Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

the May 20th meeting of the city of Wayneboro Planning Commission. Would somebody like to lead us in the pledge of allegiance? I'll do that. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you all for being here tonight. First we have first matter is adopting the agenda. I move that we adopt the agenda. I'll second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. Next up, we have review and approval of our April 22nd meeting minutes. Has everybody had an opportunity to review the minutes? All right. Do we have a motion? Motion to accept as presented. I'll second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. All right. Uh, next up we have a conditional use permit request by the Life Works project to allow for a food pantry in the RG5 general residential district, 505 North Winchester Avenue, Wesburg, Virginia, tax map number 47-1-36, lots 23 and 24. I will turn it over to wonderful staff to take it away. Thank you. Um, so before I dive into the application this evening, I did want to do just a brief review about conditional use permits. Um, so these are uses that aren't bowor but may be um allowed within a zoning district and are reviewed on a case-by case basis um to determine if that uh particular uses compatible with the neighboring uses. Um they must be consistent with good zoning practices, have no more adverse be no more adverse to health, safety or comfort of the persons living or working in the area other than uses that are generally permitted and then no more detrimental economically otherwise to

property or improvements in that surrounding area than uses generally permitted within that district. So the nature of this particular request, it is to operate a food pantry in the RG5, which is a general residential district at 505 North Winchester Avenue. subject property is right here at the corner of North Winchester and Fifth Street. It is currently owned by the Christ Tabernacle Church of God in Christ which is located directly across the street on Fifth. Um is also basically directly across the street from the Fairfax Hall property as well. Um the building is currently being used by the Life Works project to operate the River City Bread Basket. Um the bread basket has opened in late 2023 and currently serves about 500 households a month. Um it is a client choice food pantry. Um LifeWorks Project is now considering purchasing the property and is therefore um seeking this conditional use permit uh because it would no longer be associated with the church that currently owns the property. Um so as I mentioned the subject property is zoned RG5 which is our general residential district. Um and food pantries are permitted within this district by a conditional use permit. The comprehensive plan designates this property as medium density residential. Um and this broader area uh has traditionally been a mix of uses, residential, a variety of densities. You have commercial uses in this general district uh and also industrial uses as well. Um and staff believes that the use of the subject property as a food pantry would not be inconsistent with the surrounding uses. Um the food p the bread basket right now has very limited operating hours. It operates two days a week. Um Thursdays in the uh late afternoon, early evening and then Fridays around the midday hours. Um and these limited operation times do limit the amount of extra

traffic within this general vicinity. It also has plenty of on street and off- streetet parking. uh it has frontage on both Fifth Street and uh North Winchester which provides approximately eight spaces just along that specific frontage and then also around eight spaces off the alley on which it's located. Um the applicants are potentially interested in pursuing an addition to the building once acquired, if acquired, and um if that addition is pursued in the future, uh those parking requirements will be re-evaluated at the time of the site plan review. Um and given these uh given the results of the analysis, staff is recommending approval of this application. Um and I'm happy to answer any questions you have and the applicants are here tonight as well. Any questions? I do. I don't have a question. I just wanted to see the city attorney. Although there is not a conflict, the optics could make it seem that way. I sit on the board of trustees for the church selling that that piece of property. And I also I had the honor to volunteer at the basket. So for that reason, I recuse myself discussion and I'll do likewise when we just Thank you. Um I was going to see if you wanted to say anything about that when we got to the voting stage, but I appreciate that. Um and appreciate your transparency because I don't think any of the rest of us would have figured that out. But um okay, thank you. Um we want to hear from the applicant. if they would like to speak. If not, that's okay, too.

I just wanted to uh thank the city and this planning commission for giving us uh the opportunity to be heard. Um, the River City Bread Basket has been a labor of love for us since 2023 when we opened on October 7th and it has become a staple for the neighbors that come to visit. As Alisan shared, we see more than 500 people every month. that door swings open more than 500 times uh to provide food for um our neighbors. Um we are also able to be a good participant. I'm sorry I always get nervous when I'm standing in front of y'all. um with food recovery. And last year we saved over 145,000 pounds of food and distributed it uh to our neighbors um living in Wesboro primarily, but we are very low barrier. We we help anyone. And as we've seen changes in our society, we know that the numbers um for those in need are only going to increase um if we are allowed to uh use this space continually as the bread basket, purchase it, and especially expand it. It will give us an opportunity to provide more services on that side of town that really doesn't um doesn't have a whole lot. Um we wanted to offer opportunities for children's groups to meet and have different programs over there for kids. Um the Arrow project even in the building that we have at the size that it is right now was meeting people for uh therapy um and mental health support.

