Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

to order this March the 11th, 2026 meeting of the planning commission, Montgomery County, Virginia. Can't hear you, sir. You cannot hear me. Yes.

Come on. You just need to improve one of your sensory. Anyway, Madam Secretary, would you determine a quarum, please? Here. Commissioner Croll here. Commissioner Rice here. Commissioner Miller here. Commissioner Workman here. Commissioner Simkins. Vice Chair Lincolnis here. Chair Foster here. We have a quorum. Thank you. Um, you have before you the agenda for tonight's meeting. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Miller. Second. Second.

Mr. Rice. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next item on the agenda is approval of the consent agenda. Uh, the February 11, 2026 meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve? Mr. Rice is second. Mr. Miller. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I.

Opposed. Motion carries. We will now move to public hearings. We have three tonight. Four. Um, and I would like to turn the meeting over to um, Miss Wright. It's for an SUP at the request of Mr. George Trible, the owner of Hokei Hill LLC for special use permit to allow short-term tourist rental within an existing single family dwelling on property located at 14:30 Harding Road. is right.

Thank you, Chair Foster. Site location for this request is located right here where the star is, which is located right outside of the town of Blackburg limits on Harding Road. On the graphic on the right, it's zoomed in to show you exactly where it is located on Harding Road. Wrong way. All right. The aerial map on the left shows the actual location of the property which is interior to Harding Road and uses a shared access. It is outlined in yellow. And on the right we have the zoning map which shows that the parcel is zoned R2. The request is to allow a short-term tourist rental within an existing three-bedroom single family dwelling. The definition of short-term rental has not changed since our last request. A single family dwelling or portion thereof located on an individual lot that is rented for compensation to short-term transient guests. Operator does not live on the same parcel or an adjacent parcel. We have supplemental regulations for this use as a special use permit if it's approved. These items will be verified and confirmed when the applicant applies for a zoning permit if this use is approved tonight. We have the floor plan for the house which shows one bedroom on the primary floor or the first floor and then two bedrooms and a bath on the second floor. There is an outdoor area with a front porch and there's also a deck outside um on the side in the back of the porch which also provides a mean of means of egress from the home. The view on the left is from the

southern property line in the driveway. So you can see that this house is located on a hill just as the name suggests is Hokei Hill. On the right, we have a picture of the view of the shared private paved drive. On the left is the private drive access off of Harding Road looking toward Blackburg. You also see the sign that was posted for legal purposes. And then on the right is the private drive access onto Harding Road looking toward the county portion of the property. Here we have a view of the paved drive from the parking area that's located beside the home toward the southern property line. You can see um right there is a little white square up against the barn that's located down there. That is another sign that we posted for visibility purposes so that people could tell where the lot um where the site was that is being applied for. A privacy fence you will see on the right is bordering the dwelling that shares the private drive. On the left you will see right here is the survey plat and it shows that it is a shared drive with a 20ft ingress and egress easement. And then on the right again is an aerial showing that easement. And the area that is outlined in blue has some natural landscaping buffering from some of the adjacent properties as well. Some of the impacts that have been identified or um addressed. The dwelling is located off of the public road and accessed again by a shared private drive with 20 foot access easement. Traffic

impacts will remain minimal, resulting resulting in no greater intensity in traffic than if it were a full-time residence. There's ample parking available. VOTE took no exception to the request for a special use permit. The site is not located in a FEMA flood hazard area and the dwelling is served by a private well and septic. the applicant has applied for a conditional use permit through the health department because currently it is three bedrooms which would typically allow six residences or six occupants. Um his request is for two more than what the normal three-bedroom dwelling would allow, but he would be limiting the occupancy and the availability of the dwelling as a rental. And if you recall, we did this on a well, a conditional use permit was approved on a previous short-term rental and it was limited to 20 days of occupancy and no more than four consecutive days. That is similar to what Mr. Trible is going to be applying for with the health department. A portion of the lot is buffered by natural landscaping and is located on top of the hill. Gatherings, parties will not be allowed per the rental agreement. Pets are not permitted. Outdoor camera will be present for security. And quiet hours have been designated from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. daily. The applicant plans to discuss the management plan with all adjacent property owners. Encourage them to reach out at any time if there are any concerns. Fire safety will be addressed during the zoning and building permitting process. If you read your packets before Monday, you will see that um there's been a change in what has identified as the comprehensive plan designation. That was

an error on my part. I apologize for that. It was originally put in the packet as residential transition, but is actually urban expansion. It was correct in all of the legal advertisements and notifications. It was just wrongly reported in there. It has since been corrected and that's what was uploaded on your packet on diligent on Monday. Urban expansion is an area adjacent to the town of Blackburg in this case and features a broad range of mixed uses at urban development densities and intensities. It often serves as a natural expansion area for uses occurring within the town. There are three comprehensive plan goals that are being met if this short-term rental is recommended for approval. The proposed use meets regulations outlined in the supplemental regulations, which will again be double checked at permit issuance. The proposed use would remain residential with no more impacts than a full-time residence. Ample parking is available and VOTE takes no exception to the use. Staff recommends approval of the rec request for a special use permit to allow a short-term tourist rental at 1430 Harding Road with the following conditions. Occupancy shall be up to eight occupants pending approval of the VDH application. The property shall be registered with the Commissioner of Revenues Office for meals and occupancy taxes. Any applicable permits must be obtained from the building department and all requirements in McGomery Code for short-term tourist rentals shall be met prior to the issuance of a zoning permit. All adjacent property owners were notified in accordance with state code. Public hearing signs were placed at the

property and the legal ads were published in the Cardinal News online. Staff has received no inquiries related to this request. Additional comments may be received during the public hearing. From what I understand, we have one registered um person to speak and that's actually the owner. He is here to answer any questions, Mr. Trible. And do you have any questions for me? Do the members of the commission have any questions, Kim?

Yes, sir. Um, since we are uh have a proposal for eight occupants in three bedrooms, are the bedrooms sufficiently large to uh allow Let's go back to the floor plan. They are large. Um, Mr. Trible is here and he can address how he plans to accommodate those extra two people. I'll go ahead and pull up the floor plan for that. Does anyone else have any questions before Mr. Trible answers that question? Thank you. You're welcome.

I know Colonial Accommodations allowed six or eight people per bed, but that's not comfortable, I don't think. It's true. Are there any other questions? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Trouble. question. Thank you, Kim, and thank you for your question, sir. Um, the bedrooms are by standard pretty large bedrooms. Um, as far as the accommodations for for sleeping eight people, the fourth one would probably be something like a pullout couch or something like that. Um, so there's plenty of room. Um, not sure anybody would even use it, but that would be available. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? Other questions of the applicant? Thank you sir. Thank you. I would now like to open the public hearing. Um if anyone in the audience wishes to speak on this topic and now is the time. There was no one signed up. And seeing no reaction, I will close the public hearing. Um and move to uh discussion among the members.

Is there a second with conditions? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Linkis seconds. Um Miss Sharp Robinson, would you do the honors, please? Sure. Uh, Commissioner Waltz, yes. Commissioner Croll, yes. Commissioner Rice, yes. Commissioner Miller, yes. Commissioner Workman, yes. Commissioner uh, chair, sorry, Vice Chair Lincolnis, yes. Chair Foster, yes. And myself, yes. Okay. Carries. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you.

Next item on the agenda is um we've got two requests that uh we need to discuss and vote on separately. Um so I'll look for two motions later. The first is um a request by JJB Properties LLC to amend Profer conditions of reasonzoning OD fiscal year 2002 originally approved on September 23rd, 2019 and a request by JJB Properties LLC to amend a special use permit originally approved on September 23rd, 2019 to allow any warehouses uh in the community business zoning district.

Mr. Cochran. Thank you. Good evening.

Good evening. So, here you can see the vicinity maps. Um they are very similar to Miss Wright's um property that she was working on. There's actually only one um property between the two. So, they are very nearby. there on Harding Road. Um on the left you can see an aerial image of the subject property. On the right you can see the zoning map. You can see that the rear property is zoned R2. The front property to the left is zoned GB general business. And the property to the right is CB community business. The surrounding area is zoned all zoned R2 except for across the street. Um so yes on the uh to give some background um September 23rd 19 2019 the board of supervisors did approve a resoning and a special use permit request um in order to have this property developed. Um there is an existing um auto body shop on the property. Um so what they wanted to do was bring that automobile or the automobile um repair shop into conformance as well as a single family dwelling um as well as allow for the community business on an order to construct many warehouse um facilities. Here is the original approved master plan. Um you can see the three properties. Let's see. You have the property here to the left. Uh this is the existing automobile repair shop. Uh the road here, it goes back to the R2 zone property which will be future residential. And then you have the property here uh for the mini warehouses. And again, this has already been approved. So, the big thing for tonight is they are just requesting to amend uh some of the site layout as well as um add an additional um portion of the GB property

to be developed as a property management professional office. Um again, they um the owner came forth wanting to develop a future building as shown on the master plan. Condition five of the approved special use permit said that um structures identified as future buildings on the Harding Road properties resoning master plan Z3 dated June 3rd, 2019 last revised August 15, 2019 shall require approval of an amendment to the special use permit prior to being considered for reconstru or for construction. Again, in addition to altering the proposed buildings, the owner also wishes to revise parking locations, elimination of the southern access in the elimination of the southern access entrance closest to Harding Road. Since the special use permit required a public hearing, the owner decide decided to revise some of the other aspects of the original master plan as well. Um, and this would require um an amendment to the those proper conditions. The owner wishes to construct a professional office building which will serve the property which will serve as property management office. The professional office buildings are a byite use in the GB general business district. Additionally, the owner requests to make a minor change to the temporary culde-sac and construct a T turnaround instead. So, here is the proposed development. Um here you can see the proposed uh property management um building with the provided parking here and then some of the changes that you can see elsewhere. This is where this is where the temporary uh cult was. It is now a T turnaround and which will uh I believe in the future will serve a storm water management facility down below. Um, in regards to the mini warehouse facility, they are adding this proposed building back here. They are also going

to be adding in some gravel parking areas uh for RVs, boats, trailers, that kind of thing. Um, they're also adding in some gravel parking up here up front um for the same purpose um maybe automobiles, boats, anything like that. Um, they are also I I'll show the next screen as well, but they also had originally proposed another access to Juwel Boulevard here and they they decided to eliminate that as well. And here's a sideby-side comparison of the two for your reference. So, here is the site as it currently stands. Um, the picture to the left is the rear of the property looking uh towards Harding Road. Here is the bug shop. The picture to the right is standing on Harding Road again looking at towards the bug shop. The professional office building would be back here towards the rear of the property. Here I am standing um I'm standing on what would be Juel Boulevard looking up towards where the R2 um single family residential would be located and then the property or the picture to the right again is just on that area which will be the future mini warehouse area. The property to the left is the current storm water management facility and again the picture to the right is again just of the rear of the portion zoned R2 which will be for the single family dwellings impacts traffic. Um the applicant has proposed to construct a public street which will be dual boulevard that will be taken over for maintenance by VOTE. The street will be used to access the proposed mini warehouses and property management office um in the existing automobile service shop and any of the future single family dwellings. VOTE

