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Topic Description:
A.
Background Information.
The Citizen Planning Committee had
its “Kick-Off” meeting on February 17, 2000 with over thirty
members. In the
initial months, the Committee members received preliminary
briefings from various County Departments and State agencies on a
wide variety of topics including:
economic development, emergency services, parks and
recreation, schools, wastewater treatment/drain fields,
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 the
Virginia Department of Transportation 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 August 30, 2001 meeting, and submitted the draft
for its 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;
·
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 that
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 drain fields 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 drain fields 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 a quick review reveals that no
building permits have been issued for new homes within the Catlett
and Calverton Service Districts in the past five years.
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 of adoption.
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