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Background
This text
amendment has been generated because of an existing use
established at the True Deliverance Church of God, located
at 10499 Jericho Road in Bealeton. The Church owns two
contiguous 10± acres which are zoned R-1. On one of the
parcels, the church has a sanctuary and associated
buildings, including a large replica of Noah’s Ark. On the
other 10± acre parcel, the Church has constructed a “single
family dwelling” with 15 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, which
they have been utilizing for the past two years to provide
transitional housing to homeless families; the facility is
known as “Victory Transitional Housing.” Occupants pay a
low fee to stay at the facility, and are required to save a
portion of their salary each month for a future home or
apartment. Occupants are also required to take financial
mentoring courses. According to the Church’s pastor,
occupants are often referred to the facility by Fauquier
Family Shelter; to be accepted they must have stable
employment and reliable transportation, and are limited to a
maximum one year stay. As of November 2003, the church was
housing six families in the facility, for a total of 16
people.
Church
representatives approached the Zoning Office in 2003. The
building that is now utilized for the transitional housing
was built, according to these representatives, by the former
leader of the church, who is now deceased. The new
leadership contacted the office to confirm that all proper
permits were in place and that no additional approvals or
permits were necessary to continue operation. At that time,
staff researched the approval/permit history for the church
and found that the building was approved and built as a
dwelling unit with three bedrooms.
Staff’s
review of the case found that the transitional use had never
been authorized, that the building permits may need to be
revisited because of the change in use, and that Health
Department approvals are not in place for the expanded use
of the structure. This proposed text amendment is the
first in a number of approvals that will be required to
bring the use into compliance with the County’s
regulations. If a text amendment is approved that
authorizes the use, the Church will then have to secure the
special exception and site plan required by the text
amendment. Building permit requirements must also be met for
the use.
This matter
was scheduled for initiation on February 19, 2004. After
discussion, the Planning Commission voted to postpone all
action pending Health Department approval of the septic
system. That action finally occurred and the matter is now
back on the agenda. This text amendment was initiated by the
Planning Commission on January 26, 2006. On February 16,
2006, the Planning Commission voted to recommend adoption.
Proposed
Text Amendment
The existing
Fauquier County Zoning Ordinance does not include a use
category that allows the type of transitional housing
occurring at the church. The use has some characteristics
similar to both the “Residential Care Facility” use and the
“Boarding House” use in the Zoning Ordinance, but ultimately
fits in neither category, as a “Residential Care Facility”
must be State or Federally licensed with 24-hour
supervision, and a “Boarding House” is limited to
accommodations for 12 or fewer people, is not institutional
in character, and does not involve the provision of
services. Nor can the use be categorized as “multi-family
dwelling,” because housekeeping facilities (bathrooms,
kitchens, living spaces) are shared, and because no
associated services are part of a “Boarding House” use.
Therefore, a
new category is necessary to allow the proposed use. Staff
reviewed the Zoning Ordinance of other jurisdictions, and
found several with a “Transitional Housing Facility” or
similar use. The following definition for “Transitional
Housing Facility” is loosely based on that of St. Paul,
Minnesota, with refinements to reflect the existing Victory
Transitional Housing facility, which serves homeless
families rather than homeless individuals.
Transitional Family Housing Facility
A building where families who may or may not have access
to traditional or permanent housing but who are capable of
living independently within a reasonable period of time,
generally about 18 months, reside on a 24-hour-per day basis
for at least 30 days and participate in appropriate program
activities designed to facilitate independent living.
In order to
allow the Victory Transitional Housing facility, the
“transitional housing facility” use must be added to the R-1
zoning district as an allowed use. Staff would suggest that
such a use require site plan and special exception approval,
so that the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors
can ensure that the use is located only at appropriate
locations, and so that potential impacts of the use can be
carefully reviewed and controlled. Other uses where
individuals live in a concentrated fashion in the R-1 zone
require approval of a special permit (boarding house, minor
residential care facility or minor medical care facility) or
special exception (major residential care facility, major
residential care facility and major continuing care
facility).