takes no exception to the approval of this request. Um the subject property is not currently served by public water or sewer. The existing uses are served by private wells and septic systems. The many warehouses will not require water or sewage facilities as there will be no office space. The proposed property management office and any future dwellings on the remaining R2 property would be served by private well and septic and the subject property does not lie within a FEMA designated flood zone. The property is designated as residential transition. Um this designation encourages lowdensity residential um and development that is compatible with adjacent neighborhoods and subdivisions. Um in the comprehensive plan, it does not address nonresidential uses. Uh so again, the proposed amendments to the SGP are consistent with the SGP approved in 2019 and allows for more storage accommodations. The prof professional office is a vite use in the GB general business district. Besides the addition of the professional office, no major operational changes to the site are proposed from the previously approved resoning and special use permit and VOTE takes no exception to the proposed uses. So staff recommends approval of the resoning with the proper conditions. The only proper condition that changed from the previous one is just the dates more or less on the first um proper condition. Uh the the property shall be developed in general conformance with the master plan by Westwood Professional Services depicted on sheet Z2 dated February 2nd, 2026 and revised February 20th, 2026. Um and staff further recommends approval of a special use permit to allow many warehouses with no less than the following conditions to address scale and character. Um again, I underlined

the one that has changed. So I we we added in the site shall be developed in general conformance with the amended master plan sheet Z2 dated February 2nd, 2026 and revised February 20th, 2026. Um the only other thing was there was a condition five which addressed the fact whether or not they were to amend um or if they were to add one of the proposed buildings. That was condition five. So since they are adding a proposed building and they're not proposing any other addition additional buildings um we remove that condition as um recommended. Uh adjoining property owners were not notified in accordance with Montgomery County code. A public hearing sign was placed on each of the properties. Legal ads were actually ran in the Cardinal News. Need to address that. Uh staff has received staff has actually received one comment which I believe you were all made aware of prior to this meeting. Um and any additional comments may be received during the public hearing. There any questions from me?

Mr. Miller, your mic's not on. How's that? Perfect. Good. with the uh change of rather than a culde-sac with a T-turn. Uh one uh does that meet the requirements for public health and safety? And I assume since there's no public water, there would be no fire hydrants anywhere on the property. No. And and yes, the the T turnaround does meet VOTE requirements. My final question is if orange is a bright color, is maroon a bright color?

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Um, can you tell me what the and maybe the applicant wants to join you, the square footage of this proposed uh office building is going to be? So, the applicant is here um and they can uh answer that question for you. And then, um I have a question about security cameras. Mhm. And a question about the private well.

Okay. Um would you guys like to come up? Good evening. Um, I'm Christian Merrick with Westtoid. I'm the engineer on the project. This is Jason with the ownership team. So, he can probably help answer some of these questions. Um, yeah. Do you want to go ahead and ask what what your question was? Whoever had the question about the security cameras. Well, the first question was the size of the proposed building. Yes. Size of the proposed building. So, the the footprint is 2,300 square feet. One story, two stories. It's going to be two stories. So, it's going to be,

you know, kind of a garage on the lower level and a the office part above. It'll be residential in nature. It'll be a sloped roof. It would blend in with the houses behind that we're planning to build in the future. Okay. And the security cameas, how many are you going to have and where does this data go? So the I think we showed six of how many six five or six probably site lighting

and it's the dark sky initiative so they're only 15 ft tall and the the security cameras would be on those poles and that data would go back to well well currently it would go to our office in Blackburg but eventually it' probably go to our office in Blackburg and this building.

Okay. Um, you wouldn't use a third party keep the data away from the prop the site in case there's a fire or something. Well, pro I guess that probably would be a feature of it and you know we haven't really the other security we cameras we have they we do get to we can see them whenever we want and I guess now that you say that it is recorded by the company. Yes. Okay. And then the uh the well you're asking for R2 zoning at some point you're going to need to have public water.

No. So originally when we did the thing when we did this the back property was zoned R2 or already was already zoned R2. It was already zoned R2. So what we had to do was we had all the proposed lots perked for a well and a septic already. So they're already that's already been taken care of for the for the rear portion. So you just have to drill the well. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Are there other questions of the applicant?

I just had one question. Um I just wanted to confirm operating hours for the storage units are only during daylight hours. Is that correct? I remember what does it say? I think it says till 700 p.m. That sounds right. I don't I thought it said daylight hours on the Maybe I missed something. I think that was that was in the original application and I don't remember. Yeah. Number eight shall be limited to daylight hours only. So I just wanted to confirm that. Okay. Okay. Okay. Other questions?

Okay. I did want to clarify a couple of things really quick. Um, so as Jude said, this did come through for resoning and special use and was approved in 2019. We did submit a site plan in 2020. Um, and at that time we changed the temporary hold act to a T turnaround. So that was part of the approved site plan. Um, and as you had asked that is a approved VOTE design and VOTE did approve it. So that is technically permitted already. So, we did include it on this since it's different from the approved master plan, but it has been permitted by VOTE. Um, I just wanted to clarify that for everyone's understanding. Um, I have two other questions. Sure.

Um, are daylight hours only going to be enough for a passive storage area? I mean, students don't operate on quite the same schedule as normal adults. Yes. And with daylight saving time, sometimes it gets dark at five o'clock. So yeah, I'm thinking the hours should be at minimum 8 to 8. Minimum maybe 9 to 9 or 8 to nine. I'm really I can't I don't remember what the hours were, but you said what were they? Well, I'm just repeating what's listed as one of the staff's recommendations. Number eight, that's what caught my attention was

um hours of operation shall be limited to daylight hours only only. So I don't know if I didn't see this. Wants to speak to that. So, so to clarify, that was part of the approved special use permit in 2019. Um, but now is the time to change it. So, it can be changed. Those conditions can be suggested by you um to the board of supervisors and and then it will just be presented as a revised condition to the board. My other question since my memory is failing me, when did you begin the fill process to bring up the foundation for the storage units?

Probably in 2021. Yes, 2021. That's right. Yeah. Thank you. There was another maybe another clarification. I guess Jude Jude's presentation the approved plan you know showed some basically if you pull Where's Gretchian's right there. So the propos the the building that's parallel to Harding that was added that was a proposed building on the initial application and it said if we were going to build that building we had to come back right

but there was also another building per paral or perpendicular to the street that we removed. Yes. So really, it's less total units than it was before, right? So it had five buildings and it still has five buildings. We really just moved one of them.

So we we basically added the build added the building that's parallel to the street and added some parking some parking spaces because we felt like that would be it's more of a use. We could be more more well well-rounded as a business offer some spots like that. It also um removing that building helped with some of the grading to give us a little more room on that slope. So, we made that decision after construction started looking at the amount of fill that was needed. We removed that that building on the far right. Yeah, this is the larger version of what was approved in 2019. And you can see there were two future buildings there that are perpendicular to Harding Road. They're only proposing to build one of those. And then there was the proposed building that was perpendicular to Hardin Road that that is not shown on the new updated concept plan.

And the other addition would be that the parking lot in front of the office building would be paved. Correct. Instead of gravel. I think that's that's probably it. Yeah, I think so. The changes. So the changes were the addition the building taking a building away adding a building adding the office building and adding some parking and we have also removed one of the entrances into the storage site. No one has asked about that but for clarification um that was also due to the grade that let us drop the storage site down by a few feet and just reduce the fill. So

it actually so the site we lowered the site by about 10 ft. Yeah. it was and that so when you pull in right off the main road instead of being able to take a direct right into the storage facility you go down the hill further and then take a right in so the whole site's further down. Mr. Sure. Could could we discuss the operating hours because as it's presently written, your operating hours are going to go from 9 hours in December to 15 hours in June, right?

I think it should be 8:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. days a week that after Okay, we can do that. All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Chair? Yes, sir. Does the uh bug shop, is that still an operating enterprise? Yes, sir. Okay. And that's unrelated to your property?

No. So, originally, so if you guys have ever driven by the bug shop, you know that they have this huge entrance. It's like 120 ft long and and it's kind of a little bit awkward. So, as part of this development, when the new public road is put in, they will no longer have access to the main road. Okay?

So, their access will be off of the new road, which should clean things up there considerably and so that it's not a, you know, they're always pulling out into the street because the building's kind of close to the road. So that was part of the original idea was to h have them use the side entrance versus the street entrance, which is one of the things everybody was pretty happy about in the in the first the first go around.

Thank you. It's just taken a while to to get the material in, which is why coming back so far from so long from 2019 till now. It's just taking a little while for us to accomplish what we needed to. Thank you. Thank you. I'd now like to open the public hearing. If anyone wishes to speak on this topic, please come forward. And I see we have gentlemen, could we please have your name and your address?

Uh my name is Jeff Ames and I'm at uh 1441 Harding Road. It's almost directly across. Um, and I was here during the meetings in 2019. And I remember at the time there was a lot of concern. Um, I wouldn't say opposition, but there was some concern. And one of the and I came back tonight not necessarily planning on speaking, but to just see what the changes were going to be because it was um, I don't know, sensitive issue. And uh I'm a little concerned that two of the things that I was we were all uh worried about at the time was um as Jason mentioned that you know changing this driveway would clean up some of the the bug shop and now we're going to have a parking lot with RVs and boats and I mean that's that's my view. That's I'm if I'm sitting on my porch, I'm looking out on there. And I was kind of encouraged that we were going to clean up some of the the bug shop of all the cars. And I I support the bug shop. That's where I get my car work done. But I don't love looking at cars and now boats and RVs just sitting in my view. So that's I I don't love that idea. Um and the other thing was we agreed that it would be limited to daylight hours regardless of what those hours were. that I I have a six-year-old daughter. My neighbor has a two-year-old daughter. My neighbor across the street has a three-year-old daughter. I, you know, I don't love the idea of cars coming in and out all night or at 9:00 at night or when my daughter's in bed. And that was one of the things that we talked about and we were assured it would be limited to daylight hours. There wasn't a discussion about winter or daylight savings. sun goes down, it'll be and and and and crime for that matter that it sun goes down and it's dark, we wouldn't have to worry about

who's coming and going at night. And we were assured and we got on board and I think generally the neighborhood's been supportive because of those things that it would be cleaned up in front of there and that at daylight hour we wouldn't have to worry about people coming and going. And now those things are kind of back on the table. it sounds like. So, I wish I hope I'm encouraging you guys to reconsider those those issues. Um, I wish there was more of my neighbors here tonight. I know in 2019 there there were a lot of us. So, I don't know. I didn't get a letter in the mail and I literally lived directly across the street. Um, a friend of mine, a neighbor of mine who's working out of town this weekend would have liked to been here, but he couldn't. He's he's out of town working. So, um, I hope that I can just, uh, represent that those that felt the same way back then and still feel the same way. So, thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. I would now like to close the public hearing. I think we Oh, I'm sorry. Could I have your name and address, please?