Um we would like to uh be able to operate along with warm um with the cold weather shelter and tend to the needs of our homeless neighbors. Um there are a lot of things that we can do and unfortunately there's a lot of things that we can do because there's not a whole lot over there but we are willing to do it and we hope that you will consider this space. Many of the people who shop at the bread basket are the neighbors. Um, we have lots of people who come by that we know by name and they bring their wagons and walk with their children and come to the bread basket and get what they need. And we certainly appreciate the city giving us the opportunity and the church to use this space um for such a profound mission that really serves everybody because you all know if you lift from the bottom everybody rises. So, thank you so much for considering us. Thank you for letting us speak. Um, and if you have any questions, um, I'd be happy to field them. I don't have a question, but I would like to say thank you all for your work that you do and your commitment to serving the community. It's very much appreciated. Yeah, Nigel stole my thunder. What you guys do is really impressive. Um, thank you so much for all that you do. Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much. It takes a village. So, you know, everybody everybody here is a part of what we do and you all are welcome because we definitely will not say no. If you want to come down to the bread basket and lift a box or pull a wagon, we would love to see you. What is your name? My name is Adrienne Young. Adrien Young. Yes. And where do you get most of your food? Who supplies it? Well, we are a Feeding America partner. Okay. Um, and so our Feeding America partners are Food Lion and Walmart in this area, Food Lion on Hopman, Walmart uh uh on Lucy, and we

also get food from uh the Food Lion in Fischersville, but um our main contributor is the Blige Area Food Bank. They provide USDA foods. So they provide our staples, but Walmart and Food Lion provide those extra things that make us a little bit different. We are a client choice pantry. So when you come to us, you're not going to get a box. You get a shopping basket and you get to pick the things that make sense for your family and the things that you need. Um, we have community sponsored items in the pantry um that provide things uh extras like dog food, cat food, diapers, hygiene products, things like that. So, we really are uh trying to be a one-stop shop to help families make ends meet on that side of town. I have seen people using their EBT cards at Dave's Market, and there is no offense to Dave. Dave is making his paper, but we know that we want our families to be healthy and whole, and we offer something that is substantially better and will stretch the EBT dollars that they do have in a tangible way and hopefully um help them live better lives. Yeah, I can tackle the value of a square footage in that neighborhood is immeasurable to what they're doing in that Uh, and if you're down there on a Thursday when the doors open, um, it's pretty actually. And we talk about food deserts. And this is an area of which Dave may be in the walking distance, one of the few options for folks that be able to go in and shop and not uh, have to pull out card and not even be asked what's your income. Everyone is welcome. It's pretty amazing

what they're doing. and it does fit in the neighborhood as I grew up uh my first house was on Fifth Street on the other side of Fairfax Hall and it's uh I love that neighborhood and it's pretty impressive watching uh the neighborhood come um and show up and even celebrate uh the so kudos to you guys. I think it's a great fit in that neighborhood. Um and I hope you guys also the opportunity to expand and we're talking further opportunities to impact that that neighborhood and the existence what you guys are doing in that space. Thank you. And I'd like to say thank you too. I walk by there on Fridays so I see the crowds. It's a lot of people that go through there. Yes. Thank you so much. One just one small correction because I don't want to slight Walmart neighborhood market is where you see Lucy Lane. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't want my managers to give me. That's right. My apologies. Thank you so much. All right. Um, we're now going to open the public hearing for the conditional use permit. Do we have any We don't have anyone signed up and haven't received any comments. No. Excellent. And uh I is anybody here who wishes to speak? All right. I'm going to close the public hearing for the conditional use permit request. We any further comments? No. We're ready to vote. No. I move that we approve the conditional use permit as as a state. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none. The motion carries. Thank you so much for everything you do.

All right. Uh, next on our agenda is waiver request for city code section 74-71 I. Is that I or one? 7471 I grades of the subdivision ordinance by Valley Engineering on behalf of Greenwood Homes developer for Creekwood phase 30 Tiffany Drive Waysboro Virginia tax number 41-3-112 you'd never know I talk for a living thank you take it away staff thank you so waver w request. Um the applicant has requested a waiver for section 74-71, which is the road grades uh requirement section for phase three of the Creekwood subdivision. Um this section of the subdivision ordinance requires that the maximum grade for all new streets be no more than 6%. And the applicant is proposing about 220 feet of the um Tiffany Drive extension to be at an 8.78% road grade. Um and the need for this um is due to the existing site the existing topography on the site. Um in order to get it down to a 6% grade level, there would be a lot of grading required which would also include grading within the flood plane which is something they are trying to avoid. Um so a little bit of background about this. Um as you may remember the the phase three preliminary plat was approved um back in May of 24. This particular phase includes 87 town houses along with the extension of Everett Street which comes out of the Roser Avenue subdivision and Tiffany Drive which we'll meet and I'll show uh the layout of it in just a moment here.

