Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'm calling the October 8th meeting of the McGomery County Planning Commission to order. Uh Mr. Lankus if you'll perform a roll call. Mr. Croll here. Miller here. Mr. Sharp Robinson. Miss Simkins here. Mr. Waltz. Mr. Workman here. Mr. Lincolnis here. Vice Chair Foster here. Chair Rice here. And the agenda. Is there any additions or corrections? Move approval. Second. So I got a motion for approval and a second for approval of the agenda. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I.

Those opposed likewise. And um I say next up on our agenda is the public address. I'll mention that if anyone is here is present to they want to address the Black Diamond special use permit, they would need to do so during the public address portion. And so I'll open the floor now for public address. If any citizen would like to approach this commission, do so now. Excuse me. Send none. We will close the public address portion of our meeting and go into old business uh which is a request by Black Diamond Resources LLC for a special use permit to allow a clean Earthfield area exceeding 15,000 cubic yards and a contractor storage yard. And I will mention that we will vote on these two items separately. One for the SUP and then one for the contractor storage yard. And Mr. Sanders, if you'll provide an overview for us, please sir. And I do last meeting and the applicant and uh their agent have worked through those

changes. Um and I'll go through those as we go through the presentation, but just to refresh everyone, um here are your vicinity maps. The property is located just outside the town limits of the town of Christensburg, uh at the end of Village Lane. Um there's a zoom in of the property there. Again, you can see the town boundary uh outlined there in blue. Here's an aerial map of the property. We are talking about one large parcel. Um you can see there um the the light brown area of the existing fill operation that was ongoing prior to uh purchase by Black Diamond. Also point out there is a a pond feature there just north of the parcel ID number. Um, and then I will also point out there's a a small trapezoidal area there. Um, you can see the access road leading up to that. That is the location of a an existing manufactured dwelling on a separate parcel. Here's your zoning map. The property is zoned A1 agricultural. Um, there to the north you can see there's some PUD res. Um, and then everything you see in white there is within the town of Christiansburg. We do have a town zoning map for you. You can see the areas there that are in the darker blue. That is going to be R3 residential, which is multif family in the town of Christiansburg. Um and then um you can see obviously 460 uh going by the property there. So just a summary of the request, the applicant has requested two separate special use permits. That's the reason for two separate votes this evening. Um, the first special use permit request is to allow a rubble landfill for the disposal of approximately 2 million cubic yards of inert debris and a request for a contractor storage yard. Um, the total parcel size on the property is 65.727 acres. Um, and it's approximately a half mile north of Reno Street. Um, the network to to get to the

site, um, you would actually go through town of Christensenburg roads as I've mentioned to get there. Um the property is bounded by 460, the Norfolk Southern Railroad, and the town of Christiansburg's jurisdictional line. Um this site was previously used as a rubble landfill, but that was done under mass grading and agricultural operations by the previous owner. So that was a byright use in the A1 zone. It did not require the special use permit. Um again, because they're going over that initial agricultural operation, that is what triggered the the need for a special use permit to be approved. Um as I mentioned that was under the opaces of the previous owner Black Diamond purchased the property in April of 2023. So again to summarize the request uh the proposed site is to support the owner's contracting business needs and is open to other contractors by appointment only. Uh the proposed hours of operation are 7 to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday with limited hours on Saturday. They are planning to conduct fill operations in two different phases. Phase one uh would be a 6.88 acre site. Phase two would be a 34.65 acre site. And I do not know want to note that they are proposing to leave 19.63 acres in conserved open space. Um our definition in the zoning ordinance for a rubble landfill is the disposal of more than 15,000 cubic yards of inert waste. And as we've discussed with you on a couple of these applications, inert waste is basically defined as anything that is not going to further degrade when it is in in the ground. So that's going to be brick, concrete, uh concrete block, uncontaminated materials, or other soils. Um, as we have mentioned on several occasions, there are multiple uh construction sites throughout the county. Um and if uh those uh materials are not placed in rubble landfill, those are going into the the regional

landfill. Um which we ideally would like to keep available for other waste that is being generated in the region. So here's your concept plan. The the area there in yellow you can see uh is the existing area that has uh being filled there toward the right of the page. Uh the area in blue is the limits of disturbance for phase one. Everything there shaded in yellow adjacent to the existing fill area is considered phase two. Um I'll go ahead and point out even though we're we're talking first about the rubble landfill. You can see the proposed locations of the contractor storage yard. Um in the bottom right of the page, um there's also a potential future building located there on the phase one area. Um, we had several conversations with uh the applicant and with the agent. Um, we wanted them to go ahead and propose what full buildout of the site might look like. That way, you all can have all of that information when you make your decision. That would also uh ensure that the applicant would not have to come back for an additional special use permit or to amend their condition um if that future expansion does happen. The areas there denoted in green are the areas that would be in conserved open space. Um, and I'll note again there in the middle of the page, that white area in that field of green, that's the location of that existing manufactured home. So, these are some site images. Those of you that were with us on the site visit several months ago, we were able to to go into the site using this access road. This is at the end of Village Lane. Uh, and the access to the existing fill site. This entrance would remain for the proposed fill operations. Um you can see there in the second image it is gated. That gate would be closed and locked when the site was not being actively used uh to prevent any trespass. And then this is the uh at the terminus of Village Lane looking the other