Hello, my name is Phyllis Buckley and um I live at 2873 Writes Way. I have been in Blackburg since I was in third grade. And my husband and I moved from the town of Blackburg out to Wright's way so that we would um have a little less noise from the students, less light pollution um and enjoy the view. And we loved it so much there that we have now a property at 2814. It's a small sliver, but it has a beautiful view to the mountains. And we're concerned about I mean, we're we got a loan for $200,000 to build a house there to sort of celebrate the view because it is so beautiful and we do have concerns about the light pollution. Um I'm sort of spoke to my neighbors. They weren't most of them weren't able to come. the gentleman who recently bought the cabin from Mr. Wright um it isn't in town. My husband is not in town. Um but we have had a conversation amongst ourselves for the past two days and I'll try to uh convey what we spoke about. Um, I think that Miss Baxter, and I'm sorry I don't have her address with me, has been concerned about the trucks coming, the constant beeping and some fill that's been coming in again and again and not, you know, stopping. So that there is perhaps, I'm not sure, 20 to 40 feet change in topography. And we weren't sure what um the rules about that were, if it's if there's an engineer involved with water runoff or if this was um in the plan perhaps. She was concerned because she felt like it

wasn't soil, but it was perhaps debris from other um construction sites. I don't um know for sure, but that was her question. And you know, so there is more uh noise. We are concerned about light pollution and this is a very quiet residential area, you know, except for the bug shop. I also um go to the bug shop. So um but they were grandfathered in, I believe. So, it really isn't to us, it doesn't really feel right to have something very large with more noise, with more light pollution, um, and something that would really change the value of our land because of the view that would be dramatically changed. So, those are the concerns that the neighbor spoke to me about yesterday and today. So, thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Buckley. Now, I'd like to close the public hearing and turn to the commission for any questions or comments. I'll say that I'm still concerned about the hours of operation being variable depending on when the sun sets. Um and I think that um you know five o'clock in in the winter time might be too early. And um so I'm I'm in favor of extending the hours to more of a fixed time. Originally, I thought 8:00 in the morning till 9 at night. Um, might be flexible to go to 8 to 8 if depending on how the rest of commission feels. Is that

reasonable as far as operating hours? The original one actually said 7:00 a.m. to 700 p.m. in 2019. I was I was under the impression that originally it was daytime hours. It says 7 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Could we consider an hour following sunrise to an hour before sunset or some some such language? I'm afraid if we tie it to the sun, the sun is a variable coming up and down and daylight saving time and and so forth to kind of I I like to pick a a day a time. Well, the sun is variable. So is our life in the the last week or so. I've realized that there is an outdoors that you can enjoy. I would suggest 7 to 7.

What's that? 7 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 7 to 7. That way hopefully families 7:00 p.m. it's dark in the winter and it doesn't disrupt family activities too late in the evening and 7:00 a.m. right now is almost daylight. But um I think 7 to 7 would be daylight hours most the part. Are you okay with that? And is it Monday through Friday or is it Monday through Sunday? Was that in the agreement as well? Does I don't it did not. So I we have the option to say something about that.

Mic was off. Okay. Daily from I'm proposing then yeah that we would change or amend you a second. Okay. We have two votes to take. Okay. One is to amend the profered conditions. So that would be that and the second would be to amend the special use permit. So the so the staff recommendation on proper conditions. So now would be the time I'm suggesting correct. Yes, Miss Hopkins. Mhm. Right. For the reason. Yes. Now would be the time for you to make a motion.

Make a motion to amend the proper conditions. Okay. I make a motion. We amend the proper conditions for the operating hours to be from 7 a.m. to Nope. Okay. Okay. is special use permit is something Hold your thoughts. All right, I pause. Sorry about that, y'all. That's okay. So, it I'm sorry. Is there a a motion on the floor? Because I I have a I have a comment before we move forward.

So, I do have some concerns about the planning commission changing operating hours that the applicant hasn't even asked for. The applicant was happy with what was presented. I assume and based on the citizens comment about the basis for that condition being included in 2019, I don't know that it's really up to us to arbitrarily pick hours of operation without knowing more about what agreements were made that led to that daylight hours condition to be inserted to begin with. So, I'm not comfortable entertaining a motion or a recommendation to the board changing that condition till we find out a little. Maybe you can shed some light, too. But if if that was part of the discussion and and agreement by the applicant to address the neighbors concerns and that was a concession that they made, I don't feel comfortable changing that just because it's been opened back up as a revision.

So I'm not quite sure how it happened, but what was included in the staff analysis and in this recommendation does not reflect what was originally approved. So, uh, Mr. Linkos is correct. So, the the original condition was hours of operations shall be 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. So, that was originally what was approved. I'm not sure how 19 that was approved in 2019. Yes. So, where did the daylight hours come from? I'm not sure. It might have been coming it might have came in from the original staff analysis from the previous resoning and special use permit. I might have accidentally copied and paste. Got a little got a little happy copy and pasting. Yeah. And I I don't remember that. I mean, I remember passing this in 2019, but I don't remember that being

Yeah. a discussion. So, I would keep it consistent with the 2019. Yes. I would be supportive of that as well. Okay. Thank you. Y

All right. I would like to ask for a motion. um to amend the profer conditions uh the first public hear first half of the public hearing if that's um proper um originally approved on September 23rd, 2019. Mr. Lincolnis, is there a second? I'll second it, Mr. Rice.

And and just to clarify, we're we're approving the Can you put those back up on the um monitor, please? Which one? the whatever we're voting on. This is so this is for the amendment to the resoning profers and the only thing that is changing on the profered conditions. The applicant has submitted a revised set of profers. They're all the same except what's underlined here which is the property shall be developed in conformance with the new master plan. So this is for the reasonzoning. Okay. Thank you. That was approved in 2019. So, it's just incorporating the revised master plan. Correct.

Okay, that's that makes sense. Thank you for clarif

Commissioner Waltz. Yes. Commissioner, yes. Commissioner Rice, yes. Commissioner Miller, yes. Commissioner Workman, yes. Commission, uh, Secretary Robinson, yes. Vice Chair Lincoln, yes. Chair Foster. Yes. Motion carries. Now, I'd like to turn to a second um motion to amend the special use permit. Um and we can deal with Oh, I guess we need to deal with uh recommendation eight to take it back to the original.

Right. Hours of operation shall be limited to 7 am to 7 pm 2019. Correct. So again, the only thing that would change from the original special use permit approval is we are moving condition number five um of the original approval which stated they had to come back in order to build that future building. Um and then we are also updating the master plan with the new revised dates. So, does condition five still apply as written? So, condition five we have removed. No, the one that's in there now,

it's in the staff recommendation. Yes. So, that is for those other buildings and well,

but they're proposing that's parallel to Harding. They're proposing one that is parallel to hard Harding. Um, and that's why we put the generally perpendicular in that condition, I'm assuming, in 2019. Um, and said if they did that one that was parallel to Harding, it had to come back. So, in the original approval, you can see it showed two buildings that were perpendicular to Harding. Condition number five in that ordinance stated that it had to come back if they wanted to build either or both of those buildings the future.

So that's why they have come back. So we've removed that condition because now they're here to to build it. Um and they don't want to build the other one. So we can take that condition out. Oh, so in the I'm sorry this No. And I think I think part of this is we should have clarified this in the conditions. So is five is that a new condition five or is that the one by the former condition six? So the condition five that you see ahead of you is is the former condition number six. We removed condition five. Okay. And then this is

and renumbered the conditions from there. So, what we should have done to help clarify this was left condition five in there and show shown it as being struck through. Well, but also I guess we need to Does this apply also to the other building, the office building? No, it does not because this only applies to the community business zoning district for the many warehouses. This special use permit is only for the many warehouses. Okay. So, could you add the date of the master plan to this condition so that it's clear to number five?

Yes. Which Yes. Which one it's referring to? Yes, we can. We can add that date. And I believe the other building, Mr. Croll, is by right.

Yeah. I I guess it's just confusing since this is generally perpendicular, but there's one building that's parallel that they're planning on building. And so it seems like the wording in this could be debated at some point where somebody argues that the building that they're building is not generally perpendicular to the road. It is definitely parallel to the road in a violation of this condition. And so I think the wording in this condition needs to be clarified to the point where it removes that ambiguity for enforcement down the road. And if it's tied to the master plan, then it the master plan shows it the way it is proposed today and that's what we're approving. So

right and I think the reason that condition is in there so we say general conformance. So to me, general conformance is they've shown x number of buildings, right? So if they come in and they want to build I'm going to pull up the plan here. So they show on this plan four buildings. So if you take that condition out and they come in and they decide they want to turn those buildings all parallel, you know, just situate them the other way. That's still in general conformance because they're building the same size. They're just changing their orientation. So with that condition there, those four buildings that are shown perpendicular to Harding cannot be turned the other way.

Okay? And that's why we required the special approval for the for the building that they do want to orient parallel to Harding. Okay. So, does that make sense? Yeah, it does. Uh, we just need to add the date. I'll add that date. Miss Hopkins. Yes. Uh, an aesthetic question. Um, who is the arbiter of what is a bright color?

I honestly I guess it would be Jude. um as zoning administrator, we would ask him to make that interpretation. Um I I'm not fond of orange and maroon, but I do like old gold and black. So there you go. Thank you. Thank you. Would anybody like to try to take a stab at a motion? Considering the new number eight,

I guess I'll I'll do it. I'm make the motion that we approve uh the special use permit as amended with the new hours of operation being 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and the date of the master plan added. Right. Right. Right. With the amended date. And I'll second. Did you restate? 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. And I understand that was the original, correct? The original hours that were approved in 19. Commissioner Waltz, yes. Commissioner Croll,

yes. Commissioner Rice, yes. Commissioner Miller, yes. Commissioner Workman, yes. Uh, Commission Secretary Robinson, yes. Vice Chair Lincolnis, yes. Chair Foster, yes. All right, motion carries.

