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The Fauquier
County Board of Supervisors and School Board mutually agreed
on the acquisition of the 306.1+ acre site known as
the Mabel V. Lunceford Estate property. The Board of
Supervisors acquired the entire property on December 22,
2005. It is located on the east side of Rogues Road (Route
602) across the street from Grapewood Estates.
The County
owned property is described as two discrete parcels under
one parcel number (PIN 7914-79-2156-000). It has 100-year
floodplain (Reference: FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map Number
510055, Panels 0305A and 310A). The Board of Supervisors
has conveyed 209.7+ acres on the northeast side of
the floodplain to the School Board for the third high school
site. The Board of Supervisors plans to hold the remaining
96.4+ acres in open space for a future park and/or
similar public purposes.
A.
Comprehensive Plan Compliance Review. §15.2-2232,
Code of Virginia, Comprehensive Plan Compliance Review.
Here the Planning Commission has made its required finding
that the proposed high school (a public facility feature) is
substantially in accord with the adopted Comprehensive Plan
at this location.
1.
New Baltimore Service District Plan (NBSD).
The adopted Plan identifies a need for a new high school
to serve overall population growth expected (reference
Section H.2 Future Needs). Applicable and stated NBSD Plan
objectives and policies for all school categories are:
Objectives
ü
To provide quality public schools that are not
overcrowded and situated in safe, quiet environments;
Response: The Fauquier County School Board’s proposed
high school is: (a) located within a 209.7+ acre
site; (b) accessed from Route 602; (c) proposed with
facilities 500 feet or more from adjacent properties; and
(d) located in an area with established and developing RA
and R-1 zoned neighborhoods.
ü
Encourage the co-location of schools and parks
for the development of neighborhood and community facilities
providing for an efficient use of land; and
Response: Refer to the Special Exception application
which details recreation and school plans for the School
Board site (Parcel A).
ü
Ensure public sewer is made available to new
schools, and where possible, existing schools are connected
to public sewer.
Response: The proposed HS-3 is located adjacent to
and just outside the New Baltimore Service District (NBSD)
boundary. In this location, Rogues Road (Route 602) serves
as the Service District’s eastern edge.
The NBSD Plan has a very limited area designated for WSA
sewer service (AB-1). Brookside represents the southern
edge of AB-1, with sewer available for the Eddington Drive
neighborhood. WSA sewer service is not available to
locations outside such designated areas within New
Baltimore. To solve this problem for HS-3, Chapter 6 –
Service Districts of the Comprehensive Plan (reference p. 5)
provides a provision, which states that the Comprehensive
Plan “does not intend to preclude the extension of public
water and sewer to existing or planned governmental
facilities that are near or adjacent to service districts.”
This section empowers the Board of Supervisors to allow
extension of both sewer and water services to the HS-3 site.
Note that sewer service lines will be sized to exclusively
serve the Fauquier County School Board site. This connection
will be made through the WSA facilities available through
Brookside. The WSA has onsite wells and service available
to the proposed high school.
Policies
ü
The acquisition of school sites should be
accompanied with the provision of sewer services. If a new
school for the New Baltimore Service District is located in
an area not planned for public sewer, the sewer line will
then be sized only to serve that school facility, with no
other connections allowed; and
Response: Refer to the previous response.
ü
Recreational facilities available at school
sites should be made available for community-wide use.
Response: When meeting rooms and fields are not in
use, the Fauquier County School Board makes such facilities
available for public use through requisite scheduling. This
facility is a major County investment and community
resource, and such provisions are expected.
2.
New Baltimore Service District Plan Update
The Board of Supervisors appointed Citizen Planning
Committee is providing the 5-Year review of the adopted 1999
NBSD Plan, and preparing proposed refinements to that
document for both Planning Commission and Board of
Supervisors consideration. The updated document is targeted
for transmission to the Planning Commission in April of 2006
for the initiation of its public hearing process. It needs
to be noted that this County owned property has been
designated as a proposed high school site in the draft
document.