direction. This is the access road down to the existing residential manufactured home and use by two apartment units that are located in the county. Um, this would also be the access for phase one on the proposed concept plan. Uh, this is the culde-sac at the end of Simpson Road. This is in uh the development that's owned by community housing partners. You can see there's a na a natural vegetative buffer there separating it from the site. Um, but again, the the property line does touch that culde-sac. So, we wanted to show you that perspective as well. The image on the right is at the end of Rainbow Street in the town of Christensburg. You can see there there's the concrete barriers that are there to prevent vehicular entry to the site. I do want to note that in the proposal, no fill operations will be using Rainbow Street, but the contractor storage yard that is proposed would be utilizing um that entrance off of Rainbow Street. Uh but one of the uh stipulations that we've talked about was that no uh commercial traffic will be uh going in and out of that exit. So, we won't have those large trucks like you'll see on on Village Lane. some aerial imagery for you using the drone. You can see the existing operation uh there with the the dirt that you see moved there. That and in and around that area is where phase two would be. And then again, you can see that existing pond that's on the site. And this is the drone image showing all those property boundaries. You can see Norfolk Southern Railroad up to the north of the page there. Um and you can see uh the access road to get back uh into the site. And then you can see 460 on the other boundary there. Um, so again, the site's uh fairly well wooded already. Um, and again, you can see that that buffer that exists around that existing manufactured home. Again, some more drone images just showing you the lay of the site. Um, the image on the right, you can see this is

the amount of dust that that staff observed uh being generated from the site. Um again there's a substantial drop off there um with those operations. That was on June 3rd and I will note that that was after several rainy weeks that we observe that. So when we look at the impacts of the proposed rubble landfill again as I mentioned the site would be accessed from Village Lane which is approximately 64 miles from Reno Street. Um the access to the site does involve navigating through several neighborhood streets. Um, again to orient you, this is behind the former Hubble lighting facility. Um, the applicant estimates 0 to 30 dump dump truck trips per day. That's really dependent on the amount of construction that's going on in the county and the number of contractors that are utilizing the site uh to dispose of debris. Um, I will note that the town of Christiansburg had records of previously investigated issues related to mud and rock on the roads uh in 2018, 2019, and 2021. However, Black Diamond acquired the property in 2023 and have uh they've not had any complaints at the town since that ownership transfer. The site is anticipated to be operational for approximately 40 years. Of course, that is also variant and dependent upon the amount of uh debris that is deposited on the site. The access route for truck traffic passes through business, industrial, and multif family zoned areas. Um, the Virginia Department of Transportation evaluated this application upon its original acceptance and then with the changes that were made uh and resubmitted, we did get this back to VOTE to see if any of those changes prompted a different review from them and I'll note that they took no exception to the request. In evaluating the environmental impacts, the site is not located in a FEMA designated flood zone. Storm water management will use an on-site detention facility. Um, as has been our practice with other debris, uh, rubble landfills.

When each phase of the fill site is full, it will be closed out, capped, and stabilized, and then reveated with grass. All areas that are designated as conserved open space shall remain protected and undisturbed. And as I me as I noted, when on site, staff observed some minor dust as a result from the dump truck driving onto the site. But I'll notice I'll note to you that that was further into the site and not up near the areas where the residences are located. And as we generally like to remind you, the approval of a special use permit is the first step in regulation of a site like this. Um a storm water management plan will be reviewed at the time of site plan review by environmental services and any other applicable agencies. Um, the site would require routine storm water inspections by our environmental services team and would require an annual special use permit compliance inspection by our code enforcement division within planning. Um, and then I will note also that the fill areas cannot be used for future construction. In terms of aesthetics, noise and security, as I mentioned, the hours are limited to 7 a.m. to 5:00 p. p.m. Monday through Friday with some limited hours on Saturdays. There will be one to two employees on site for grading at any given time. Uh the multifamily residential units as I mentioned are located immediately adjacent to the site. Um the applicant has spoken with the residents in those units to make them aware. Um I believe and I can defer to them on this. They have a town of christensburg police officer there that has said that they've never had any issues with the site. The town didn't indicate any noise complaints that have been received from the existing operation or the prior operation. the anticipated increase in noise will be generated from the site and associated traffic when on site. Uh we observed noise from uh some breaking, tailgate clamoring shut when the dump truck was uh on site in operation of grading equipment. Those are pretty standard noises that you would expect from uh an