We now move to the next item on the agenda, which is discussion of Montgomery Manners comprehensive plan. Um, for the county of McGomery, Virginia. Montgomery Matters comprehensive plan establishes a long-term framework and so forth. Good evening. Um so this evening um since we've looked at the plan multiple times in work session, I'm going to go through just um what went into the development of the plan, the different constituencies that were consulted. Um and then at the end um if we have specific questions um about the document, we can go through. I I do want to apologize when we sent out the packet last week um we were under the impression that the final document was up on the website. there was an upload error and that didn't get uploaded until Monday. So, if you looked prior to Monday, you would have not seen the final final version of the draft. Um, we sat down about a week and a half ago with our final round of comments that we had received from the commission and integrated that feedback in, sent those changes off to the consulting team. Um, and were able to get those integrated in. So, if there's anything specific, we'll definitely be able to go through that this evening. So we are in month 23 of our comprehensive plan update. Um we have done a lot of work. We've heard from a lot of citizens. We have vetted I think very thoroughly the recommendations that you have before you. Um but I wanted to just go back 23 months and let's let's talk about what this process was. We spent a significant amount of time gathering data, analyzing that data to look for trends that we were seeing uh here in the county. We reviewed past plans to make sure that we weren't reinventing the wheel and that we were carrying forward um

recommendations and work that had been previously done. Then we worked with the community to identify what they felt the community's most pressing needs were. Um and as you can imagine, we heard a lot about housing. We heard a lot about growth. Um we also heard a lot about resiliency. Um, and that again is not lost on us that we were coming out of Hurricane Helen and some severe weather events. So, I think that was top of mind for a lot of folks in the community and really identifying what made Montgomery County a place that people wanted to live, work, and play. Um, then we moved into our visioning stage. We looked at a countywide vision and several crosscutting themes that you see throughout the plan. Then we worked to develop and evaluate recommendations and went through several different iterations of those with our citizen groups. And then we finally developed the plan. And something that was important to us throughout this entire process was that we had engagement at every step of the process. We made sure that the citizens were aware, our stakeholder groups were aware of where the plan was going. that gave us the opportunity to tweak and edit as we went along so that we didn't put a document out and then have to do a a large number of revisions. We really felt like we were going back to not only our citizens, our stakeholders, but that citizen steering committee which was from the beginning that main group that was meant to vet all of these recommendations as we went forward. So, you can see we're we're at the end of the process. We still have a little bit more work to do and I'll tell you about next steps at the end of the presentation. So again, engagement was a huge part of this process. This graph shows you just how much engagement that was done throughout the process. Um last summer or two summers ago now, we did 11 public intercepts and talked to over 850 citizens face toface about the issues facing the county. We did three community surveys over the past two

years and received over 1,400 different responses either through uh written response or our MAP exercise. We held four public open houses with over 150 citizens participating and over a thousand comments received. We met with stakeholders 25 different times with 120 plus stakeholders engaged in that process. Our citizen steering committee met eight times and again vetted things throughout the process. And we've held 10 work sessions with you over the course of the past two years related to McGomery matters. And when I say we talked to a lot of people, we talked to a lot of people. These are the various groups that were consulted over the course of the past two years through our stakeholder engagement. Um we really wanted to make sure that we had the subject matter experts in the room, the people that are working in these fields every single day. uh in issues related to housing and health care, health and human services, culture and outdoors, uh historic preservation. We we really left no stone unturned in asking people to participate in this process. Uh and I think when you look at the names here, there's going to be people that you're going to see here that are really renowned in their respective areas uh of expertise. So, speaking of visioning, really the thing that we did at the beginning of this process that sort of has uh been our kind of crosscutting uh vision throughout this entire process is the county's overall vision. Um, and these are words, phrases, and feelings that come directly from quotes that we heard from citizens throughout the process. So, McGomery County is a vibrant and resilient community where forwardthinking, collaboration, and innovation empower all residents to thrive. Um, we heard that in a variety of different ways throughout this process that we want to give our citizens the opportunity to have successful lives, however they define that in the county. Um, and I think as you go through the

various chapters and look at the various goals, you'll see that reflected. We had four what we call core matters or principles that kind of crosscut throughout the entire document. We want to make sure that we're being intentional. We want to make sure that the county is accessible. We want to make sure that we're intending to be collaborative in all of the work that we're doing. And again, that idea of resiliency. And so, as we begin to organize the plan, uh you see there we have five parts of McGomery Matters. The plan and the process really talk about all of the work that was done to lead to the final document. And then we break the plan into various topics. Outdoors and culture, community development, and health and services. Part five is what we still have to do and the work we will be doing over the next several months as we do our land use vision and our village planning. And then again throughout the document we've structured it that we have a goal, we have strategies to achieve that goal and we have concrete actions with assigned timelines for us to achieve those goals. So these are the four parts um that we would be looking for a recommendation for adoption plan. Part one, the plan and the process. Part two, outdoors and culture, which includes environmental resources, cultural and historic preservation, and recreation. Part three, community develop mat development matters, which talks about our land use vision, economic resources and development, housing and transportation. And part four, health and services matter, which covers education, health and human services, public infrastructure, and public safety and welfare. go back. Sorry, got a little click happy there. Um, we have four items that we've identified as sort of prime transformations and these are four um results of the comprehensive planning process that are really going to take us some time, but they're going to have the most transformational effect uh in

McGomery County over the next 20 years. You've heard us talk a lot about this zoning rewrite. Um and that ultimately is going to be the main vehicle to achieve a lot of these goals, particularly around land use. Um so we know that we are working with a zoning ordinance that was last revised in 1999 that does not reflect the current needs of the county. What McGomery Matters will do, it will give us a blueprint of the edits that need to be made in the new zoning ordinance to achieve the goals that we've laid out. Another aspect that's already underway is our parks master plan. Uh the parks and recreation department and the parks and recreation commission are working with the same consulting firm that we used here for McGomery Matters. Um we gathered a lot of data about parks and recreation throughout our engagement efforts. We're able to funnel that over to parks and recreation for use in their plan. Um the master plan is a shorter term document than the comprehensive plan. We're looking here at 5 to 10 years, but this is going to really outline for our parks and recreation department where investments need to be made in our parks infrastructure. The countywide interconnected trail network. This is something else that we heard a lot from our citizens and we already have uh efforts going in this regard. If you'll remember several years ago, we adopted the vital plans for the villages. That was talking about having multiple ways of connection between the villages. We've also been talking for this past several years about the valleyto valley trail. So this idea of connecting all of our communities in the county through a trail network has been something we've been talking about for some time and we want to continue making strides and steps in that direction. And then really when we talked to the citizens about growth, we really talked about how we want to grow. And the idea here is growing in not out. Um, we want to avoid wherever we can sprawling out into the picturesque countryside that our citizens identified as their number one concern when we talk to them about

McGomery Matters. So, looking the looking at the ways that we recommend future growth. This is our village areas. This is our proposed growth areas. This is again continuing investment within the two towns to provide services and housing. Um, and then being very very critical about where we look at growth outside of those designated areas. We talked a lot when we were meeting in the initial stages of the village about ways that we can do growth within the villages that's not new construction. So revitalization or infill. Um and those are things that we're going to be looking at as we continue through the village engagement process. So again, this was a team effort. Um I I did a quick back of napkin calculation. 2,000 staff hours over the past two years have been spent to compile this document. Um, that is our staff time. That does not include the times our consultants spent on this project. Um, doesn't include our steering committee. Um, their work that was done, but this evening, I know some of them weren't able to be with us this evening, but I do think it's important for us to recognize the commitment that these citizens have made over the past two years. Um so our citizen steering committee included Steve Betho, Emily Gibson, Andy Cassoff, Gunnan Kuran, now Supervisor Karan, Susan Miller, Beth Obenchain, Debbie Owen, Steve Simonus, Bruce Stanger, Kim Strom, Lauren Tate, and Jess Wgo. Um our exeicio members were our board representatives Todd King and Anthony Graphsky, and Mr. Rice, the representative from the planning commission. Um, we also want to make sure that we thank you all. Um, again, I've stood in front of you now 10 times talking about McGomery Matters in work session. You have helped us to shape the document and make it better. So, thank you all so much for your contributions. Thank you to the board of supervisors. Um, thank you also to our public relations and community engagement team. The reason that this document looks so

good is that several years ago, Durley Agular in our public relations office actually designed the brand pallet, the logos, and everything for the plan. Um, our consultants have told us that saved us a large amount of time and a large amount of money because they normally have to develop that for communities as they're going through the process. So, without Durley's work, we wouldn't have had that great starting point. Uh PRC also made sure that our commercials were posted on the website and on the public access channel. They helped us with design for our village meetings. Um so they've done done a whole lot. Um parks and recreation and general services staff also were participating in all of our open houses and assisting us with extra staffing. Um and then I I can't say enough, we had an amazing consulting team at EPR. Um, we've had some staff members that have moved on during the course of the process, but every time they were in McGomery County, they told us just how much they enjoyed being here and talking to our citizens. So, I think that says a lot about them. So, next steps. Um, as I mentioned, we're looking this evening for a recommendation to the board of supervisors for adoption. Um, we are looking to adopt McGomery Matters with an effective date of July 1st. That gives us some time to finish those village planning documents, the future land use map, and be able to have everything effective in July in the new fiscal year. We will be working on our village and small area plans. And I've listed the upcoming meeting dates for you there that we will be in the villages. And then we'll be continuing to work on the future land use map. And we're going to be looking at an interpretation policy that the board will adopt. Um again we'll have a new comprehensive plan but a very dated zoning ordinance and that zoning ordinance uh references land use categories that may or may not exist in the new comprehensive plan. So we are going to develop a policy that will help

you all to interpret that gap until we adopt a new comprehensive or a new zoning ordinance and we'll help our zoning administrator make those determinations administratively as well. Um, that's all I have for you this evening. Again, if you want to go into the document, I'd be glad to go in and go to any particular goal or section that you want to talk about. Um, but I think you've heard enough from me for right now. So, I'll take any questions that you have. Um, I might make a comment. Um just in the um you know I've been on plan commission for a long time and and most of our stuff that we handle is u planning and zoning and condition use permit and so forth and and um you know a lot of this is a lot a lot of information but I don't know if if it's in my wheelhouse you know what I'm saying we we've spent a lot of time with land use and and it looks like um the stuff that that we have purview over is not ready yet, right? I mean, we we're talking about the the village plans and the land use map and so forth. Are are do we need to do that first before we do the plan? I'm I'm just wondering are we doing the

does that makes does that make sense what I'm what I'm trying to say? I don't know if I'm saying it right, but

yeah. And I think what you're going to see in part five when we we get the land use strategy a little bit more fleshed out when we have the future land use map when we have the village plans that will contain a lot more of that more land use uh component that you're talking about. Um but the purview of the planning commission is to ensure that projects that come before you meet all aspects of the comprehensive plan. Um and so even this evening I think there were some examples um within some of them that we talked about areas that maybe are not land use specific that the proposed project may address uh may also help us to uh further other goals that are listed in the plan. So that's the reason we're really looking to adopt the larger framework first and then get more micro into the land use in the next part that we'll be bringing to you. Um and it's really hard for us to be doing the future land use map until we understand where those village boundaries are going to be. um there's still some more analysis we need to do on available land calculations to know how those boundaries are going to shape up. So that's the reason you don't have a future land use map yet.

Okay. So, but I I guess what I'm saying is several places in here it refers to the land use map, the future land use map, but we don't have that. So, so in some places it says it refers to the land use map. But then the land use map, we're going to use the comprehensive plan to draft the land use map. But then the comprehensive plan is based on the land use map. So it's almost like we're going in a circle and I don't know if um I don't I don't know if I'm so comfortable passing some. It's almost like you have to pass it and then find out what you passed later.

