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A.
Background Information.
On 17
February 2000, the Catlett, Calverton, Midland Citizen Planning
Committee had its “Kick-Off” meeting with over thirty
members attending. In
the initial months, the Committee members received preliminary
briefings from assorted County Departments and state agencies on
a wide variety of topics including: economic development,
emergency services, parks and recreation, schools, wastewater
treatment/drainfields, transportation planning, and other
associated comprehensive plan subjects.
Once this educational period concluded, the Committee was
divided into sub-committees, which focused on the assigned three
villages.
After
seventeen work sessions, including a special session with VDOT
and a public information meeting in May of 2001, the Committee
completed its final draft and voted to forward the enclosed
Catlett, Calverton and Midland Plan for Planning Commission
review, public hearing and action.
Doug Trumbo, Committee Chairman, briefed the Planning
Commission at its 30 August 2001 meeting, and submitted the
draft plan amendment for the public hearing process.
B.
Special Considerations.
The
Citizen Planning Committee acknowledged that the availability of
public sewer and the associated fiscal constraints pose a major
impediment to future viability as village communities.
In response to that challenge, the proposed plan elements
present solid directions and recommendations on how to retain
these communities at a more village scale.
The intention is that these villages are not to become full
fledged service districts, with the complete compliment of
public facilities and services. The proposed plan amendment, for
example:
·
Provides a historic and existing conditions
development perspective for Catlett, Calverton and Midland;
·
Presents the land use plan and illustrative plan
for each community;
·
Introduces design guidelines and historic zones to
assure new homes and businesses in the future fit into the
community neighborhoods;
·
Restricts village development through a designated
Phase 1 Sewer Service Areas with specific recommendations
regarding public sewer provision in Calverton and Catlett.
·
Recommendations for key intersectional
improvements along Route 28 in the 2010 and 2020 time frames, as
well as the transportation planning elements; and
·
Proposes general design principles for blocks and
lots, front and side yards, landscaping, parking, streets, and
structures.
The
amendment to the Comprehensive Plan also includes a
transportation plan, which was based on a traffic study for the
three communities for 2010 and 2020.
That study established baseline traffic, level of service
impacts for the study period, and the intersectional
improvements needed along Route 28. The study demonstrated that four-laning was not immediately
warranted, although the Citizen Planning Committee indicated
that Route 28 is expected to be a four-lane corridor in the
future as traffic and funding warrants.
The transportation plan also identified other streets,
which needed to be extended or added as these villages develop
in the future.
The
Piedmont Environmental Council and two Planning Commission
members were concerned that the plan’s residential land use
areas would generate demand for a higher population than
reflected in the proposal.
The answer is that the public wastewater treatment system
currently proposed (step system; small diameter piping) is for
the Phase 1 areas designated in Calverton and Catlett.
That system will have a design capacity for 75,000
gallons per day for Phase 1.
It is designed to connect the existing homes and
businesses in both communities for those areas with failing
drainfields. Approximately
75% of the drainfields in the Phase I area are said to be
failing.
The
system could be expanded to 150,000 gallons per day; and that
represents a capacity for an estimated cumulative total
1,200-1,400 residents served in Catlett and Calverton.
System expansion is restricted to where non-discharge
systems can operate, as a result of the Occoquan Watershed
Requirements and Policy. Plan
phasing will restrict the location and scale of village
development, and properties not in the designated sewer service
areas for Catlett and Calverton will need to rely on septic
tanks and drainfields if new development is to be permitted. It must be emphasized that soil conditions in areas outside
Phase 1 are not conducive to drainfields in these village
service districts. It
also needs to be noted that in a quick review of building
permits issued for new homes within the Catlett and Calverton
Service Districts found that none have been in the past five
years in these two locations.
On
October 25, 2001, the Planning Commission conducted its public
hearing regarding the proposed amendment to the Comprehensive
Plan, and in December of 2001 forwarded the
Catlett, Calverton and Midland Village Service District Plan to
the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation that it be
adopted.
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