operation like this. There is no lighting proposed for the fill site and as I mentioned that locked gate prohibits vehicular access on site after hours. This is in an area of the comprehensive plan designated as urban expansion. Um there are your comprehensive plan goals that are addressed by this application. Uh again a definition of urban expansion coordination between government, municipalities, residents and land developers is required to accommodate 80% or more of future development within the urban expansion areas. Um, as I noted earlier, u, as we continue to see increased residential and commercial development in the county, that is generating more debris that needs to be disposed of. Um, so staff's opinion is that this facilitates that expansion in other areas of the county. Additional regulations within the zoning ordinance provide guidance on consideration of impacts generated by these uses. It's important to mitigate those potential impacts when possible. uh and to ensure that the infrastructure within the town of Christiansburg is not negatively impacted. Uh one of the items that has been conducted since the last time that you reviewed this application, there was a pavement analysis done um along Village Lane. Um there were core samples that were taken to ensure that the roaded would be able to accommodate the volume and the weight of the vehicles that would be accessing the site. Um, those samples were provided to the town of Christensburg and they took no exception to the approval of the use after reviewing that information. These are the restrictions that are in the zoning ordinance related to landfills. I just wanted to to put these up there for you. You've seen these on on multiple occasions. Um but again beyond even the special use permit conditions these are the um items that are codified in code um that we would be looking at as we go forward. So as a

result staff does recommend approval of the requested special use permit for rubble landfill with the following conditions. Use of the site for rubble landfill cannot extend beyond the boundaries of the area shown on the site concept map prepared by foresight design services dated 91925. All boundaries of the approved fill area shall be adequately marked on the property and shall remain in place throughout the time of the rubble landfill is operational. The fill area shall maintain minimum buffers as shown on the concept plan dated 919 2025. This buffer requirement may be accomplished with existing vegetation and/or new evergreen plantings and then reveation of the perimeter is required if the buffer area is disturbed. The access road shall remain maintain shall be maintained in passable condition at all times. A dust management plan shall be in place for the access road and must be provided to the county prior to the approval of the site plan. All permits from other agencies, DEEQ, Army Corps, etc. must be provided to the county prior to the approval of the required site plan. And the hours of operations shall not exceed 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The site shall be closed on Sundays. um staff wrote that condition in that way because again those Saturday areas, excuse me, Saturday hours are variable. Um and from an enforcement perspective, it's much easier for us to set the same limit as the weekdays uh to accommodate those variant hours on Saturdays. Adjacent property owners were notified in accordance with the Code of Virginia and McGomery County Code. Public hearing signs were placed at the property at Simpson Road, Village Lane, and Rainbow Street. legal ads were run in the news messenger. We did receive one letter of concern at the time of original application that was from an adjacent property owner um that was concerned about encroachment from the operation onto their property. That was primarily a civil matter and the applicant did meet with the property owner and has addressed that concern. Um and additional comments may be received

during public address. Uh no one spoke this evening. Um, I did also want to go back to the placement of the public hearing signs because there was a question about that. We are are very cautious when we place those signs to be on the actual property that is being considered for the application. Um, the challenge that we face in placing those further down a road as an example is that then we're in either VOD or town of Christiansburg rightway. Um, and those signs could get damaged or removed. So, we're always very cautious with that. Um, but I do know that was a concern that was raised by a member of the public. With that, uh, I will take any questions that you have on this piece. Um, John Neil from Foresight Design Services is with us as well as the applicant. Um, and then we'll, uh, I'll move into the presentation on the special use permit for this contractor storage yard before you take a vote.

Do we have any questions for Mr. Sanders? Um, do you want to add anything? Applicant. Mr. Neil, would you like to make some comments?

I'm happy to wait until the end. I know you're take I know you're taking them separately, but it is all kind of of one one package. The biggest thing that I'll point out, appreciate Justin's presentation, don't really have anything to add, is no complaints since 2021 and Black Diamond acquired the property in 2023. They've been operating there for the last three years or two and a half, I guess. Um, and there's been no complaints and they've been a good neighbor. And happy to answer any questions you have on this or storage yard after. Yes, sir. Will there actually be sales of this product from the site or is it dump site only?

No. No, sir. It It is only a dump site and I'll look to Rick to confirm that. I can clarify that. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, what we do is uh we do have opportunities to recycle material, good fuel that we'll stockpile if if projects need it. Primarily top soil. If we receive top soil from other ones, we'll stockpile it, resell it. So, it does come in and go out from from time to time. Um we have looked at recycling the concrete products for resale as aggregate but we just can't make the investment count but yes it does come in and go out uh as needed. So