So I mean we we do lay out some principles of that land use vision in the parts that you're looking at now. So this idea that we're going to continue to encourage growth in the towns, our next tier of development would be the growth areas, then the villages, then the rural villages and on down. So you're I I would argue that you're adopting a framework that's going to guide the development of the future land use map. Um again guiding that vision to that development. Um, the other part of this is that the future land use map can be easily changed as the needs of the county change, whereas the comprehensive plan really is reviewed on those 5-year increments as mandated by state code. Um, so I think you're adopting a larger driving vision and then the specifics of the future land use map are to come. Um, and that's not from from the way comprehensive planning is done, that's not unusual um, in other jurisdictions to do that approach. Um, Miss Hopkins, can you

So, if I could just back to the four chapters, not chapter segments. There we go. Oh, here. Yeah. Uh, I interrupted scroll.

Uh, sorry, I think I interrupted you, Mr. Foster. My my apologies, but I was just going to, I guess, follow up on Mr. Rice's comment. So the the um the part five that is not part of the plan today is still being developed is actually part of that framework. It I guess just from a I guess trying to look at the structure of the plan. So if we adopt an ordinance to uh approve the plan today as presented then the part five is not included but that's part of the plan right?

So part five uh and this is the way if you look at our current comprehensive plan the village plans are separate from the main document. So part five is just the village plans, village plans, the growth area plans, and the future land use. That will be all that's in part five. That's compartmentalized in part five. Okay. Yes. So there's not going to be any goals and strategies per se on a global basis. They're going to be very specific to each individual village or growth area.

So each village plan will have goals, strategies, and objectives. Um, again, the reason we're asking for adoption of the larger county framework first is that those goals will inform how we structure and write the goals for the village plans. What we don't want to have happen is have the village plans be contradictory to the countywide plan. Um, so adopting all of the countywide goals helps us in the development of the goals and strategies that will be in the villages. Those will be though much more land usebased strategies and goals uh as opposed to cultural goals or outdoors and culture goals like you're seeing in the larger plan

as a followup in I may have been misunderstanding. So this part five when it comes that will be where we approve the land use map and sir we're not approving a land use map. There's no land use map in the document for you to approve. We've got an illustration in there denoting roughly where the growth areas and the village boundaries are. I couldn't you couldn't really see any details in the land use map. Yeah. And we will um what we our plan for that is we'll have paper maps for you, but we'll also probably do a GIS layer to be able to show you how those all interact together. Okay.

Um that's why we're we're going to move to that step next. And we wanted to make sure because that again is really the main purview of the planning commission is land use. We didn't want that conversation to get lost in all of the other discussion about all the other parts. And so the growth area that was mentioned about Bel Bethl and Marramac, uh we we'll we'll designate those more fully in part five. In other words, that's not set in stone. we can change that because

you're you're you're basically saying that you agree to those areas in concept um as a as an area to capture growth. We will be looking at the specific boundaries of those areas as part of part five. Yeah, because I of course but I'm kind of concerned about those growth areas whether they're adequate or not. So, as long as as long as part five we can revisit revisit that, then I guess I'm okay with that part.

And I'll say the growth areas really were a result of what we heard resoundingly from citizens in the villages um that they wanted an area of growth that would buffer them from the towns um to capture growth so that it doesn't all go into the villages. Our current policy is that 80% of all growth in the county is in the two towns or the villages. The villages told us we are s receiving far too much growth pressure. Is there another area of the county that could receive that growth? And through all of the analyses that we did, the future land use calculations, the available land flood hazard areas, etc., we identified Marramac and Bethl as the two areas that could serve as that intermediary between the towns and the villages. I I would like to add something to I think it's important to note that both of those areas now are considered growth areas. They're urban expansion areas. So they're areas we would allow growth. They're also they were our first two designated UDA areas. So for a long time they were the only two urban development areas that we had designated in the county. Um, we came back a few years later and added each of our village areas as UDA areas um in in order to qualify for funding through VOTE because you have to be in a UDA to to make those applications. So, those two areas that we're talking are growth areas. Yeah, we're calling them growth areas now, but technically that's what they are right now. We're just renaming them.

But h has there been any growth though happened in the last 10 years in those areas? Um so so the residential house

the the Bethl area as far as residential no um but we have to remember all growth is not residential. Um so so we have a lot of other growth. Um both the Marry MAC area the actually Marmac has had some growth. We have Huckleberry Ridge. Um Stribbles Creek got taken into the town of Blackburg that that's a huge residential development area. Um we had an expansion of a mobile home park. So, we have had some growth in the Marmac area. In the Bethl area, we've not had much residential growth, but we are seeing commercial growth. Um, you you know, recently you've had the redevelopment of one convenience store. Um, we have a new development of a new convenience store that is coming online. Um, there have been some

We have a hotel development.

We have a hotel. Um, we've had a couple of hotel developments down there. Um, so there has been some growth there. it just hasn't been the the residential. Um, but at the same time, those are the type of developments probably that you that you don't want in your Prices Fork or your Reiner or, you know, you you don't you don't want a big hotel in Riner. Um, so it it's it's better suited there close to the interstate. So that's the other thing to remember is growth is not just residential growth. It it is also commercial um and mixeduse growth as well. We also have some limitations uh particularly in the Marramck area. Uh again when our previous future land use map was adopted, we still had an agreement with the town of Blackburg that we could connect to their water system. That ex that agreement doesn't exist anymore and will not be renewed. Um so prioritizing those growth areas and we've already started having conversations with the utilities department. They will be taking our future land use map and using that as the basis for their capital outlay over the next 10 to 20 years. So, we'll start to see that infrastructure investment go into that areas uh into those areas. And then again, some of our previously identified areas for growth. Um you look west of or excuse me, east of Blackburg that was identified in our previous plan as an area for growth. Again, water supply isn't there to be able to do growth there. We've heard through several uh interactions with citizens and through the approval of several projects on the 114 corridor. there are major concerns about the infrastructure for traffic capacity in that corridor. Um so that's I think again another reason to potentially back off that corridor to a degree until we can invest some more in the infrastructure there. Um so we're really not only looking at what we're hearing from the citizens but we're looking at our limitations that we know exist. Um and it is going to to your point from the last meeting Mr. Rice it's going to require us to look at density very very critically. Um we've

had several developers that have approached us in the Marramac area um where we have a maximum density of 12 units per acre and that's a non-starter for them. Um so I think the way we look at development in Marramac and Bethl is going to be dramatically different and much more like the town's density and growth than the villages. And I think again that's a response for what we heard from the citizens throughout the process. Mhm.

I think also in the Bethl growth area regarding residential, there's so much land that is either proposed or presently um restricted by covenants that it it may we may see more more commercial than than we'll see if at all. Um residential. Yeah. And we also have to take into account the 177 agreement with the city of Radford that also would guide the type of development we may see in that corridor.

I had the um mixed pleasure of being in High Point, North Carolina today and I was uh Y'all should have rode together. I know we should we should have traveled together. I was in Winston Sound. Good for you. I should have waved at you. Um, let me first congratulate the old gold and black. Uh, we didn't give you enough of a game, but we'll keep trying.

Um, and there's a lot of activity going on down there, a lot of building. And I looked at the zoning and how they were putting things together. And I'm going to repeat myself, but I'm still feel like this is dancing up more to a strategic plan. than to a comprehensive plan. And I'm not comfortable with having any expertise in part two, three or four. It's just not in my wheelhouse. Um I, you know, we've got real interesting constraints here. Um, and I came from a world where there wasn't one square inch of A1 zoning. And I know the perils of urbanization and I see an urbanization emphasis. Um, and after hearing the public hearing, not everybody's interested in urbanization. So, I don't know where I stand on this, but I'm I I feel uncomfortable because I just I don't have any background in in these three areas. Anyway, high point was nice. I would say to that I attended I think four out of five meetings or whatever and we really comprehensively heard the community. I mean my thumb is still sore from putting up stickers uh and some of them were in favor. So

but uh you know I don't know the answer to that. Obviously, none of us can be an expert in all of these areas. I was delighted that Parks and Wreck was really fully a partner as we were doing this and we're we're a part of every meeting. But, uh, as as you say, this this is a work in prog progress and it's a it's a five-year look and it's not restrictive.

So, if I could also just follow up on that Um, I think from my perspective, we also need to have faith in the process and I I think that's what we're being asked to endorse is the expertise of the the process and the individuals that contributed to where we are today with the document. And I don't know that uh the planning commission um acting on the document as a whole is specifically pronouncing expertise in every technical area that's addressed but on a more global basis I think um you don't have to be an expert in every area. We have to entrust the technical expertise to the steering committee, to staff, to the groups, the the industry groups that participated in the process that they provided input. And if they're not here to speak out against what's in the draft today, um, they kind of had their chance. and it was very apparent that there was quite a bit of outreach and opportunity for that type of external input into the process. So, I'm not sure I agree 100% that we need to be 100% comfortable in all of the minutia and the the wording in every area that maybe is not directly in our wheelhouse. But I think on a broader perspective, it is our purview to to uh look at it in a a broader way.

Thank you. Are there any other questions of Mr. Sanders? Are I have one more question? Are we the only body that would pass vote on it? I mean, would the school board pass it? Would they vote?

So, no. State code says that the planning commission recommends approval of the comprehensive plan to the governing board. And that's the the schools. And this is a again the the interesting way that we do school systems in Virginia. The schools have their own elected board. They set their own strategic plan. Um we really in terms of education and and other constituencies uh we really have to look at where our job as the county stops and the responsibility of other governing boards like the library board or the school board uh take over. Um we did engage with McGomery County Public Schools. they're in the process of adopting a strategic plan. Um, that's not ready and so you don't see a lot of the school's policy reflected in that chapter. Um, but again, because we have the ability to go back and and edit the document as we go along in five-year increments, our hope would be once that strategic plan has been adopted, we can integrate more into the education chapter. Um, Supervisor Karan being a member of the library board, we we worked with their strategic plan and made sure that got integrated in. So I think by the nature of our stakeholder process, other bodies have looked and and signed off on their respective chapters.

So I think you said something important just then. It's a framework that can be evaluated and updated in fiveyear increments. Correct. That's correct. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Correct. We are actually required by state. Okay. I mean um to look at it every five years. We can look at it sooner. Sooner

um you know we can look at it on whatever schedule we want to. Um but it is the goal of the state to have these comprehensive plans to guide the board of supervisors as they make decisions um that are related to all aspects and um they have been very clear that they would prefer that we not put the document on a bookshelf and um just pull it off every once in a while. Um, so that's why they make the requirement that we look at it every five years and make any amendments as necessary.

