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A.
Background
Information. The
Citizen Planning Committee had its “Kick-Off” meeting on 17
February 2000 with over thirty members.
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 their viability in the future 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;
Catlett, Calverton & Midland Plan
Page 2
·
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 4-laning was not immediately warranted, although
the Citizen Planning Committee indicated that Route 28 is expected
to be a 4-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.
The Planning
Commission conducted its public hearing on October 25, 2001
regarding the proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, while
in December of 2001 it forwarded the Catlett, Calverton and
Midland Village Service District Plan to the Board of
Supervisors with a recommendation it be adopted.
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