3.
Planning Commission Finding
The Fauquier County School Board requested and the Planning
Commission found that the proposed school site, as described
generally herein and proposed specifically in the companion
Special Exception application, is a public facility feature
that is substantially in accord with the adopted
Comprehensive Plan. The adopted 1999 New Baltimore Service
District Plan identified the need for a high school to serve
the growing student population within its boundary and the
surrounding neighborhoods. The proposed location is
consistent with adopted New Baltimore Service District
Plan’s objectives and policies.
B.
Special Exceptions. The subject Fauquier
County School Board site is zoned Rural Agriculture (RA),
which allows a “secondary school” by Special Exception. Here
the Fauquier County School Board is seeking approvals of the
following applications: (1) SPEX06-SC-014: Special
Exception (Secondary School - Category 5): to allow a
“secondary school” in the RA district (Zoning Ordinance
Section 3-305.3); and (2) SPEX06-SC-015: Special
Exception (Public Utilities – Category 20): to allow an
above ground sewage pumping station (Zoning Ordinance
Section 3-320.3).
1.
High School (Secondary School – Category 5 Special
Exception)
The Fauquier County School Board proposes a high school on
the project site. Route 602 serves as the public street
frontage, with access from a single spine road leading into
the site and serving the school and football/soccer field.
The general site layout includes the high school, bus
circulation, parking and athletic fields.
General Characteristics
In general, hours of operation are from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m.,
with events and community uses regularly scheduled after
hours. The instruction capacity is designed to serve 1200
students; the core facilities will be designed to
accommodate 1500 students to cover future student population
growth. The estimated number of employees is about 180 to
200. The school will serve portions of Cedar Run, Center
and Scott Districts.
The third high school (HS-3) will be a two story masonry
structure of approximately 230,000 square feet. Visible
roof areas will be sloping metal roofs. The palette of
materials will be complimentary to the surrounding
residential neighborhoods.
The applicant states that the use of the property for a High
School will not adversely affect uses of surrounding Rural
Agriculture (RA) or R-1 zoned properties. School buildings
and the planned athletic fields are more than 500 feet from
the nearest RA zoned lots to the property’s north and over
800 feet from Rogues Road.
All appropriate screening and landscaping required as part
of the Tree Canopy, Landscape and Buffer Requirements of
Section 7-600 of the Zoning Ordinance will be met. An
existing perimeter fence along the property boundaries will
remain in place. Any existing fence within the property
will be removed. New six foot high chain link fence will be
installed to enclose each of the competitive athletic fields
– football, baseball and softball – with additional fence
enclosing the entire athletic complex, with the exception of
the general use PE / Soccer fields.
Any sports field lighting will be fully shielded and meet
the public recreational requirements of the Zoning Ordinance
Section 9-1006.1.a-f. This Section is intended to provide
adequate and safe illumination for athletic events, while
minimizing sky-glow and light spillover to adjoining
properties. Due to the distance of the football/soccer
stadium and baseball/softball fields to the property line,
there will be no spillover light impacts on adjoining
properties.
To the immediate east of Parcel A is the Fairfax Wildlife
Club’s 87+ acre site. The Fairfax Wildlife Club,
Inc. property (PIN 7914-87-5524-000) adjoins the high school
site along a 3,364 foot common boundary on the southeast of
the high school site. Kettle Run flows generally west to
east along this boundary.
The club has 69 members, 45 of whom are active. The club
parcel is used for hunting and firearms target range
shooting, and supports other activities including hunter
safety classes, camping, Fauquier 4H Junior Gun Club,
Fishing Derby, and club social activities. In discussions
with the School Board, a representative of the
Fairfax Wildlife Club has stated the club’s willingness to
work cooperatively with the school division on this
project.