Okay. I had one a question first. I think it is a beautiful document and so much work and so lovely to review and ease of read and all of those things. But I was curious because I was reading right the culture and the education and the different dates and the goals and the deadlines and I was like who is making these deadlines? So I am curious because I maybe I missed that but how were those deadlines determined because then I also felt like some of them didn't match maybe to other ones. So, and again, I think it comes back to that tenant that we have of collaboration, right? The county itself cannot do it all. Um, and so there are partner organizations that are engaged in this work um that may make it easier to achieve that strategy or that goal by continuing that partnership. Um, so I think that's what you see with those shorter term goals. Maybe the program already exists. It's in its development. Um, so it's it's lowhanging fruit, uh, for lack of a better phrase. the vision list are things that we're going to have to build. We're going to have to figure out. Um and so I think as we go through those those actions are things that we're going to be looking at on a yearly basis with the planning commission and the board through our tracking tools um of how how are we doing on making progress toward those goals. I I think it's pretty likely that some of those shorter term goals may get bumped out to the vision list or maybe if we get if we identify a pool of funding that helps us achieve a vision list item sooner, maybe we can pull that uh back forward a little bit. Um but we're really going to be looking to the board to set those priorities and determine where they want to invest resources. Um and we've already started having some of those conversations as we've we've gone through the different sections and parts with the board. Um the other um aspect of the plan is it directly informs the capital improvements program um that's adopted by the board and that's going to be the bigger ticket items. That's going

to be facilities. That's going to be infrastructure investments um that the board is going to have to look at and prioritize uh in alignment with the comprehensive plan to see if it can achieve those goals. our plan is directing what the board of supervisors so it's will be this is challenging so it doesn't again comprehensive plans are not binding they are recommendations um but it is the voice of the citizens so it's there as a I think a check and balance of the decisions of the board to ensure that what the citizens have expressed that they want to see happen is going to be there for them to look at thank you

I would I'd like to echo what you, Mr. Sanders, and Miss Sharp Robinson, um, said about the design. I've read this plan over and over and over, and I've never really looked at the design in depth, and it really is a very handsome document, and uh, thank you for having the wisdom to uh, use a photograph of the handsomest school west of the Alaganis. You're not biased at all in making that determination, are you, Mr. Miller? And I I do I've got one more question. Yes, sir. The um updated version that was posted um Monday.

When did you say was it this past Monday? It was Monday late week ago. No, it was Monday late afternoon of this week. So, two days. Um and I know I wanted to catch you before the meeting, but I did not. um your comments uh in the public infrastructure chapter, those got integrated. So, um I can pull those up if that's something you'd want to see. Um, no. I'll I'll take your word for it, but I w was I was a little if there were significant changes that were made from what I reviewed in preparation for the meeting tonight that it was only grammatical, spelling, punctuation changes other than the the two comments that you had made on public infrastructure. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Sanders. Thank you all. I would now like to uh open public hearing. um for this particular item and seeing none I will close the public hearing. Uh we have had a interesting discussion. So uh I would ask for a motion to either adopt or um not adopt the McGomery County McGomery Matters comprehensive plan. I move adoption recommendation recommendation for adoption. I'll second. Has made motion.

I'll second. Mr. Workman seconds. I'd like I'd like to say I appreciate the staff. I know you put a lot of time in, a lot of effort.

And um I know you really tried to get engagement. You know, you really tried you had all these meetings scheduled and spent a lot of effort in that, a lot of uh outside of business hours. So, I know you spent a lot of time on that. I appreciate that. I understand that. Um, I I'm I'm still a little concerned about voting outside of my expertise. you know, I'm going to have to uh count on the the people who have expertise in education and health and human services and public infrastructure that they've been engaged and they've um taken part in in in their chapters. uh and and I'm encouraged that the the stuff that pertain to us is still coming and we will have a chance to look at that and uh decide if it's appropriate and have another vote. Um so so I'm looking forward to that discussion in future.

Okay, Mich Robinson. Sure. Here we go. Commissioner Waltz. Yes. Commissioner Croll. Yes. Commissioner Rice, yes. Commissioner Miller, yes. Commissioner Workman, yes. Vice Chair Lincolnis, yes. Chair Foster, yes. Robinson, yes. Thank you. Thank you for all you did. and we'll keep working your like

I'd now like to uh move to the next item on the agenda which is public address and if there's anyone that wishes to address the planning commission now is the time. Seeing no one we will close public address and move to the work session. Is there a motion to move into work session? Thank you, Mr. Walt. Second, Mr. Lincolnis. Uh, I'll second it. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying I opposed. Motion carries. Mrs. Wright.

Thank you. Next month, if you uh deem it worthy to move forward, we have a request by Carolyn Flinchum to reszone 0.6359 acres located on Panorama Drive from manufacturing to agricultural. The property is located um on the left there you can see the star. You can see again it's kind of right outside of the town of Blackburg limits. And then on the graphic on the right you can see exactly more precisely the location. It's located about a half a mile off of Mount Taber Road outside of the town of Blackburg. This is Mount Taber. This is Bishop for reference. On the left, you'll see an aerial photo of the property um showing it. The property is actually 10 point something acres and I will explain that in just a moment. On the right is the zoning map showing the existing zoning on the property and the parcels surrounding. You can see that the entire parcel is green indicating agricultural except for that one purple corner which is zone manufacturing. Okay. Spoiler alert. It's what

the applicant um reached out to us and asked for a minor subdivision. They wanted to cut off one lot and it kind of brought this to our lot to our attention that the property was split zone and we discussed with the applicant um the use of the manufacturing portion. It was reszoned in 1998 and a special use permit was issued in 1998 also for the use of a contractor storage yard at the site. That use has not been used in years. So, the applicant has indicated and said that they want to go ahead and straighten that out, clean up the zoning map, and get rid of the split zoning. So that's what we are working to accomplish today or next month could could you say

you're on could you say a little more about the nature of that group parcel of land the surrounding Go back. Yeah, thank you. Yes, it is all man. It is all agricultural in that area. So this would have been considered spot zoning today and I not sure that it would have been approved in 1998 though it was acceptable and it apparently met the comprehensive plan and all the things

but it hasn't been used in at least six years as the approved use from 1998. So, the special use permit has expired and the use is no longer needed and now they would wish to revert it back to agricultural use. So, we're just cleaning up. We are. Yes, sir. With um your permission, we'll get it forward as a public hearing next year next month. All right. Thank you. Thank you. The next item in the work session is u is Laura Rogers, our zoning compliance officer, who's going to spend a few minutes with us.

Yes, sir. Good evening, commissioners, to the public. Um, so my name is Laura K. Rogers. I'm the zoning compliance officer for McGomery County. Prior to being here in April 2022, um, I was a essentially a lifelong resident of Alagany and Bath County. Um, I came down here, accepted a position with McGomery County Sheriff's Office. Um, I worked for 11 years in law enforcement before I was fortunate to come over to the uh planning department. It's been a great time um in the zoning compliance role. Um, one of the really cool things that I've learned about is that zoning exists. It's a lot of fun and there are a lot of rules and I feel like I've not left a day of law enforcement. I could say that much. Um, it is a team effort. Um I have uh since being here for about a year and a half now in this position um I have become a certified zoning administrator. Now I am not the zoning administrator. That's Jude, but we do tag team on my position. Um one of the coolest trainings that I've done that I think will really help us when we look at our zoning rewrite um and as well as my part in terms of zoning enforcement is um I was able in November to go through the Virginia Independent Automobile Dealer Association. Um you I did not know until I got into those class how much zoning there was. Um I was very grateful to get to go and Viata was also very grateful um because they had never had a zoning person to pick on. So it was a great time. We learned a lot um and we work with our partner at the Virginia Motor Vehicle Board. So it was one of the top three trainings I've ever taken. So my duties um are to ensure that there is a compliance process and just to note there has been a compliance process way before me. Um this was a new position that was created. Um and like I said I took this over in August of 2024. Um and my job is to ensure zoning compliance. I enforce McGomery County Code 10 which is the

entire zoning ordinance. It's quite a read. um and conditions, profers, decisions of the board of zoning appeals, planning commission, and the board of supervisors. Um I'm to conduct yearly inspections of reszoned parcels with par profers and also properties with special use permits to ensure that those conditions have met compliance or are continuing to meet compliance. As we've already heard tonight, um the language of those conditions are really important. Um, some of these that we've seen, I think the oldest I have uh seen is Echo Stone from 1976. About to say I'm surprised I have that. Um, and one of the things that I I just always wanted to address um is there's this phrase spirit of the law versus letter of the law. And I think we kind of heard that tonight um when we were talking about the time. For me, daylight would be a spirit of the law because it's very flexible, right? It's very vague. But when we go 7 am to 7 pm would say Monday through Friday, we get really specific. That's letter. And so I just really wanted to highlight that because when I look at it, I have to go with exactly what said. Jude, he has to make those determinations. And it's hard when we're looking back from 2026 back to 50 years ago in 1976. What were these members thinking with these conditions? And we don't have the video recordings to go back to. We don't always have the notes. Um, I know that you all have a really delicate line to balance and I appreciate that. So, I just definitely wanted to highlight that. Um, if a special use permit is inactive for two years, it is null and void. Um, and I actually have three current cases right now, unfortunately, that do have zoning compliance issues concerning special use permit or special use permit properties. Um my main uh project has been here um since I've been on board has been investigating those zoning complaints that we get from citizens and manage those cases through the zoning complex comp compliance process that we as a

team have worked together with Bri, Jude, Shelley, Marty to make sure that we've got this pretty solid and I feel like it's been very successful. Um and my favorite part is of course assisting the zoning administrator in their duties and all other duties as assigned which has been great. It's been fun learning about everybody else's position. Um, I am very frank. I did not know what zoning was and I did not know what planning was until I stepped in day one of this position. I was like, "Oh, this is nice. This is very adultlike." So, some common types of zoning issues that we deal with um are floodway or flood zone unpermitted construction and building um including fill in and operable vehicles. Um, and the way that we basically define it, you can look in McGomery County Code 1061 for the actual definition. Um, but essentially if a cop could pull you over, it's an inoperable vehicle for something and write you a ticket. We deal with junkyards when people build or do something without a permit. Setback concerns, making sure that those are met, unpermitted short-term tourist rentals or bed and breakfast ends. Um, those are kind of our top hitters. Um, what we don't do because I feel like we get a lot of complaints and I'm always happy to take them. Um, but there are certain things that our zoning ordinance does not allow us to do. That includes trash. That is actually underneath the McGomery County Sheriff's Office. It would be Deputy Powers. He is the one who uh works with that. Overgrown grass. Again, I have uh Deputy Powers on speed dial and I refer those cases to him. Um, improper burning. Yet again, that is a deputy powers and I will once again go up the phone and say, "Hey, Deputy Powers, just let you know we've got this complaint." Um, and then abandoned property. McGomery County does not have a property maintenance code. I actually got a complaint today about one. Um, and there's nothing in our zoning ordinance that addresses that. Um, and it's

probably one of our most frequent and I have nobody to refer that to. Um, if there is a zoning portion of it, we can attempt, but if there's no owner or no tenant, our hands are really tied in terms of enforcement. So, I really want to come here to explain to you what the zoning violation process is in detail. So, first of all, we get a zoning complaint, and I'll break this down here in just a minute, but just to show you a little bit of how this process goes. We will then move in to a letter of inquiry. Then, we'll issue a first zoning violation notice. then a final violation notice, a criminal summon, and then court. Our ultimate goal in this process is compliance. We try to be incredibly flexible. Um, and I'll explain that here in a minute. We're a locality that really does try to work with people. Um, again, I'm a person who is still learning about zoning and very often people don't know about it. So, it's an educational part for both of us to learn together to get them into compliance. um a little bit of my case load. Um case loads are like my cases are all thoroughly investigated. Um they're managed to make sure that we are being fair, that we're being unbiased. So they typically take several months to reach to compliance. Every case is unique