move on to the special use permit request for the contractor storage yard. Um, again, summary of the request here. Similar hours to what you're going to see for the rubble landfill. 7 a.m. to 5:00 p p.m. Monday through Friday. Again, with some Saturday hours. Um, the contractor storage yard would not be open to the public. Um, there are a total of three structures that are planned for the future with unknown square footage at this time. Um, again, that's going to depend on the needs of the applicant at the time of construction. Um, equipment stored on site will typically leave the site and remain on active job sites. Um then equipment will return to the site for service, maintenance, and storage. And again, I've provided the definition there of a contractor storage yard for you. Um again, there is a possibility of some outdoor storage of of equipment and materials on that use. Uh again, to reiterate the location, um so the two proposed buildings there on the bottom right corner, those would be the areas that are accessed by Rainbow Street. Um and then you can see the proposal of that that third building uh in phase one area there. Um I do want to note that there was a question about the number of parking spaces that were denoted on the concept plan. That was for illustrative purposes only by the applicant. Um they will have to work with us at site plan review to determine the number of required parking spaces per the zoning ordinance. And just another zoom in there for you showing that that one building there on phase one. I want to note also the proposed buffer that they're adding there. Again, some of that's going to be existing vegetation, but others it might be new vegetation as well there to um help with that buffer along the manufactured home property line. And then the the buffer that's proposed um for both the contractor storage yard and the the rubble landfill there on the bottom left of the page. This is the uh the buildings that would be accessed from Rainbow Street. Again, uh the proposed building maximum square

footage has been uh denoted there. Again, that could go a little bit smaller depending on their needs. Um but again, you can see the buffer yards that are proposed there. Again, that would be existing vegetation or added vegetation to provide that adequate buffer. Again these images uh same uh as prior in the previous application terminus of village lane with a gated access uh Rainbow Street vehicular entry. I wanted to show you the image on the right there. That is a quadplex that is next door and again you can see that existing vegetation that's there that would be supplemented to meet the buffer yard requirement. The graveled area that you see here in the image is the proposed location for the contractor storage yard there off of Rainbow Street. Um impacts regarding traffic again would be accessed from Rainbow Street and again there is that navigability through the the town streets. Um the town emphasized that the use of Rainbow Street should not be utilized by those construction vehicles and again we've discussed that with the applicant and have received assurances. The applicant estimates uh zero to 10 trips per day to that contractor's storage yard. Um and again the the prior complaints that Mr. Neil Neil noted um none have been received since 2021. Uh VOTE also took no exception to the special use permit request for this contractor storage yard. Um public water and sewer is existing within uh the rightway of Village Lane. any proposed utilities for the contractor service yard buildings uh would be connected to those existing lines. Uh again, the area is not located in a FEMA designated flood zone. Storm water management would be taken care of via an on-site detention facility um and would be thoroughly reviewed during the site plan process. And again, all areas denoted as open space will remain protected and undisturbed. Um, and along with all other inspections that'll be

done on the site, um, this one would also receive a special use permit compliance inspection yearly from code enforcement. Uh, hours would be limited to 7 a.m. to set 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday with the occasional Saturday. Uh, multif family residential units are immediately located adjacent to the site. The town did not in indicate any noise complaints uh, from the existing operation. Uh, a buffer yard would be required to be installed to mitigate any noise impacts anticipated coming from running equipment. The site will utilize safety and security lighting, but that has to meet all standards in the zoning ordinance. And again, that locked gate prohibits vehicular access after hours. uh similar uh justification in the comprehensive plan uh related to location within urban expansion, entrepreneurial economy and then the future land use again supporting that uh development that's occurring in other portions of the county. Uh in our analysis, the proposed use would provide a viable use for an existing vacant lot and supports construction activities. It would have limited impacts on surrounding properties and place no substantive burden on existing infrastructure. um whether they'd use a fence or evergreen landscaping to uh achieve the buffer yard that would be required for adjacent properties. So, as a result, staff does recommend approval of this special use permit with the following conditions. The contractor storage yard shall be developed in general conformance with the submitted concept sketch dated 919205. Again, we use the phrase general conformance to give some flexibility on that square footage of buildings. If a building needs to shift, when they start doing earth work on the site, etc., it allows us some flexibility to work with the applicant. A site plan addressing zoning conformance with landscaping, screening, parking, and other requirements shall be approved prior to the issuance of any county permits. Hours of operation shall not exceed 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through

Saturday with the site closed on Sundays. Again, just to give some flexibility on those Saturday hours for enforcement purposes. Any exterior lighting installed on the property shall be designed to prevent glare onto adjacent properties and comply with dark sky friendly standards. The contractor storage yard shall not be open to the public and shall create no exterior impacts, including noise, vibration, glare, odors, or electrical interference. Equipment and vehicles stored on the property shall be in good working condition at all times. and any outdoor storage shall be screened from view adjacent properties with opaque fencing or evergreen trees. Uh similar to our last application, uh we did do our advertising according to code for both the county and the state. Public hearing signs were placed on the property. Legal ads run in the news messenger. Uh staff has received no concerns regarding this use. Uh and additional comments may have been received this evening, but we have had none. So with that, I will take any questions. And again, Mr. nails here and the applicant are here to answer any questions about this request.

Any questions for Mr. Z? Yeah, Mr. Chair, I I do have a number of questions um for both of the applications. Um I guess if can you go back to the concept plan? Yes. the full plan. There we are.