The terrain and vegetation of the high school site and the
club site are generally conducive to preventing stray
firearms fire from reaching the proposed school site. The
westernmost portion of the club parcel is heavily wooded and
contains a hill on which is situated the firing range. The
firing range has a large earthen berm, which provides
significant screening of much of the high school site from
the west, and acts as a barrier to stray projectiles.
Much of the northern portion of the club parcel slopes
downward toward Kettle Run, resulting in most firearm
projectiles from this orientation being directed into the
floodplain adjacent to Kettle Run. The slopes on the north
side (the school site side) of Kettle Run are covered by
trees, providing a natural screening for stray projectiles.
However, the school division plans to add additional
protection such as solid screening or berms east of the
planned athletic fields.
The adopted Chapter 6 - New Baltimore Service District Plan
identifies the need for a new high school, and the location
is consistent with plan policies; for example:
·
Adequately buffered from roads,
non-residential uses and operations hazards;
·
Located in such a way that woodlands and
natural areas serve as buffers between school operations and
adjoining uses;
·
Allow safe and convenient access to the local
road network;
·
Should not include major floodplain, drainage
ways nor major utility easements;
·
School locations should be collocated with
County parks where practical; and
·
Any proposed school site must have adequate
access to existing or proposed public streets.
The NBSD Plan expects all schools to become an important
amenity to New Baltimore and the surrounding neighborhoods
by providing building space and field recreational areas for
civic, cultural and community use.
Public and Sewer Services
The NBSD Plan has a policy that states: ensure public sewer
is made available to new schools, and where possible,
existing schools are connected to public sewer.
The proposed HS-3 is located adjacent to and just outside
the New Baltimore Service District (NBSD) boundary. In this
location, Rogues Road (Route 602) serves as the Service
District’s eastern edge. In addition, the NBSD Plan has a
very limited area designated for WSA sewer service (AB-1).
The Brookside subdivision represents the southern edge of
AB-1, with sewer available for its Eddington Drive
neighborhood just south of the HS-3 site. WSA sewer service
is not available to locations outside such designated areas
within New Baltimore.
To solve this utility service problem for the HS-3 site,
Chapter 6 – Service Districts of the Comprehensive Plan
(reference p. 5) states that the Plan “does not intend to
preclude the extension of public water and sewer to existing
or planned governmental facilities that are near or adjacent
to service districts.” This Section empowers the Board of
Supervisors to allow extension of both sewer and water
services to the HS-3 site. Note that sewer service lines
will need to be sized to exclusively serve the Fauquier
County School Board site. This connection will be made
through the WSA facilities available through Brookside.
The applicant states that the School Board shall construct
the HS-3 entrance and frontage improvements on Rogues Road
pursuant to VDOT requirements and specifications, including
requisite signalization. In addition and through the VDOT
Revenue Sharing Program, the School Board and Board of
Supervisors (mix of County revenue and Proffer contributions
and VDOT funds) are in the design stage for the required
intersection improvements and signalization at the Route 605
intersections with Riley Road and Rogues Road resulting from
the school and local residential development. These
improvements are targeted for completion in July of 2007.
Section 3-408.3 of the Zoning Ordinance
This Section requires a Special Exception application in the
RA district to provide 13% of its acreage in open space.
Parcel A totals 209.7+ acres, and would require 27.3
acres in open space. For just the proposed HS-3, excluding
the building, parking areas and even the athletic fields and
facilities, over 80 percent of Parcel A is in open space.
Note that the School Board reserves the right to use a
portion of that open space acreage later, since there may be
another school planned onsite in the future. That
future option is not the subject of this application.
However, note that an additional school would require
either a separate Special Exception or an amendment to the
HS-3 approved Special Exception; both would be subject to
public notifications and hearings before the Planning
Commission and Board of Supervisors. Regardless, the
minimum open space requirement would be 27.3 acres for the
overall Parcel A (13% of the site) and the
floodplain/wetland acreage can be included.
