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Applicant Request:
The two applicants, Premier and Clyde, initially
prepared separate requests that Fauquier County include
various tracts of land in their control in the Warrenton
Service District. Subsequently the requests were
combined, refer to Figure 1. The combined application
cites two grounds for a Comprehensive Review:
1.
Overlooked in the 2002-2003 Comprehensive Plan
Update of the Service District; and that the
2.
Comprehensive Plan Goals would be better met if
the properties were included.
The Planning Commission was requested by Ms. Caroline
Atlee-Timlin, the owner of the adjacent property to
Premier, to have her 47.9 acre property included in the
Service District as well. The letter is included as
Attachment 3.
Background
The tracts in question, and adjoining others, were
included within the 1994 Comprehensive Plan’s Warrenton
Service District. The properties were also planned for
water service and were so designated in the Fauquier
County Water and Sanitation Authority’s Water and
Wastewater Master Plan (March 1997), which is part
of the County’s Comprehensive Plan by reference in
Chapter 9 – Public Facilities and Utilities. During the
2003 Planning Commission and Board Update Review of the
Citizen Draft Plan, the Town of Warrenton informed the
County that it could no longer provide municipal water
and sewer service to new developments in the Service
District. Accordingly, the Planning Commission and the
Board of Supervisors reduced the Service District
Boundary to those areas served through the Town/County
water and sewer service agreement or existing WSA water
service. The referenced tracts were excluded.
Since Plan adoption, the County has seen the proposed
extension of a public water line from New Baltimore
south (Atlee Road) to the Warrenton Chase subdivision
which is located adjacent to the Village of Frytown.
The waterline extension to Warrenton Chase passes
through the area in question – specifically the Clyde
Tract, Figure 2. (This extension of public water to
Warrenton Chase was appropriate since the Chapter 9
reference to the WSA Water and Wastewater Master Plan
of 1997 had already included these tracts within an
approved WSA ‘franchise area.’)
While it is not accurate to state that the tracts were
overlooked by the Planning Commission and Board of
Supervisors in 2003, the applicants could cite another
ground for review, namely:
3.
Change in Circumstances – specifically a new
availability of public water lines in the Atlee Road and
Frytown Road location.
Considerations
A map of Floodplain and R-1 Zoning Boundaries, Figure 4,
combined with the Transportation linkages identified by
the re-constituted Citizen Committee, Figure 3, reveals
that the Premier/Clyde Tract forms part of a
self-contained and largely homogenous mini-area with
great utility to the eastern portion of the Warrenton
Service District. These properties, which are all zoned
R-1, connect with the Warrenton community via the
proposed Academy Hill extension, Comfort Inn extended
and a Frytown Road re-routed to minimize the floodplain
crossing. The road links proposed are currently part of
the draft Warrenton Service District Plan being
forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for public hearing
in August. From a community perspective, these road
connections are beneficial because they do much to
reduce traffic congestion in the Fishback and Breezewood
neighborhoods in Warrenton and divert traffic from the
Route 29 Eastern Bypass.
Inclusion of the mini-area within the Service District
has certain lot yield advantages to the developer:
1.
Single family detached lots outside of a Service
District are obliged to identify three drainage fields –
one for immediate use and two reserve drainage fields –
whereas lots within the Service District need only two
fields, that for immediate use and one reserve field;
and
2.
Provision of public water removes a further
density constraint. Individual wells must be located 20
feet from basements, 50 feet from drainage fields and 10
feet from property boundaries.
Meeting all these geometric requirements inevitably
‘costs’ about 15-20% of lot yield. Inclusion within a
service district and provision of public water relieves
the developer of the second reserve drainage field and
well distance requirements, and permits a slightly
higher lot yield of five or six lots.
On the other hand, inclusion of these properties in the
Service District enhances the ability of the County to
have the property developers construct the proposed Plan
roads, which might otherwise not be realized for many
years. The Virginia Department of Transportation
currently is facing significant funding constraints
statewide, and cannot be expected to fund and construct
these connecting road links in the short term.
Conclusion
CPAM05-CT-006 Premier/Clyde reaches the Board of
Supervisors at an opportune time. A new public water
line extended through the Clyde parcel alters the
fundamental utility situation that caused the County to
exclude these R-1 zoned tracts two years ago.
Furthermore, a reconstituted Warrenton Citizen Committee
has resolved a transportation issue by proposing
linkages between Comfort Inn / Academy Hill / Frytown
Roads, which occur on and around these properties.
Given the pivotal Warrenton Service District
infrastructure associated with these tracts, it would be
reasonable to include them in the Service District.
Figures 5 and 6 identify two possible Service District
boundaries. In Figure 5, the boundary merely ‘squares
off’ Premier/Clyde with the inclusion of five single
family lots. In Figure 6, the boundary contains all of
the R-1 zoned land north of Cedar Run. The advantage of
this boundary is that road improvements to both Atlee
Road and Frytown Road could become a public-private
venture.
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