Um and then uh any section of the subdivision ordinance can be waved uh by city council. However, in this particular case for section 74-71 I um council has delegated this authority to the planning commission which is why this request is uh uh being brought to you tonight. It does not require a public hearing. Um okay. And then here is the layout for phase three of KUKA. Most of the homes will be in this area, but this is over here is Martins. You have the Tiffany Drive coming along right here. And then the Roser Avenue subdivision would be down here and Everett Street coming up this way. The portion of this of Tiffany Drive that would be at the 8.78% grade is this end as it slopes down towards the Everett Street um intersection. This is another look at that. Uh this would be Tiffany Drive right here as it approaches Everett Street and it's about 220 ft from around here as it approaches the intersection before leveling off up to the top of the hill here before leveling back off up the top there. And this road grade or road profile uh shows that as well right here. average street intersection would be down here where it levels off to around just over 2%. You have the 8% here before leveling back off at the top of that hill. Uh public works did review this waiver request. Um and they did not have any concerns with an 8.78% grade at this location. Um this is due to how um it is laid out. Tiffany Drive will not deadend at this spot. Instead, it'll intersect with Everett Drive and uh continue on with Everett or excuse me, Everett Street. Um this means that larger vehicles such as uh snow plows, trash

trucks, those large vehicles won't have trouble navigating that part of the road. They'll be able to if they're going downhill, they'll be able to, you know, make the turn to continue on if they end up in trouble. And the same with um the opposite direction. Um, given that that public works did not have any concern with this, um, staff is recommending approval of the waiver for the road grade increase above 6%. Um, so I'm happy to answer any questions you have on this. The applicant is also here tonight to answer any questions. I have a question. You kind of called out large vehicles, but like what about like lower profile vehicles from like residents that might live in the area? So, um I I guess one of one of the kind of main reasons um that we believe this is in the ordinance that 6% is because it is kind of related to large vehicles um snow plows specifically. Um, and I've always, you know, in talking with public works, you know, is there one grade in particular that they don't want to ever meet, you know, and it and it doesn't always um equate that way because as Alisanne mentioned, um, you know, it's one thing if there's no ability to kind of continue on if there's some kind of dead-end situation, the road grades are more serious or more concerning. Um, I will say that 6% is pretty restrictive. um and that we as staff in consultation with public works and eventually a city council amendment are looking at amending that section so we wouldn't need to bring anything over 6% to the planning commission but that we would settle on a number that is more realistic. Um but so I think the main concern with the grade is related to to I I mean I think most vehicles we navigate over 8% all the time. Okay. I I would say that. Yeah.

So, I um I inferred this from the application, but I want to make sure I'm right. So, the part of the analysis here is that we would be reducing environmental impact by eliminating the need for the grading in the flood plane. There currently are no plans to grade in the flood plane. Is that correct? As far as I'm aware, that is correct. Yes. Okay. And can can we go back to the site map for a second? So, is this is this the houses that are shown on this map? Is this what is they're building and is already there and they're going to build more houses in that big vacant space adjacent to this where because that's we're talking about the the grade being over. So, you're talking about that white area there. That is storm water detention area. Okay. So there's not going to So and the the slope in question is right there. Yeah. Yes. So there are not going to be any houses along this grade or anything like that? No. That directly access. Okay. And the turnout that's shown up there, what what's the above and below it? Where do those go? So, um, the city has, um, envisioned for some time now a Ludowit Roser road connector, we call it. Um, and so to the south there where the Roser Avenue subdivision is, that's currently under construction that fronts right on Roser. They're going to be building kind of their portion of that road and then Everett Street would be a continued portion of that. Um, I'm trying to think what's directly north. Is it more of Creek Woods? Uh directly north of where this is shown as ending is more of Creekwood and then into Silver Creek. Yeah. And what's the traffic control plan at