and not everybody knows the totality of the circumstances or all the facts. I don't even know all the facts just to be clear about that. Um, our ideal case load would be to have 20 active cases. That's enough for each workday, um, one case a day because another thing that is not really kind of seen is all of the paperwork that has to be done with this and the documentation. Um the delays can occur though in active cases. Processing time for engineering firms or surveyors. Staffing when we need to um have somebody help out elsewhere or if I would like to take a vacation, citizen crises. Um we do have some older folks who do have some medical things going on. Um so we want to definitely be respectful to that. Um and weather. Weather has really been our biggest kicker. Um and so flooding or when we have excessive rain or the cold weather, we don't want people out there trying to clean up a property and get harmed in the process. Um since um August of 2024, um I can't say about prior. I have worked 86 cases. Um I currently have 38 cases on my case load. Um and we have closed 48. We were actually able to close out one before I got here today. So the first step in our process um is a zoning complaint. We try to have them come into our complaint form or via email so that it is a written record. However, if somebody does need other needs, accessibility, whatever it is, we do take them in person or by phone. Um during the intake, we do a preliminary review to see if it's a valid zoning concern or if it's unfounded. Um if it is something that is not in my wheelhouse, then I will refer it out. will provide resources, whatever is needed. All complaints are logged. Um, and as I said before, if it's something that is not with us, we do refer it out to where it needs to go or I will directly tell them, I'm so sorry, this

is not something that we can address and I don't have any resources for you. Um, the complaint is then put into a queue. Um, as you heard, my case load is at 38 and so right now, unless it's a high priority, it it does set into a queue. We do sort those though by urgency of the complaint. Our main objective is ensuring health, safety, and welfare of McGomery County citizens and those who are coming into the county. Um staff will investigate to determine what are the next steps. My current Q as of today before this is 27. Um and this number is definitely not in the active or historical case totals that I've given you in terms of numbers. So from the zoning complaint, we do something that most other jurisdictions do not do. Um, as I've went through the um, networking part of zoning, I have learned that very few do this. So, this is a letter that we send to citizens to let them know, hey, there is a zoning concern, um, a potential zoning violation on your property. We try to address this to the owner and if we know who the tenant is, the tenant as well. So, it's that first step to say, hey, there's a problem. Can we fix this together? Um, and so they are given a certain amount of time to start working with staff to develop a compliance plan. Um, every single one of these are investigated before I send that letter out just to make sure that I'm clear with that. Um, it can be a verbal inquiry. So, if I'm out on a site inspection and I see somebody, I'm very friendly. I hope you know that if you don't know, and I want to talk to that person. And so, sometimes it can just be a conversation where I'm like, "Hey, I'm seeing that you have a lot of inoperable cars. Here's my work cell phone. Can we work on a plan together? Um, it is not always a letter, but we try to document as much as we can. Um, it can stay at this stage as long as significant progress is being made. Um, this is going to be included in every step of the process until we get to the uh

summons portion. Um but while it is in our hands, if people are making significant progress, which can include cleaning of the property, working with an engineering firm, going through the permit process, we can prolong that before we move to the next step. Um I have currently at this uh stage I have 25 cases. We have closed 39 as of today. This is uh the best way that we have found to get this before we start the formal zoning violation process. So, moving on. Um, if unfortunately they don't meet zoning compliance before we get to the letter of inquiry, and sometimes we give a couple months, several months, and they're still not getting to where they need to be, um, we will issue a first zoning violation letter. So, it is the first official notice. Um, it is typically sent either by USPS certified, so they will have to actually sign it in order to get it received, or I'll go with a deputy and we'll do personal service. um because some people do not have mailing addresses. Um they are informed of the specific violations and how they should resolve those. They do have 30 days to comply with what has been put forth in the document. Um and or they can appeal to the board of zoning appeals. There is that language at the bottom. I'll give them the date they have to appeal and that process. Uh again, they it can stay at this stage until significant progress is made or they've reached compliance. Um current cases at this stage are nine and I have closed seven so far at this stage. Um after 30 days or we however long it might take if we still have not reached it and we need to go up a step we'll go to the final zoning violation letter. One thing I forgot to mention when we before we even send out this letter of first zoning violation we will meet with county attorney Marty and we'll bring forth the evidence to him and this is a tag team. So, of course, Jude is looped in and Bri is looped in as well. Um, the

same with the final zoning violation letter. We'll go before uh Jude, Bri, and Marty, and we'll explain kind of what's happened, and we'll escalate it. Um, this is the official final zoning violation notice. Again, USPS certified delivery where they need to pick it up um with a signature or again, I will show up and we'll do a personal service. Um again, they're informed of any violations on the property and how they need to move forward to fix it. Um the biggest change is that they have seven days to comply and they have forfeited their right to appeal to the board of zoning appeals. Um as always, it could stay at this stage as long as we're making that significant progress. Currently, I have one case at this stage. Um I have unfortunately not been able to close any before we get to the next um stage. So if they do not comply um and we speak about it as a team, we will go forth with the next part which is a criminal summons. Um after all of our attempts uh via civil efforts, which is where I'm going in and talking to them or attempting to talk to them, I'm trying to get them noticed, trying to get them working there. Um after everything is exhausted, we will file a criminal complaint with a local magistrate stating the probable cause of the case. Probable cause is important to note because it is simply the facts and the evidence to justify that summons being issued by the magistrate. It is a class 2 misdemeanor summons, not a warrant. There is a difference, and I'll explain that in just a second. Um, for the owners, and if possible, um, it would also be for the tenants. The reason that it is a summon and not a warrant is that we wave jail time. Um, you can't clean your property up if you're in jail, right? Um, and again, our ultimate goal is compliance. We're not here to be punitive. We do set a court date 30 days upon issuance of the summon. So once the sheriff's office has called me and said, "Hey, we served so and so." They will

set forth that date for 30 days. Um if they are not served their sumins, then the case is postponed until we can get that 30-day buffer. Um if compliance is fully reached before we go before the court, we will send a letter to the judge asking for the case to be dismissed. Um currently we have one case at this stage. To break it down, four summons were issued. Um as of total we have had total of 15 criminal summons issued. Um and unfortunately we have not had any resolved at this stage. Um at criminal summons at that point it is taken out of our hands. It is then before the legal system and it'll be up to the judge. Um, so talking about the judge, we'll move into our final stage. Unfortunately, and I I do say unfortunate because it is not where we want to go. Um, one thing I would do also want to note is that the moment that I make contact with a person, I let them know I'm not trying to scare you. I'm being very upfront with you. If compliance is not reached, we will go to court. There is no if, ends, or buts about it. We we've got to reach compliance. And we do try to give them all the time in the world that we can to reach that compliance before we go before the court because once it's there, we can't touch it. It's up to the judge. So with court, um the county attorney, Marty, has to represent the county and staff. Um the burden of proof who has to present it is the county. When I was talking about the documentation earlier and the case load, it's because I document every single conversation that I've had, all of that to present to the judge. You get one opportunity in criminal court to go forth. If we bungle it, it's lost. The standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. And the reason that that's also important is because you cannot have a single doubt in your mind to be proven um guilty um by a judge or your jury. Um for civil cases, it's 51% preponderance of the evidence. So, it's a higher standard of proof. That's why we are very careful and annotate

everything. Typically when we've been before the judge um he has given us um and given the citizens as well a bit of an extra chance. He will talk with them and delay the conviction. So they will be found guilty. However, he will wait and um he will set a next hearing typically 30 days, sometimes 60 days or longer. And if we come back and they do not complete whatever we've asked them to do, then the judge will do what the judge needs to do. Um we do not ask for court fees or fines. Um but if a judge decides to implement that that is on him um or who whoever is there. Um he can impose jail time that is within them but again that is not our recommendation. Um right now I have one court case at this stage. It is four people with two charges per person. It is two owners and two tenants. Um we have had two cases successfully closed at this stage. Um and both of their charges were dismissed. There were no fees, fines or jail time. Um, total cases as of the my start have been three. So, happy news. Whenever we get a case closure, if I send you a a letter that says, "Hey, there's a zoning issue." We should probably get you an official letter to say, "Hey, the case has been closed." Um, so we've added this in, so they get a letter from us that officially states the case has been closed. Um, case is closed. Um, I did not get a chance to update this, but we have officially closed 48 cases as of today. So, that's been exciting. I'm gonna look at Jude. Do you have anything to add? All right. Any questions for you all that you have for me?

I have a couple of questions. Go for it. Uh, in your slides you kept referring to look like August of 24. Is that the most recent? That was when I was hired. Yes, sir. So, yeah. So, I cannot speak to historical data. I will tell you. Um, I could fill up probably these three of all of the cases. Right. So, it's August 24th 2 today. Yes, sir. Since I've been hired in August of 2024. What is your biggest problem? In terms of zoning compliance or in terms of what exactly? Zoning compliance.

Um, just to make sure I'm I'm being very drilled in as in with citizens or as in like the most common zoning complaint that we get.

What's your biggest headache? um junkyards. Um I have a case right now that this um individual has been it is definitely one of the worst. Uh they encroached on private property. They they did not know um and it's been working with the tenant. Um he has been a great to deal with but it is very difficult for him um because it is a large amount of junk, debris and inoperable vehicles. He cannot move them. He is uh 56 with a lot of health issues. Um, so I wouldn't say necessarily it's a headache, but it's just one of those things. It's it's a case I can't easily close. Um, and I've gotten no response from the owner. So, that's been the the harder part.

I'm thinking in terms of us trying to delve into uh the zoning ordinance and talking about the specificity of the letter of the law and that sort of thing. Yeah, it's something that we've been speaking about as a team and I I I looked at Jude and Bri and stuff. They're Jude has a giant document of things that we look at. Um the good part of having Jude and me, we have very different backgrounds. I will say very different and I mean that in the nicest way. I have the law enforcement brain. He has a zoning brain. So, we're able to catch a lot of loopholes. And so, we do have a a giant document full of those loopholes that we'd like to see closed. Again, that's only going to be our recommendation. Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome. Any other questions, thoughts, comments? So, do you do you review the um staff analysis on recommended conditions for uh profers and special use permits? It's not a check off of my box, but am I nosy? And look, yes, because it does become in my it does become in my wheelhouse once it's passed to review

because I I think we you know we've had that conversation during our deliberations that oh that's going to be hard to enforce and if you I I don't want to create workload for you, but if you looked at those in a draft form as those are being developed, that might help kind of close some of those loopholes that might even slip through here. So just a a suggestion. Yeah. And I think Jude, he does a I could be wrong. Jude and Brie, you were a zoning administrator for a long time. She is the head of the Virginia Association of Zoning Officials.

