Planning Commission - Special Meeting

Hello and welcome. I'm Heather Howard. I'm the chair. Um we're here at a specially called meeting for the board of zoning appeals. Today is Thursday, May the 29th, 2025, and we're here in council chambers in the municipal building. So, welcome to everyone. And we'll start with a roll call. Mr. Mr. Schuman here. Miss Howard here. Mr. Johnson here. Um, next we have the approval of the minutes from the November 14th, 2024 special called meeting. Have you all had an opportunity to review those? Yes. Any motion? I'll make a motion that we submit those both November and December. uh as presented. Well, there there I've got some edits if you don't mind. Sure. Um on the uh first one on page five there, they're not numbered, but it there's a paragraph starts Mr. Schuman BZA board. But in the last sentence, the applicant answered after staff answered all questions, it says form the board. That should be from not form. Um and then on the uh next set of minutes um two things. One, the uh attorney for Mr. um Yuri was Michael Bragg and um it it shows um Bradley. Yeah, Bradley. And that's that's not correct. And then um there's another on um would be the third page um last paragraph starts off Miss Howard

asked if Mr. Yuri was calming the size limit and it's uh claiming the size limit as opposed to calming. So those are the three edits I had. Would you like to amend your motion, Mr. Johnson, to include those edits? I would second it to include the edits. Mr. Schuman. I miss Howard. Mr. Johnson. I. All right. And the next item on the agenda is a variance request. Um, Trig Street Ventures LLC, 152 East Main Street, Sweet 3 Avenue, Virginia 24210. who is the applicant or owner. Uh they're requesting a variance to allow a nonmobile home residential development to utilize septic in place of town sewer. Property is located at 525 Trig Street. Um tax map ID number 105- A-31 and 105- A-31B. And at this time, do we have a staff report? Yep. So, Trick Street Ventures applicants owner have requested approval of a variance to allow a non-mobile home residential development to utilize septic in place of town sewer. The property is located at 525 Trick Street and this is uh both parcels are 105- A-31 and 105- A-31B. the properties within the highdensity residential district R3 and and the variance request is in keeping with the requirements to apply. Therefore, requiring the approval of the board of zoning appeals prior to completion. Uh background, there are currently 11 single wide mobile homes

and one double wide mobile home located within parcels 105- A-31 and 105- A-31B. The applicant intends to remove all the mobile homes and create a residential development on both parcels. Currently, there are no currently there is no town sewer lines or access for the property to connect to. There is an existing septic system on the property. So, in terms of the uh residential development types, they can have there. It's zoned R3. So, they can have single family, two family, uh multif family or townhouse. Uh staff findings as I said the applicant requests to allow a non-mobile home residential development to utilize septic in place of connecting to town sewer per chapter 44 section 4-2-2 according to the current ordinance adopted in 2023 lots within the highdensity residential district are not permitted individual sewage uh disposal systems. So this is why they're coming for you today to ask for that exception. The variance findings to allow a residential development to utilize septic in place of town sewer are the following. A the property interest for which the variance is being requested was acquired in good faith and any hardship was not created by the applicant for the variance. Staff can conclude the applicant's request is not a self-imposed hardship. There there are currently no sanitary sewer lines along Tri Trig Street south of Nicholas Street for a non-mobile home residential development to connect to. The applicant's request was acquired in good faith and they have submitted all necessary permit and attachment documents into the town of Abidan planning site zoning and building departments. B. The granting of the variance will not be of substantial determined to adjacent property and nearby properties in the in the proximity of that geographical area. All adjacent properties and properties along Trick Street from Nicholas Street to I 81 use a septic system. Before the applicant can utilize the existing

septic system or install new septic systems, approval from the Department of Health must be acquired. The Department of Health's approval determination must be submitted along with any building permit applications for a non-mobile home residential development. Overall, the proposal will not pose a substantial determinant to adjacent property and nearby properties. C. The condition or situation of the property concerned is not of so general or reoccurring in nature as to make reasonably practical the formulation of a general regulation to be adopted as an amendment to this chapter. Since the adoption of the current ordinance in 2023, there have been no proposed developments with the request for using a septic system. As a result, the request is not of so general or reoccurring nature as to make reasonably practical the formulation of a general regulation to be adopted as an amendment to this chapter. D. The granting of the variance does not result in a use that is not otherwise permitted on such property or a change in the zoning clarification of the property. This specific variance request would not result in a use that is not otherwise permitted on such property or a change in the zoning classification of the property. A wide variety of dwelling uses are permitted by right in the highdensity residential district such as single family, two family, multif family and townhouse. Depending on the type of residential dwell uh dwelling, the applicant will be required to follow all applicable zoning requirements set forth in our ordinance. And then E, the relief or remedy sought by the variance application is not available through the process for modification of a zoning and subdivision ordinance pursuant to the code of Virginia 15.2-2286 at the time of the filing of the variance application. The relief or remedy sought by the variance application is not available through the process for modification of a zoning and subdivision ordinance. So at this moment they're not sure what type of residential development they want to do. Uh but to develop that that site or those two parcels into a