that intersection? Do we know? So um are there improve uh improved approved public improvement plans? Uh yes contingent on this waiver. Yeah. So would those grace be contingent on the way through. You're asking about what treatment is at that intersection. Yeah, it's I mean I presume that ever it's going to be at the through street, so there'll be a stop sign on Tiffany Drive, right? That would be my assumption. Um but we can Yeah, public works has reviewed and will be evaluating it. Um there would, you know, it would be as any other intersection would be treated, right? Yes. I I'm just asking because I want to make sure I understand if we're creating a steep down to a stop sign. Yeah. That may have visibility issues or whatever. So, I just want to make sure I understand. Yeah. No, there wouldn't be any concern of like standing water in that area on that road. I mean, all of that will also be evaluated through the public improvement plans. The grade should have no effect on that. Like, they'll have to meet all other water quantity quality requirements. So, you have storm water retention in the uh white area below. Will there be houses on the north side of Tiffany there? And that Yeah, there's continued development that is encompasses all of Creekwood that has been previously approved. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to make a mountain out of a molehill and two degrees is two degrees. Um, visibility is obviously my concern, which is why I was asking those questions. Yeah. And I mean, I I think I don't want to say the number because I would probably have it wrong, but when someone told me what the grade was of, you know, Main Street out here, it was

it's it was like, oh, okay, you're saying that's over. So, I it I I think that six is very restrictive um in a lot of ways and that public works has no concerns with it going up to eight um and a little over eight. We've certainly had some conversations with them about if we were to amend the ordinance, how high would you want to go? And I mean, VOTE approves roads up to 12% or higher in certain kind of mountainous terrain areas. And again, as long as you kind of have an outlet that if you're plowing up a hill and then you can go down or move somewhere else and you're not stuck in any kind of short deadend situation. Um, but those are all all things that public works has has reviewed and and will be with the public improvement plan. So, we're not running soap box derby races on that little section. No, right. All right. Those are my questions. So there other questions for and and just to be clear, I know Alisanne mentioned this, but you know, you all are typically a recommending body and your recommendation goes to council. In this instance, that's not the case. The authority has been given to you to approve those road grades by council. So if your vote tonight is to approve it as shown, they would not be able to go over what is it 8.78. But that final decision rests with you all. All right. Do we have other questions for staff? Thank you. Thank you. And we don't have to have a public hearing, right? No. Okay. The preliminary plat has already been approved. Um and we ran that by legal counsel and they said no public hearing would be needed for the grade waiver. Okay. Z are you would the applicant like to speak? My name is Jared Lucas. I'm the land development project manager with Greenwood Homes. Um I think staff covered a lot of it and it seemed like there was some fruitful discussion about it. Uh if there's any other questions,

I'm happy to answer them, but other than that, I think I'm all good. We have any questions? What if you had to grade in the um storm or flood plane there? What would that is there? Forgive me for not knowing the area super well. Is there like have you guys taken all the trees out of there already as part of the site prep and everything or is that are we preserving some trees and things by eliminating that grading? Uh I believe so. Um I wouldn't envision that we would have cleared trees in an area where we don't plan on grading. It seems like that's not really in anybody's best interest. Um yeah, what happens if we approve it 8.78 and they get to working and all of a sudden it turns out it's 8.9. Um, we would bring it back to you, you know, just kind of for clarification as long as the ordinance stays the way it does. I mean, like I said, we are looking to kind of put a staff determination on the grade that if public works and all those that engineer and design all of our other roads are comfortable with that grade that they could make that decision up to a certain number. So, if that was to change um before something like this, it wouldn't need to come back. But if the ordinance is as it currently is, we would we would come back with an additional number because road profiles are required as part of the preliminary plaque process. All right. Any other questions for the Thank you. All right. Any further discussion? Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. I'll second. All right. Uh, all in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing? None. The motion carries.

Do because we are Do I need to do or say anything, recite anything for the record or anything? We have final approval. Okay. I think we'll be good in um draft a resolution. Yeah, drafting a resolution that will be signed. Yeah. Okay. All right. We get back to the agenda. All right, thank you for being here. Thank you. Um, next up we have, excuse me, review of minor subdivision and final subdivision plats approved since the April meeting. I do not have any of those for you this evening. Excellent. Uh, next we have public comment period for items not on the agenda. Seeing no members of the public present, we will move on to matters from staff. Um I just I did want to provide a brief update on um comprehensive plan um items. Um this Friday we will have our first steering committee meeting of appointed steering committee members that council has appointed. Um so we'll have that meeting on Friday to kind of kick that off. Um and then we're currently looking at a June date and I believe tenatively we have June 18th down that we would have a larger um like public kickoff meeting hoping to do that at the high school where citizens can come out hear about the comp plan process and provide initial input. So just wanted to update you on those two items. All right. Sorry, I was looking at the steering committee stuff and All right. Uh, commissioner's correspondent and communication. Anybody have anything? Uh, the only thing I'll say is we celebrated the commencement of the high schoolers. It was a beautiful ceremony and Best of luck to them in their future

efforts. Fairly thank you. Anything else? All right. Do we have a motion? I [Music] move second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none. The motion carries. We are journ. Thank you everyone. Absolutely.