Um, so, you know, there's definitely a lot of expertise. I just kind of get to to see it in a cool different light. So, as far as the complaints go, um is is there a um I mean, if a citizen has a complaint, is it obvious how to submit that or do they just call the main um number, the county number, or is there a place on the um website? Yes, sir. There is. It's uh underneath zoning complaint, it's underneath forms. If you look at our department website, it'll say underneath forms zoning complaint web form. Um, and there is a form for it or people can email. Um, I've I've taken a text before because it's in writing. So,

okay. Cuz I I um I know we we were very intentional about um having some um concerns about litter control on a um resoning that we approved recently. and I've driven by there several times and it the litter is not being controlled and it it does it's not a good look for the county. We have actually received a complaint on that. Um I have 603 at the 128. Yes. Okay.

Um we have received a complaint on that. It does look like it is in VOTE rightway. Um so we have let the business know that we have received a complaint on that. Um but we have also let VOTE know so that way as they're out doing cleanup prior to mowing operations beginning um they are aware of that area as well. So did you is in that particular case is is there language in the um special use permit or the profers? I do not recall but I could look and see. Would you please? I I didn't I'll be honest. I didn't look to see if there was. I just sent them a message and said, "Hey, we've received this complaint. It's an issue."

Um, is that that would put it in Laura's It would put it in Laura's wheelhouse. Yes, she could get it done.

I will say given the her workload right now, it would not be one of the ones that would rise to the extreme top. Um, you know, you you mentioned some of the things we've dealt with lately. So, so first of all, I want to say Laura does a wonderful job. Um, we are very thankful that we don't have more going to court. so many are solved in that initial notice. Um that it it really does help because our our goal is not to make it hard on people. Our goal is to help people but but achieve compliance with code. Um she does a wonderful job at that. She's always working with people. Um sometimes I have to tell her, Laura, you got to you got to cut it. Like it's been long enough. It's time. Let's let's move on to the next step. Um because she does like to work with people and get compliance achieved. One of the things we are seeing now, and she's had a few cases, and I think it's something we all struggle with a little bit. Um, we have had a couple of cases now that have involved multiple tents on property because people are living in them. Um, and and that's a hard one. And when we say living in them, we mean for like way more than six months. Mhm.

Um, and some of them have I think the last one that we finally got resolved in court, they had been there well over a year. It's still pending in court.

And it is still pending in court. Um, so those are difficult. Um, they're difficult on the heart. Um, Laura has went out of her way to give them multiple resources um to help them with their situation. Um, at at the same time, all we can do is give them those resources. we can't make them utilize them. Um, so she does a really good job with that. Um, some of the things Mr. Foster, you were just talking about what can we look at when we with the upcoming zoning rewrite. I I I am she did not mention this. I know it is a source of frustration for myself and Jude. Um, but that is agurism is a huge issue for us and it's a huge enforcement issue. um because we get multiple multiple multiple complaints and the way state code is written because we don't have anything in our zoning ordinance um we kind of have to say sorry as of right now it's a by right issue because the state would allow it and we don't have anything in our ordinance to cover it. Um so that is definitely high on the list in our zoning ordinance. So we can start to get some parameters and we can start to help um some folks with that because they can they can be very impactful. We we don't want to hurt our farmers. We want to do what we can to support them. We want them to be able to support their farming operations, but at the same time, it is a concern um when you have someone who has a very minor farming operation and they're using that one acre of corn to justify having people on site up to 500 at a time for a wedding every weekend, music going till 11 or 12:00 at night. So, um, so those are things that we do need to address with the upcoming zoning rewrite. Um, but Laura does a wonderful job. We are so thankful to have her. Um, I did put her under the standard contract that I jokingly say that I have all my staff on. She's with us for at least 10 years.

Um, Jude has a informed me that that renews annually. I did not know that. Um, but she so she's hopefully with us for the long haul. Agreed. And I just want to also mention real quick, it is it is really truly a group effort. and Shelley as well because there are many times coming from my old position I I did not go to college for this um where I'm having to pick everybody's minds um Kim as well and it's been a great we are a great team um and every single one of um our staff have helped me out even just going on a site visit which please come with I invite you lard do you help with barking dogs or is that Mr. How

that would be uh the sheriff's office in general actually. Um in my prior position definitely dealt with a lot of those, but that I would unfortunately send you over to the sheriff's office. It's 54-3824343 non-emergency dispatch for NRV 911. Mhm. Very sorry about that. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you very much. Yeah, absolutely. Appreciate you coming in. Yeah. Thank you all. All right. Um, there are no items of old business. We need to come out of work session, Mr. Chair. We do. I keep forgetting that. Is there a motion to leave work session? Second.

All those in favor?

I I opposed. Motion carries. Now, we will skip over old business uh as there are no items and go to new business. And we have a resolution that I would like to read. Um, whereas Arthur L. Trey Wols III has provided dedicated and distinguished service to the people of Montgomery County as a member of the Montgomery County Planning Commission since 2014. And whereas Mr. W's commitment to better planning is evidenced by his completion of the certified planning commissioner training program. And whereas Mr. Wols provided steadfast support of the work of the planning commission while serving as secretary 2018-19 and vice chair 2020 2021 of the commission. And whereas Mr. Wool's uh commitment to better planning is further evidenced by his service as liaison to the parks and recreation commission, economic development commission, and the Christensburg planning commission uh during his tenure as a planning commissioner. And whereas Mr. Walls provided guidance and oversight of planning policies and procedures during his service to the planning commission's development subcommittee. And whereas Mr. Walls has provided wise counsel to the commission uh to make decisions for the betterment of the citizens of Montgomery County. Now therefore, be it resolved that the

Montgomery County Planning Commission hereby expresses its appreciation to Arthur L. Trey WS III for 12 years of outstanding service to the people of Montgomery County. Trey, thank you. I'm not going to give you this. We got to get one more signature. Okay. Signific. Yes, we will get it signed and framed and deliver it. Perfect. Thank you.

And we would like to get a picture at the end of the meeting with all the commission members and Mr. Waltz with his award.

Please. I would to u start this off with a comment u and I don't want this in the minutes that I learned a lot from you. I sat beside you for years and your questions were always interesting and made me think about things that didn't immediately come to mind and I appreciate it and I thank you for what you've done and we're kicking you off. This is your last meeting sayanara but come back and see see us from time to time and

okay maybe in the public uh comment area you can come in and give us three minutes of wisdom small bites have at him this is your last hands. I'll echo Mr. Foster's comments and learned a lot from you, Trey. Um, you know, appreciate all the uh support you gave to the commission throughout your years of service and to the citizens of Montgomery County. So, thank you.

Any other comments? Okay, I think we're good. Let's move on to liaison reports. Um, Miss Karen, you have the floor. Well, I don't want to keep you. Get it again. I'm going to learn this. I always fight with this. It's counterintuitive.

Yes. Unfortunately, I figured it out. Well, the biggest thing I think you probably read the news uh paper today. We had uh Monday night our meeting and our county administrator uh Miss Hill uh presented a uh the budget. It is uh 285.7 million and with the potential 5 cents tax increase and you know tax increase is always not we wanted to uh look into. Uh but unfortunately general revenue growth of the county in the past many years between five and 7 million and this year is only 1 million and both county side and the board school board side have wishes almost each equal 80 million each side. So total we're looking at $16 million wishes with a 1 million um extra new revenue. So it's going to be interesting couple months but that's the probably the biggest thing we're going to be dealing for a while. So

yes any questions and the other thing I would like to mention is uh because second your second meetings which is the third Wednesdays I'm a leas on the library board so you will see Mr. speaking then and your first meetings or second Wednesdays I'll try to attend but unfortunately next two you cancelled it so you may not see me till probably June but thank you have a good evening thank you um Miss Shar Robinson Blackburg planning commission

sure yes so first of all they talked about us at their last meeting uh they mentioned uh things that were right outside their borders that they were concerned about. And they also uh mentioned the Montgomery Matters program uh paperwork that we were doing. Uh in April or next meeting, they'll be discussing a flood plane overlay. District revisions will be going on and they also have a new chairperson. Mel Jones is their new chair. So, thank you,

Mr. Rice. Christiansburg Planning Commission. I think they're um meeting in February. They were talking about a carnival I think that was coming and uh and then I think they may have um finished up with the Roger Woody reszoning and u and then that went to town council and then town council did pass it. That's all.

Thank you. Uh Miss Simkins is not here. Mr. Miller, tourism. I was unable to attend. Um my uh wife had uh medical issues which required a walker and a cane and my constant presence and it's getting better. Good. Well, I'm glad she's getting better. I don't know that your constant presence is medical bene medically beneficial, but we'll take your word for it. Mr. Workman, we meet tomorrow. Okay. Thank you, Miss Hopkins.

Okay. I have a couple of things. Um, first of all, I want to remind you, Justin um mentioned it earlier. Um, April 2nd, we will be in Eastern Montgomery at the Eastern Montgomery Elementary School um to discuss the Shawsville and Elliston Lefayet Village Plans. Um, that begins at 5:00. Um, we would love to see you there. On April 22nd, the regional planning commissioners training is going to be held here. Please RSVP and let us know if you can attend um so that way we can get you added to the count. Our planner one ad has been put in the paper and we are receiving applications. Um so hopefully we will have some good ones and be able to get interviews underway and and fill that position because it is smart scale season and so Justin and I actually received a notice the other day we need to get our pre-applications in so we can get those prepared. They are due for submitt by April 1st. Um, we do have three going in. We will resubmit the roundabout at Mary Mack and Price's Fork Road. We are going to submit for the intersection of Vickers Switch West and Pepper Ferry Road and Vicker Switch East and Pepper Ferry Road. So, we're going to submit for both of those intersections. So, a total of three applications. Um, I do believe, as you're aware, in the past, Virginia Tech has used one of our application aotments um to submit a project, and I do believe they will be using that again this year. Um, I've been in contact with Emily Gibson and Mike Dunn about that. So, I I think they will also be using one of our spaces um just because we we do not have an application that's ready um for submitt. The other thing I wanted to mention um

APA Virginia that conference is in July and I July 27th through the 29th. Um we are fortunate that the vice president for that conference committee is on our staff. So Justin is planning that conference. Um we will not discuss how many hours he's going to have to spend on that but um they are offering a planning commission training session on Tuesday. Um it is in Danville at the casino. So the county is prepared to offer you all the opportunity to attend on Tuesday the PC training. We do have some funds that we can have a few of you go down if you want to on Monday and spend the night and then attend on Tuesday as well. Um so you can attend both days. You just need to get in contact with me and or Justin. Um so we can get you on the list registered. Make sure if you need a room you have one. Um, if you want to drive down and drive back just for the Tuesday, that is fine. We can once the agenda is finalized, we can get you a copy of the agenda. Um, but like I said, it's July 27th through 29th. And I believe that is all I have. Um, I do want to say, um, we talked a lot about the comp plan and we thanked a lot of people. And some of the people Justin forgot to mention was the wonderful team that we have in planning and GIS. Um, I have said it a lot lately and and I will say it again. I will put my planning department um up against any other department in the state. I think I've got some of the best team members um that you could have and they they are really rock stars and and they do a great job and I'm very proud of them. So that's all I've got.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Moved. Second. All right, we have a motion to adjourn with a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Good night. We'll see you next month. Good night.