Okay. So, um it looks like we're showing buffers, but not all of the adjacent properties are shown with the buffer as it's depicted on this. was are there reasons that there's gaps along that uh southern boundary? Yes. So, we met with the applicant and determined that due to the topography, a buffer would really be ineffective there just due to the topography of the site. Um, we did not want to put a burden on the applicant to install trees that would really not achieve the

I just wanted to make sure that that was something that was discussed. Um, I I also have a number of technical questions regarding the pavement analysis that I'm sure Mr. Neil's going to appreciate. Um, but I I'll get to that in just a moment. Um you had mentioned in the staff report that um building construction on the fill areas is not allowed but it appears that the building that's proposed in the phase or I guess it's the blue area

is on fill. Is that a contradiction? So that's their limits of disturbance that's noted on the concept plan. John, I'm gonna defer to you to to answer that question on where that's located specifically on the site.

And and again from a I guess a regulatory standpoint, is that just engineering principle that the county is applying or is that an a building code or ordinance? So, so construction on fill is allowed, but there has to be compaction testing that is done to verify that it is safe to do so, and that's in the building code. Um, the county's preference is not to build on Phil, but it is allowed in in code. Um, but again, I'm going to defer to John on the conversations that they've had there on the location of the building.

Okay. So, and then um I guess going back to this would apply to both of the applications. Um one of the concerns I think that has been expressed and and I have a concern is about the um the volume of traffic going in and out. Um and I appreciate the applicant um doing that extra effort to to um evaluate the pavement. Um but as far as the volume is concerned um did you all discuss during any plan review or development of the um conditions um any limitations to the number of trucks that could go in and out in a given period of time? I know the applicant said 0 to 30 per day is what they foresee and that's fine but that's not a condition and um my concern is that once this gets opened up to a commercial operation and there's paid people uh paying to bring the material in and assuming that things are going well with the economy and construction continues to to stay busy and uh they need a place to put this that this place could get very very busy. So my concern is a lot of the decisions that are being made are based on assumptions for the frequency of vehicles coming in and out. And I guess my concern is that we really don't have any way of monitoring or regulating that to make sure that we're not exceeding the assumptions on which we're evaluating the application. So, I'd like to see if we could figure out a

way to tighten that up a little bit. Um, and then my last comment is related to the um public utilities. Um, so the uh you said that there were public utilities on um Village Lane but not on Rainbow. Is that correct? There there are public utilities on Rainbow. The applicant specified that they would be tying into the Village Lane while utilities were to be provided. Okay. All right. So, I'll I'll just stop there for now and see where where things go.

And and to the to the point about the volume of traffic, we we generally will discuss that with the applicant. Um, some of that is dependent on their business model, the their capacity to be able to manage that on a day-to-day basis. Um, but you you spoke to this in in your in your question that it's very difficult for us to monitor the number of in real time. Let me let me phrase it that way. In real time, it's very difficult for us to monitor and enforce a condition that would set a limitation on the number of trucks. Um, but I will defer to the applicant and Mr. Neil on on how they came to the numbers that they did and maybe can explain that a bit better for you. Um, I will say from a staff perspective, we would be hesitant on any condition that would set a maximum number just because we cannot guarantee that we could adequately enforce that condition. Well, that that seems like we're opening a pretty wide door if we can't enforce something we're concerned about. So, we're not going to put a condition on there. Um, I we we can enforce something that we don't have a condition on either. So I think that that in some cases might not be a the sole reason not to include something just because it can't be enforced. I mean ideally and I have all the respect in the world for the applicant. I don't imagine that they're going to annoyingly violate a condition if it's in their permit as long as it's reasonable and agreed upon upfront. So even though we can't enforce it, uh

and and and I may have missed I don't want to say that we can't enforce it. It would be challenging for staff to enforce. Um it is it is the pleasure of this body to put any condition on a special use permit and then the board of supervisors could take action on that

and we will figure out a way to enforce the condition. Well, I I would like to at least keep that issue on the table for consideration because I I think right now it's basically open-ended as far as the number of vehicles that can go in and out. And uh I think in general, just looking at the math, it's probably going to be self-limiting to, you know, the amount of uh material that can go in there during a given day. and looking at the numbers that were presented from the the data for the uh the the vehicle trips that were accounted for in the um pavement analysis. Um you know, there's some days where there's quite a few vehicles coming in. So, I think that that kind of already sets somewhat of an upper limit. Um so, I think that would be worthwhile to look at. I I I agree with Mr. Croll that it is very open-ended and and this one site will be operational for 40 years. So,

I was saying that this site could be operational for 40 years and and while 30 trips today may be all that they anticipate, 10 years from now, business models can change and demand and so forth. So, I I kind of feel like we ought to have some type of uh built-in restriction.