residential development, whether it be a single family, two family, a multif family or townhouse, they need to get this approval first from you to have this exception to to make septic available. What one if ever uh sewers brought down that way through trick street, they would have to connect to town super. So, and you're just ask you're just giving them the exception to follow up with the health department to say you we've got the exception from the town to go forward with this. The health department still has to give them approval and that would be submitted with all building permits. So, if there's any questions for me, more than happy to answer. Up here, you can see just the photo we took of the site and what's currently there. Um, if there's none for me, um, and so none of these mobile homes were occupied. Is that correct? No. So, it was when it w when we anni when the town annexed that area that was a mobile home park. It's either been it's met one of three categories where it's either been abandoned been intermedially used or the other one is you know in terms of um you losing a non-conforming somebody hasn't paid taxes. This one is where it's been intermediately used or it's been abandoned where you've lost a non-conforming status. And so because mo a mobile home park's not allowed in R3 district, they have to they're going to develop into something that's one of the three residential developments. To do that though, they have to get approval from the health department to have septic, which in the code, we don't allow residences to be hooked up to individual uh sewage disposal systems. So again, this is where they're just asking for that exception to the code. Again, if sewers ever brought down that far on Trick Street, they would have to connect to town sewer. But yeah, that's the reason why I come for this plan. There's no more questions for me. The applicant is here to answer and then after that we would have a Okay. And um let's see if the applicant would uh

like to say anything, come on up and take the podium. I'm Rob. If you'll tell us your last name. Okay. Rob Carne. Um, basically we've want I've wanted to do something with this property for a while and when Mayana worked at the town, she approached me was like, you know, we might be able to get sewer. So then we were kind of, you know, the idea was to fix up the trailers because that was kind of the only thing on the table. So when she threw out the idea of sewer and doing something new, we were like, we like this idea. Um, so we've kind of pursued it and then we couldn't really lock in from the town like when the sewer would arrive, you know? So it was like, well, we could start building, but it might be two or three years before the sewer comes. So we're like, well, we would like to progress with these ideas, but we had to do this first. So this is kind of just the next step is what we are kind of thinking. Yeah. And you haven't fully decided yet exactly what? No, I mean like we talk town houses, but a lot it's like before we move the uh the ball too far down the court. It's like well what can we build out there? So the health department would kind of tell us if they said you can only build that that could limit us or it will limit us the what the health department says. So it's like if they come back and we can build um you know we're going to try to build as many units as they'll let us build out there. It could be two units. It could be 10. It could be Yeah, we don't we don't know really. It's It's up in the air. So, it's kind of like until we And that Derek was saying I don't know what that will cost. A few thousand dollars, I think, is what his guess was to to pay the health department to do the tests to see what we can build. So, we're kind of that's kind of where we're at. Yeah. Kind of a chicken and egg. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. No. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you all for thinking about it, though. And thanks, Gabe. Gab's been great. Been great through this through

this process. Yeah. Thank you. Any any questions? No questions. Okay. Thank you guys. Okay. We'll go ahead and open the floor for public comment. If anyone would like to make comment, come on up. Uh when you come up, if you would like to, if you could please state your full name and your mailing address, we'd appreciate it. Any takers? No. Okay. Right. We'll close the floor now for public comment and um any discussion. Yes, ma'am. Come on up, please. If you don't mind, just tell us your name and where you live. Thank you. I'm Patricia Combmes. I live out toward the lake, but I own the land that's adjacent to this area, the old fairgrounds and the racehorse track. And so I we're just wondering like when you say a septic system, you say they're going to run field lines all out from the different units that they build or what? One big septic tank that then pump it where or what's that? How's that work? I can try and answer that. So, they're not going to be it's going to be maybe depending on what residential one they do. It could be one septic tank or it could be multiple. But again, it's goes back to what does the health department allow them to do. Uh so, the health department will determine if they can have one or two or something like that and depending on the unit and capacity, but they would have to be able to be within that two parcels that they have.

Yeah. Okay. But it could be sewer lines all up in there. I mean each I know sewer septic s systems have to have a lot of field lines or what a septic tank. So and again that would be the health department that would make that determination. So there'd have to be enough room there around each home or townhouse for to occupy for people that are occupied in the the the houses to Okay. Okay. We have no idea what that's going to be like, you know, how and it's not going to go off of their property. No, it would be on their property. Okay. So again, that's the health department that would make the determination how much they can have that sort of thing. The the reason for this board is just to give them the ability to further pursue that um avenue to go ask the health department because by our ordinance we don't allow resident residences to be on um septic individual septic. Well, do they come back with their final plans and say we're building 10 town houses there. It's going to be four families in each one. So that is that is public information. So if you can check with us and say do they have a development and we can we can share that with you. Then in terms of that it wouldn't go before any board. But it's public knowledge when somebody submits that into us for a review and so you're more than happy to ask for that. Okay. Sorry. We're boarding appeals is a fairly limited function. Um, so we can't really address the questions that you have, but anytime that you reach out to the town, they'll be more than happy to try to help you. It's like we're agreeing to something, but we don't even know what it's going to be yet. You know, they've got How many are they building right out here on Route 75? Row after