Because of
the number of families concentrated in a single building in
this type of use, standards are critical to assure that
impacts are carefully controlled.
The
following standards are suggested:
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1. This use shall only be permitted when located on
the same site as a place of worship and as an
accessory use to the main sanctuary. |
This standard reduces
the ability to create freestanding transitional
housing on other sites, as it limits such housing to
sites occupied by places of worship. This standard
is met with the Victory Transitional Housing,
provided the church consolidates its two lots.
Subsequent to the public hearing, asked staff to
better define a “place of worship.” Perhaps the
first standard could be better written as follows: “This
use shall only be permitted when located on the same
site as a place of worship of a local religious
congregation and as an accessory use to the
main sanctuary.”
This standard will
help assure that the facility is located with a
local established institution that provides
administration and oversight for the housing
facility. |
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2. Minimum site area shall be 20 acres. |
The True Deliverance
Church of God and its Victory Transitional Housing
facility occupy two contiguous 10 acre lots, for a
total of 20 acres. A minimum lot size will limit
the locations where additional facilities could
potentially be located, and assure that they are on
parcels sufficient in size to provide adequate
buffers from adjoining single family R-1 uses. |
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3. No more than 15 rooms and no more than 20 people
shall be housed at the facility at any one time. |
The Victory
Transitional Housing facility has 15 bedrooms,
currently occupied by 6 families with a total of 16
people. Some flexibility in the number of people is
appropriate in order to accommodate varying family
sizes. Twenty people is the cut-off in the zoning
ordinance for minor vs. major medical care
facilities, and the cut-off between minor and major
residential care facilities is 25 people. As a
comparison, if a 20 acre R-1 property were to be
developed in single family homes, a maximum of 18
units could be developed. |
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4. Residents of the facility shall be primarily
family groups, shall be limited to no more than a
one year stay, and shall be required to participate
in a structured program or classes designed to
facilitate independent living. |
Victory residents are
limited to one year. A time limitation is critical
to ensure that the building does not evolve into
long-term housing rather than transitional housing. |
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5. Facilities shall be located within service
districts or must have approval for adequate septic
and well requirements by the Health Department. |
The sewer and water
demands of such a facility are likely to be
significant and therefore are best suited for
location within service districts. However, the
Victory Transitional Housing facility is not within
a service district and will have to provide
additional septic and water facilities to meet
Health Department regulations. |
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6. At least one parking space shall be provided per
family, and such parking shall be screened from view
from adjoining properties. Where possible, the
parking spaces for the sanctuary shall be utilized
to meet this requirement in order to avoid
additional paving on the site. |
One benefit of having
the housing co-located with the church sanctuary is
that the need for additional parking spaces to be
constructed on the site can be minimized, if the
housing is located near the sanctuary. However, in
the case of the subject facility, the sanctuary
parking is fairly far removed from the housing,
necessitating additional parking. |
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7. Usable outdoor play space shall be provided for
residents and screened from adjoining properties.
The amount and location of the necessary open space
shall be determined in conjunction with the permit
approval. |
It is important that
the facility, which caters to families, have
designated space available for children to play and
adults to recreate. The designation of spaces will
assure that children at play and adults recreating
are placed at the areas least likely to impact
adjoining neighbors. |
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8. The building containing transitional housing shall
be setback a minimum of 100’ from the side and rear
property lines. |
No plan has been
provided for the Victory Housing facility, but it
appears, from scaling the aerial photographs, that
the building is set back about 45’ from the side
property line. While a typical single family home
is set back 25’ from the property line, a larger
setback for this larger building housing more people
would make it less intrusive to the overall
neighborhood. Staff recommends a 100’ minimum
setback. While the Victory Transitional Housing
would not be able to meet this setback, they could
apply for an exemption to this requirement.
Alternatively, we could allow modification at the
time of SE approval. |
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