And that that 30 trips per day that it's not specified over what period of time. Is that an average per month or average over the whole year? Um on some days there were significantly more than 30 trucks that came in based on the um the load um counts that were done. So that the 0 to 30 I think is and correct me if I'm wrong that's that's an average over a 12-month period, right? So, you know, that that in and of itself creates some question about, you know, if you've got a lot of traffic coming in on on a day, but you're averaging that over a longer period of time, you still have a lot of trucks coming in and out on that given day. But from a an analysis standpoint, I mean, there has to be a baseline that that we're using. So, I I'm fine with that. So I I do have some technical and I I don't want to dominate this conversation. If there are any other commissioners that have questions for staff or

do we have other questions before I would just like to get clarification for the contractor storage yard that all the equipment or vehicles that will be found there will be owned by the contractor. would not be your friends or your relatives or anything. Just needing to leave something there because they didn't have any other place to put it. You anticipate it all being your equipment? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Is it okay if I come on up?

Yes. Come on, please. Please, sir. So appreciate on the on the storage yard um in particular for the building in the blue area. Uh certainly there's going to be field within that whole field area. Uh but we would not be constructing the building on field and that'll be uh proven when we submit the site plan to the county and they review the site plan uh process. So this is this is an illustrative example of generally where the building is going to go and the fill area and the contractor storage yard. It's not a site plan.

I think I I personally think that you can build a building on fill if it's done correctly. So I don't have any fundamental problems with that. It's just there was a I it's not clear that the area that's depicted here in the blue what the limits of fill versus limits of disturbance versus um that's the the entire blue area is fill or is potential fill graded area both cut and fill and the contractor storage yard is at defined by the fence there. Okay, great. if that if that helps.

Sorry, let me So, um, did you I I do have some other questions about the, uh, pavement analysis. And I don't have that with me, so I'm happy to answer questions. I may have to ask you for your copy to look at look at something if you ask me something. But I know we we went through they took the the samples. Um we measured the whole cross-section went through the VO pavement uh design guide kind of reverse engineered from the pavement design guide and confirmed that everything there matched the the traffic counts that we that Rick had provided over his course of the year. Um and then we submitted that to the town of Kenberg. They reviewed that and approved it.

Right. I I guess my my issue is I I've got some maybe some fundamental disagreement with the methodology. It it's minor, but I did want to point it out, but I think overall the analysis supports the the conclusion. Um but the devil's in the details. For instance, the um the number of trips that were estimated based on the um load counts, those were trips for loads that came into the facility and dumped on a given day and those were counted. So those were one-way trips. The the IT trip generation chart

assumes trip ends which is in and out. So in the context of looking at wear and tear on the road, I think we were looking at oneway traffic going in which were the loaded trucks which you use the the the 20 multiplier to equate to the ADTS and that that was fine. But I think what we neglected was the outbound trips which would have less than 20 multiplier but those trips were not accounted for in your calculations. Um I did look at it and I it doesn't really

it doesn't tip the scale the other way. So I think you're fine. But there were since I made a big deal about doing the pavement analysis last meeting. I did want to clarify that that um you know I I think that it it does work but it's um the the actual assumptions that were made I think I think if we could be looked at we could even this is my I'm going off my memory now. So I think even if we use the 20 multiplier on the out out by trips we're still well below uh the payment design threshold. So, I'm happy to change it. That's not a big Well, no. I I don't I don't Well, we felt like

the actual report that was included in the packet looked like it was still in draft form. Has it been finalized? Uh, we'd submitted it to the town. Um, and so I sent it to you all. So, we had it in draft because we'd sent it to the town. They come back and said, "Hey, everything's good." So, it would have been finalized. That would be the final. Okay. So, because the in your Yeah. Okay. Not but there's since been a final version that's signed and sealed and sent to we received from the town of Christiansburg communication that they had no nothing else. So no no revision was submitted after

that that was the reason it was draft is to submit to them. They come back and approve soon that is the final so to speak. Okay.

Okay. That's all I have. Mr. Neil. Yes, sir. Could I ask a couple of questions? Sure. To Mr. Croll's point about the trips, um, 30 trips a day is three an hour. Is that enough?

Yeah. So, so we put the zero to 30 in there when we looked at the entire thing and kind of coming up with an average. There is no way to predict on any given day the number of trips on a single day throughout the course of an entire year. Um it certainly there and I think if I think we submitted to you all uh Rick had kept his load counts for the entire I think almost a year or right at a year or whatever. I think there's probably a day on there's probably 130 trips, but over the course of the year, um the kind of the average we're looking at, you know, 30 something like that. The there's there's no way I I don't think there's no way to or I don't think we should set a specific limitation on the number of trips that's on the site. Uh because if you say that's any given day, um then you could do 100. Let's let's say you set it at 100, then you do a you could do a 100 trips a day for 360 or well whatever the Monday through Saturday day is. Um and that would be way worse than if we did 140 trips on one day a month and 20 the every other day of the month. Um, so, so I I I don't think the logic follows in my mind. Uh, but obviously that's my opinion.