row. Oh, yeah. I know all about that. Do they are they on a sewer system or a septic or what? They're on sewer. sewers there and and if the town and I assume the town has a plan at some point to run sewer line out there then they would be required to hook to the sewer line. So yeah, you know, I think all we're doing is allowing the uh them to pursue um you know, the uh development there. And and in my mind, you know, you're getting rid of a a number of blighted um mobile homes that you're moving um that aren't occupied um and uh and creating something that uh is at least uh habitable. Um, and then all the rules and regulations requiring what they'd have to do to do that would be in place. So, we all we're doing is allowing them to uh to pursue the the subdivision as they and then it'd be up to health department, town, building permits, all of that. We're not we're not dealing with that here. We don't Yeah, sense. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Would anybody else like to take the podium? Yeah. Do you have something that you'd like to chip in with? We're happy to hear from you if you do. Yeah, it does need to be related to what we're here for. Well, my mom received a registered letter. Could you state your name? My name is Lavanda Wood. My mom is Carol Wood. She owns several properties. She likes to redo houses, but she's got like 10 days left

to live. And hospice came in yesterday. So, I'm overwhelmed with that. I haven't even got to her boxes of paper. But I do know she had she has a house across the street from that, three houses down. So, I thought this was hers, but it's not. But she has a house on Trigg. The registered letter was about a house on Bradley. I guess what I'm asking is all of the registered mail and everything if they could just give her a little time so that she could pass and me and my brothers could take over her estate on I don't know if they're going to want to demol it. Um, you know, she it's a Victorian house on Bradley and she was slowly fixing it up but I guess not fast enough. There must be rules inside of the town. So this particular property is on Trig Street. Okay. She's got one on there too that she's renovating. So that might be another department's because we have to send certified mailers for per the code of Virginia for when we have to notify somebody. So that might be another department and I can try and figure that out for you. Thank you. If I know I there's so much paperwork I've lost it. All right. Thank you. All right. We'll close the floor. Um, discussion. I'm going to move that we uh approve the variance as submitted. I'll second that. So I think probably we should have some discussion on the record about um the staff findings and I concur. I have read the

staff findings um and I do believe that the ordinances that is applied to this particular piece of property. a hardship and it does unreasonably restrict the use of the property and looking at the factors I think that um all the factors have been met. So we have a motion by Mr. Schuman to approve it. Second from Mr. as presented. Yes. So just to make sure that's we have a motion from Mr. Schum to approve the variance as presented and second by Mr. Johnson. Yes. Okay. May I continue with the rule? Thank Mr. Schuman. I miss Howard. I Mr. Johnson I [Applause] and that variance will be granted. The next item on the agenda is the reorganization of the BZA and we'll need to take up appointment of a chair person. So I'll just chime in real quick just to kind of update you on terms. Kenny uh since you are uh Mr. Schum I apologize Mr. Uh um your term is up on November November of 2025 I believe for the for the plan commission. No, I think it's next year. I thought it was like March or Mar Oh, yeah. No, something like that. But but in terms of that Yeah. I mean, I won't Yeah, it's not a full year for me here. Yeah. So that's where it and uh so I know you're the representative for the plankish, so that changes off and on. So you could be voted as a chairman, but it might not be beneficial where you switch on and off throughout the year. Yeah, I don't I

don't I don't see that as being beneficial because at some point, like you say, I you'd have to check whether it's February or March, but it's one of those two. So I would not be the representative the planning commission for a full year. So it wouldn't make any sense to uh for the other two, Miss Howard, I did see that you are eligible for another term. you're still good and you still got a couple more years and same thing with Mr. Johnson, you have a few more years on the board, too. So, just to let you guys know where everybody is in terms of terms because I know sometimes that's what everybody kind of always trying to make decisions. So, take it away. Well, um there may be some change. Uh I may be changing my primary residence to a different county. I think it would make more sense, Mr. Johnson, if you could be the chair in case I to make that change and end up having to come off. Okay. Has a motion and a second. I move to nominate Mr. Johnson as chair. I'll second. Uh Mr. Schuman I. Miss Howard I. Mr. Johnson. I. Okay. And then the vice chairman. Well, I think again since I'm not going to be on I think it would be wise and I'll nominate Miss Howard and that way if she has to drop off you could choose another vice chairman chairperson but it that would make sense to me. Yeah, that's second. I'll second that. Okay, Mr. Schuman. Uh, Miss Howard, hi. And Mr. Johnson. I That's all I

have. No old business or anything. So, no, no, no discussion points to share. So, no announcements, nothing else going on. Looks like it's time to adjourn. Do we have a motion? So, move. I'll second. Uh, Mr. Schuman. I, Miss Howard, I, Mr. Johnson. I