Section 5-504.1(B) of the Zoning Ordinance
This Section requires the school to provide for each student
430 square feet of usable outdoor recreation space that may
be in use at any one time. The school development program
provides 14.8 acres of active recreation space.
Section 5-504.2 of the Zoning Ordinance
This Section requires that all recreation areas shall be
fully fenced. All competition athletic fields, including
discus and shot put, and tennis courts will be fenced; while
the P.E./Soccer Fields will not. Note that a potion of the
northern perimeter of the site is also fenced. No
recreation area or field is within 500 feet of the northern
property line, while all athletic fields and facilities are
over 1000 feet from the western property line, with the
exception of the tennis courts (+ 800 feet from Route
602). The 100-year floodplain is to the immediate south of
these facilities.
Section 5-006(8) of the Zoning Ordinance
This Section states that the proposed use shall not degrade
air quality, surface and groundwater quality and quantity in
such a way that would hinder or discourage the appropriate
development and/or use of adjacent land and/or buildings or
impair the value thereof.
The site contains a Heron Rookery along Kettle Run. During
a 2004 public hearing for the approved WSA elevated water
storage facility Special Exception on the former Mabel V.
Lunceford, Estate property, residents indicated that a heron
rookery existed onsite. Therefore, the Department of
Community Development invited the Virginia Department of
Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) to identify any such
habitat in October of 2005. Within the 33 acres of FEMA
100-year floodplain on the entire property, Great Blue Heron
nests were found. U.S. Army Corps of Engineer staff has
also viewed the site at a different time.
Staff has received a comment letter from the Citizens
for Fauquier County. They note that the site has extensive
natural resources and highlight six (6) key points:
·
The VA Department of Game and Inland
Fisheries recommends a 500-foot natural, forested buffer and
a 1,320-foot construction buffer around the Heron Rookery
during nesting season.
·
Enhance environmental education
opportunities to design native landscaping on campus.
·
Require Low Impact Development (LID)
stormwater management system.
·
Careful design for bus parking and
maintenance to minimize pollution and toxic run-off.
·
Consider an advisory committee of community
members to interact with builders/architects.
·
Suggest park use for additional land that
is on the south side of the wetlands
The Great Blue Heron is not considered an endangered
species, nor subject to the 1,320-foot protection radius for
such species as recommended by VDGIF. No special management
provisions are required; however, the area within the
vicinity of the nesting area will be planned as open space
or P.E./Soccer fields, both compatible uses adjoining such a
habitat that is located inside the 100-year floodplain.
Additional emphasis also is provided that no land disturbing
activities will occur within the 100-year floodplain of
Kettle Run (with the only possible exception of a limited
underground sewer line connection to Rogues Road) or result
in any wetland disturbance. The WSA has production wells
that are also delineated on the Special Exception Plat, but
are not subject to this application.
It is also noteworthy that the Board of Supervisors has not
finalized how it plans to use the 96+ acres of Parcel
B on the south side of the 100-year floodplain. However,
very preliminary discussions have indicated that one option
could be an environmental or a more passive park.
2.
Special Exception (Public Utilities – Category 20)
In order to connect the School Board site to WSA sewer
services, a small above ground sewage pumping station will
be required. The Special Exception Plat identifies the
location along the edge of the 100-year floodplain, and
provides an elevation drawing of the planned structure. The
School Board intends the design of the pumping station and
the connecting sewer lines to be sized to exclusively serve
this site.
The facility will be a duplex submersible non-clog
wastewater pump station of approximately 125 gallons per
minute capacity, designed to the Fauquier County Water and
Sanitation Authority (FCWSA) standards. The pump station
will be located within an approximate 100 feet by 100 feet,
fenced and gated lot with an all weather access road.
Emergency power and all electrical service will be provided
by the school.
Pump station appurtenances will include (subject to FCWSA
approval) a six inch diameter non-sparking duplex wet well
(below grade) with valve box. Architectural treatment is
assumed to be a pre-cast concrete building with a flat roof
and separate electrical control hut.
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