Okay, I think I've got it. Second question. Sure. Um, could there come a time when there might be a need for a uh caretaker to live on the property? I don't think so. No, sir. Okay.

No. And I do want to clarify one of the things. Uh, Rainbow Street will only be pedestrian vehicles. We showed the parking there for the contract storageard. That would be for Rick's employees coming in, parking at the shop, going into the shop and either working in the in the shop or getting a piece of equipment or a truck or whatever and leaving. And they would not leave via Rainbow Street. They would leave through village. Uh, just to clarify that if there was any any question. It will only be pedestrian scale. Now, some of these guys, I'm sure, have a 3500 diesel, whatever truck. Um, but not a contractor piece of equipment or or dumping truck or anything like that. Uh, going on Rainbow.

Thank you. Any further questions for the applicant?

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bill. So the first item would be the uh special use permit for the rubble landfill and and and then we'll bring up the contractor storage yard separate. Mr. Chair, I I move approval with staff's recommendations for conditions.

Second. We have a motion for approval and a se and a second with the uh conditions as presented. Any further discussion?

Mr. chair. Um I question where we are down the road with um the the applicant has stated that the landfill would likely recycle top soil. understand that uh we approved a uh landfill um in the Walton Road area couple of years ago and that's largely become a recycling of material uh uh ground concrete uh millings uh from asphalt and other things. Uh I just wonder down the road uh what flexibility if any the uh the applicant has uh if that changes direction and I certainly hardly endorse the the the reuse of materials where we can but uh have we provided for that and what would be necessary for the uh applicant to if you will change directions

and I would say Mr. Miller that uh as that would be accessory to the use as a rubble landfill it would be permitted as accessory without any alteration of the special use permit. Would that require building something though on the land that's not buildable? it and that would be what would potentially trigger it to come back to you if additional facilities were added to the plan. That would have to come back as an amendment to the concept plan because of the way the condition is worded. Okay.

Any further questions? Okay. Um, we'll probably ask for a roll call vote. M. Mr. Lincolnis, if you don't mind. Okay. Mr. Croll? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Simkins? Yes. Mr. Workman? Yes. Mr. Lincolnis? Yes. Vice Chair Foster? Yes. Chair Rice? Yes. Unanimous. And then we will entertain a motion for the contract storage. Mr. Chairman, so moved. Staff recommendation with conditions. Second.

Okay, we have a motion and second. Any further discussion? Contractor storage yard. Mr. Lis, if you don't Mr. Croll, yes. Mr. Miller, yes. Simpkins. Yes. Mr. Workman. Yes. Yes. Vice Chair Foster. Yes. Air rice. Yes. Both motions pass.

And I I guess it it goes to the board supervisor.

So that will go to that uh is scheduled to go to the board of supervisors on October 27th. And that meeting will be at 7:15 p.m. in this chamber. Thank you. Uh let's see. Next item, new business. And we don't have any items of new business listed. Uh so we'll go into liaison reports and the board of supervisors, Mr. Graphsky. All right. Good evening, commissioners. Uh, thank you as always for this opportunity and thanks for your service. Uh, just a quick couple of quick updates. We were all together on Monday. Really enjoyed that, Mr. Cole. Enjoyed getting to know you a little bit better, sitting next to you there. Um, so my really my only update from the board of supervisors side um was in relation to the Montgomery Matters update that we all got. So I won't go through all of that. Um, but I will say just how encouraged I was by the updates that you provided, Mr. Sanders. So, thank you. Thanks to your team for all the hard work uh that's been going into that. Um, you know, I was particularly encouraged by just the level of engagement from the community that we've received. So, you know, really looking forward to that plan. Um, pivoting to the PSA side of things. Um, it you may know or may recall. So the the board of supervisors recently went through a process of integrating the PSA operations into the county which resulted in the creation of a department of utilities. Um so I'm happy to share that the uh department of utilities has hired Justin Shepard to be its director. Mr. Shepard will join us from the town of Christensburg where he was most recently their assistant director of utilities. So, he's got

experience, local experience. Um, and Justin will start with us on October 28th, so just a couple of weeks from now. And then uh the other thing of note for you all is that the PSA should be receiving an updated study uh related to water sewer capacity in the uh eastern Montgomery part of the service area. And I just bring that up because I anticipate that the results of that study may influence any future proposals that come uh before this group as it relates to the father and gay uh project out there in Ellison. But yeah, we'll get those results and uh I'm sure those will be shared with this group as well.

All right, that's all I've got for you tonight. Thank you very much. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir. And Blackburg Planning is uh Chuck Robins. give a few updates if you'd like.

Um, so since uh Mr. Sharp Robinson's not here, uh, the town of Blackburg has several um, applications that are are coming through uh, related to student housing, some redevelopment proposals um, along uh, University City Boulevard as well as Web Street in the town of Blackburg. They are also continuing work on their downtown Northwest uh, development plan. um that is looking at uh a zoning district uh in that part of downtown uh that would allow increased density and increased height. Um so they're continuing to work through that uh process as well. And then as Mr. Sharp Robinson mentioned with you last time, um I believe the study uh the the survey that is open for a new potential community center for the town of Blackburg um is either still open or has just closed. They're going to be moving forward with with that plan as well. So, lots of exciting things happening with our neighbors in Blackburg.

