and you can see a pond on the site.

Yeah. Just to

Are they Oh. What is that pond? It looks like they're gonna just eliminate it. Is that what the I guess the question, what is I'll that

have the staff confirm, but it does look like it's overlapping. Just ever so slightly.

Well, half the pond is gone. According to your purple line, half the pond's gone. I don't know, but usually high voltage and ponds don't go together. Maybe it's just me.

Any other Jasper?

Can we know whether they're proposing a gas insulated substation?

Mhmm. Yep. I'm assuming this is Dominion, is it? Not I don't think Novak goes that far north, do they?

I think they do.

Or is this somebody else?

Novak's in that area. They split down that area. Okay.

I it's dominion, but I'm not for sure.

Because if you remember on Cochrane Row, had Novak.

That was Novak. Anything else on this? Nope. Okay.

And we have three cases coming to the February work session. Quantum Park, that's the data center and substation on Loudoun County Parkway. Valley Commerce, that's the industrial free zoning north of Perceville. And Novak Dimos Substation, that is the big substation at the corner in Arcola.

Did we take that to public hearing? When was that? Yeah. Mhmm.

Is it

just a long time ago? Which which one? The last one you just mentioned.

No. That was last meeting. Okay. Yeah. That was the one before Happy Paw.

When are we looking at Happy Paw's coming?

March. March.

Okay.

That's where it's scheduled right now.

They're getting quite the deal. I mean,

they should hope for June. I guess keep keep

keeping the 50 dogs. Alright,

Brian. That covers that. Any other item that you get the training? I think commissioners got a copy of the training opportunities. If anybody is interested in any of those, you can inquire with staff.

I would like to say I'm interested in the one on the data center that's in August.

Okay. Okay.

So if we need to let you know, I'd like to be considered for going to that.

Okay. I think that'll be a popular one. Who's the same?

Supposed to be just in Reston. Yeah. Do we

have a limit on the number of people? Like, if it's more than three, we have to somehow advertise this? Three of us have to be in

the same place? All the time. Yeah. No.

Okay. I'm just asking.

But you might have to. Otherwise, I think you'd be told not to discuss county business, but I think that might

be a question for Keep this straight. Yeah.

I mean, it's real simple to if there's more than two going, just put the notice out. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's simple enough.

Okay. So I can follow-up with who? It was Myers, Combs, and Jasper.

For the data center,

I But maybe you can send, emails, you know, in order to make a decision. I think a

lot of us are interested in that one.

Okay. I'll just send another email.

Brian, for the January, the one in Richmond, is it an all day session, do you know?

I'm sorry?

There is a there is a certified planning commissioner training. So one day, it's all day?

Well, it's two days. I mean, you got several weeks, like,

six or eighteen weeks of work.

And you go back to take homework and then go

back again. Okay.

And they usually have day day and evening events too with that to kinda get you opportunity to meet with other people and work with them. It's it's pretty much all day and evening.

It's all day. Okay.

Mhmm. There is a virtual option that starts later on in the year, I believe.

I I would probably I'll let you know the dates if it works out for me.

We go to Danville.

First happens in February. Second happens in May. February 2020.

Yes. May never happened.

I did have an item about the annual report. We are actively working on that and we'll bring that to you earlier this year than we did last year. I encourage you to start thinking about the things that you would like to add to that annual report. This year, commissioners talked about including recommendations that they'd like to make to the board. So start thinking about that. So when we have that discussion, you'll be ready.

I've got one other

thing and then so we can get out of it quickly. But we keep talking about this, but I would really like to ask that the planning commission support that the chair send a letter to the board of supervisors. We're cresting to get on their agenda sometime in the next six months for us to have a work session together. And we've talked about it for two years yet and never really made it happen. I think it's time to send a letter to kind of put them on notice that we're not we'd really like to have that opportunity as we're getting ready to start our third and fourth year and request that we try to get it done before they go on August break.

And that it was there was a verbal request and that

That's why I'm saying I'd like us to send a letter that actually says the planning commission is requesting that before the August break, have an opportunity to sit down and have a work planning session with the board of supervisors as a whole.

Can we take a vote on that so that when that letter goes out, did it was a motion of the planning commission that was approved and

I'll make a motion that we send a letter to the board of supervisors requesting an opportunity to have a planning session with them before they go on August recess break.

Second.

Commissioners, you think that's worthy? Okay. I don't have an objection to it. So Aye. Okay.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Anybody opposed? Abstain? And then we could catch you if it was a nine o. So okay. Nine zero support.

Lastly, if you could please, fill out your disclosure of real estate forms. I sent that email to you, I think, earlier this week. I need that by the February.

Okay. That's it. Alright. Commissioner, is there anything else? Bring her up? No? Alright. We are adjourned.