Yeah. Sound good. And the Chrisburg Planning Commission, Mr. DeWalt, he's not here. Okay. It seemed it seemed like they have a reasonzoning on They do have a reszoning. Um, and it is on Oh, the name the name of the road escaping, but it's a resoning for some housing. Um the planning commission has met and then the town council will be taking that up at their next meeting I believe. Okay. Okay. Sounds good. And then the Ratford planning commission, Miss Simpkins.

Yeah, they uh they met on 9:15. I was out of town, but on the agenda, they had only one item for their work session and it was to continue working on the zoning ordinance. Okay. And and tourism council, Mr. Miller, no report. Okay. and uh parks and recrecks with Mr. Workman. The Huckleberry Bridge project will start November 3rd. So uh be prepared for disruption in that area of the uh the trail. And then on September 27th, there was the dedication at Teal Park and Mr. Miller did a wonderful job representing uh his community out there and this commission. So that's all I got.

Okay. And then planning director's report, Mr. Yes. Um I I am happy to say that Miss Hopkins is back fulltime this week. Um so it has been a pleasure sitting at the deis with you in Herstead, but I am very glad to have her back as are the rest of us.

Um so we look forward to having her back with us at our next meeting in November. Um you all have some goodies at your places there. That is in recognition. It is National Community Planning Month. Um, the board of supervisors has designated October 2025 as National Community Planning Month here in McGomery County. Um, and as a thank you from staff uh for your continued service, we have a few goodies there for you. Um, some county and McGomery Matters items for you. Um, I just want to say on behalf of staff, thank you all so so much for your continued service. Um, we thoroughly enjoy meeting with you once or twice a month and we enjoy having you in the office when you come by. Um it is not lost on us the commitment that you all make being here and being active participants in county planning. Um so thank you for your service and your friendship as we move forward.

Um we have a lot to celebrate in our office in addition to to Brie coming back with us. Um we have had uh several staff members that have pursued professional development and I want to make sure that they are recognized. Uh Shelley Caldwell, um our planning coordinator, um received her certified zoning official designation from the Virginia Association of Zoning Officials. So, let's give her a round of applause. Shelley also yesterday completed her certified board of zoning appeals training through Virginia Commonwealth University. Um so, Shelley has been quite busy in addition to all of her other tasks that she is managing in the office for us. Um, Laura Rogers, our code enforcement officer, recently received her certified zoning administrator credential from Vaso. Um, so we're very proud of Laura as well. Liam Ward, our transportation planner, uh, received his local administered project certification from VOTE. And then Amanda in our office, received her certified planning commissioner designation as well. So, um, I think it's important to recognize staff when they when they make this effort to to become certified. it better serves our citizens and better serves you as a commission. So, I want to just recognize our staff. Um, the last note that I have for you this evening uh is just a save the date for you. As as you'll note, um, November 12th, our regular meeting that has been cancelled. The board of supervisors will be meeting that evening as they will be coming back from a conference. Um, so we will meet on November the 19th. Uh do want to note that we have our final Montgomery Matters openhouse of the year. That's going to be here at the government center on November the 17th. We'll be looking at the u large number of recommendations that have come forward for the various parts of Montgomery Matters uh and vetting those with the public. We are also in the process of developing an online survey that we can put out into the community um to get feedback from those

individuals who aren't able to attend with us in person. We have been working on some very creative strategies to get the word out. So, more to come on that. Um, and then December the 17th will be our one meeting in the month of December. That of course is pending both weather and the receipt of applications. Uh, we have received notice from several different applicants that they are planning to submit applications in the next few months, but again, the timing of that is going to determine whether we're going to be meeting in December. Uh, and the last calendar note that I will give you, um, in my role as the vice president of chapter affairs for APA Virginia, um, we will be hosting our 2026 conference in the city of Danville in July of next year. Um, the dates there are July 26 through 29th. Um, there is a very large registration discount for planning commissioners and there is the opportunity for you to come in just for the day programming. Um, as we get a little closer to uh the conference in 2026, I'll be sharing more information with you if any of you would like to participate.

And that's all I have. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Mr. Chair, and second to all those in favor signify say I. Mr. Miller has Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. I'd just like to say that while we're handing out kudos, Mr. Sanders has done an absolutely great job with Montgomery Matters uh with the citizenry, with the meetings. I've attended several of the meetings.

I haven't met my my wife's standard. She I think has been to every meeting. uh but just the quality of the work that was done by you and your staff and by your reports out to us and especially to the supervisors. Um I think it's just been an extraordinary experience. So we thank you. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Uhhuh. And I'll second the motion for Okay. All those in favor of adjourning signify by saying I. I. I. We're journed.