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The primary focus of the
2008-2009 Plan Update for the communities of Catlett,
Calverton, and Midland was to bring the community and the
plan up-to-date with the latest state regulations for
wastewater treatment facilities. In summary, Fauquier
County has used up all of its allotted treatment plant
permits for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP): Remington,
Marshall and Vint Hill. This means the County can no longer
build a treatment facility to service Catlett, Calverton,
and Midland. The County may have other options to service
these three communities, but any sewage treatment system
would be extremely limited and will likely be so small that
the land use plans of these three communities cannot be
fully realized.
In lieu of a wastewater
treatment plant to service the communities, six other
possibilities for wastewater treatment exist and these are
highlighted in the Utility Element of the Draft Plan. One
or more of these options may have to be employed if the
County wants these three communities to receive health
remediation benefits and develop further: 1)
Land-application system(s); 2) On-site health remediation of
individual drainfields; 3) Small, wastewater treatment
system up to 40,000 gallons per day (gpd) for Midland; 4)
Running a collection system to treat effluent at the
Remington WWTP; 5) Partner with Quantico Marine Corps Base
to upgrade its WWTP and negotiate the use of some of the
capacity; 6) Seek approval from the Virginia General
Assembly to build a treatment system for discharge. The
last two options would require the Board of Supervisors to
petition the Virginia General Assembly to seek an exception
from State wastewater treatment regulations, including those
under the Chesapeake Bay Initiative and the Occoquan
Policy.
Starting in January 2008 and
concluding in October 2008, County staff held information
sessions with local citizens to discuss changes to the land
use plan. Supervisor Graham asked the communities to
consider how to down-plan the land use designations and
service district boundaries to fit within the following
public sewer capacities: 150,000 gallons per day (gpd) for
Catlett; 150,000 gpd for Calverton; and 100,000 gpd for
Midland. The Citizen Committees forwarded a Draft to the
Planning Commission for consideration in October.
Citizen Committee
Recommendations:
The local citizens evaluated
the adopted sewer service priority maps and land use plans
and recommended the following for their land use plans and
service district boundaries:
·
The Midland group chose to down-plan the residential
categories of the land use plan to align with the current
zoning. They chose to expand the district boundary to the
west slightly for a few parcels, to remove a parcel in the
northwest and to keep the sewer service priority area the
same.
·
Citizens from Catlett
and Calverton understood that the land use plan calls for
more development than can be fully realized. However, they
chose not to change the service district boundaries, or the
land use designations; they are hopeful that new technology
will provide more solutions. The sewer service priority
areas remain unchanged.
·
All three
communities would like the County to develop a transfer of
development rights program where land developers who wish to
develop property within designated sewer service areas could
pay property owners for their development rights outside the
public sewer service area in exchange for higher densities.
All three districts desire
to keep the sewer service priority areas the same as
represented in the 2002 Plan. Sewer service priority should
go to existing homes and businesses with the greatest need
first (i.e., failing drainfields) and infill development
next, with a focus on commercial development.
The Citizen Draft emphasized
the value of historic resources including the National
Register Historic District in Catlett, the National
Register-eligible districts of Calverton and Midland. One
recommendation is to establish a Germantown-Midland historic
settlement area.
Transportation elements of
the plan were also discussed at the community meetings. The
top priority for Calverton is to have a signal light put in
at Route 28 and Bastable Mill Road. All three communities
want traffic speeds to be managed better through the
villages.
Planning Commission Work
Sessions of October 2008 - February 2009:
At several work sessions,
staff presented the same options as were discussed at the
community meetings for down-planning the district boundaries
to better align with the sewer service capacities. After a
group discussion, staff was asked to prepare land use maps
to reflect the following changes:
-
Remove land zoned
Rural Agricultural from the district boundaries;
-
Retain sewer service
to parcels in the sewer priority area and health
remediation for parcels removed from the service
district;
-
Clearly mark the
parcels not in the sewer priority area as No
Sewer/No Water eligible;
-
Delineate Sending
and Receiving Areas for a viable transfer of
development rights program in the future.
While these recommendations
from the Planning Commission are different from the options
recommended by the citizen committees, they are still in
line with information and options fully presented to the
citizens by staff.
The Planning Commission also
discussed transportation on Route 28. Some members of the
Planning Commission expressed a desire to refine the plan
language and maps to show a two lane Route 28, with
appropriate pull-off lanes for agricultural vehicles to
facilitate the flow of traffic. Staff stated that four to
six lanes of Route 28 in Catlett, for example, could cause
traffic to speed through the communities rather than slow
down and, furthermore, have potentially a negative impact on
Catlett’s National Register Historic District. Moreover,
both Midland and Calverton are eligible to be listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Mr. Lewis Ray of Midland,
who attended the work session, stated that his community
wants to see slower traffic speeds. The Planning Commission
expressed a desire to re-think the road widening of Route 28
to better reflect something similar to the traffic calming
measures taken on Route 50.
Planning Commission
Recommendations:
After several work sessions,
the Planning Commission recommended several refinements to
the Citizen Draft that would help meet the task of planning
land uses with adequate public utilities. To this end, the
following refinements to the citizens’ draft plan were made:
·
Remove land
zoned Rural Agriculture (RA) from the service districts,
with the exception of a small amount of airport land in
Midland.
·
Provide public
sewer service for land removed from the district for health
remediation.
·
Down-plan land
use designations for residential and mixed use categories to
1 unit per acre.
·
Move the
planned school located on RA land to an area planned for
residential neighborhood in Midland.
· Change
Commercial-Highway designations to Mixed-Use in order to
promote village-style development.
· Clearly
label areas planned for sewer service, no sewer service, and
health remediation.
·
Remove
transportation plans that label Route 28 as a 4-lane road,
and in some areas, a 6-lane road; plan for a two lane Route
28 with modest improvements over time.
In addition, the Planning
Commission concurred with the Citizen Plan on the following
noteworthy changes:
·
Revise the
Calverton transportation graphic Map CCM-19 to eliminate a
northern collector road and determine ways to slow traffic
speeds through the villages.
·
Plan for a
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Program to aid in the
development of core areas of the villages while preserving
and compensating rural land owners.
Prior to the Planning
Commission public hearing in April 2009, staff made a
presentation to the community on the above Planning
Commission recommendations expressed in work sessions. One
gentleman stated he wanted to see Route 28 four lanes while
others said they wanted it to remain two lanes. No one
spoke in opposition of the proposed land use changes.
Planning Commission
Action:
On April 30, 2009, a public
hearing was held on the item. Three people spoke in favor
of the Draft, specifically the down-planning of the villages
to manageable levels and the plan to have Route 28 remain
two lanes. The Planning Commission made a unanimous
recommendation of approval to the Board of Supervisors with
an amendment to the last paragraph of the text as discussed
in the work session earlier that day.
Summary and
Recommendation:
The difficult task of
down-planning three community plans due to a lack of public
sewer service now and into the future was undertaken by
staff with respect for the citizens. Many meetings were
held to explain the challenges and put forth possible
options. The Planning Commission ultimately made several
recommendations that align the three community plans better
with an achievable amount of public utilities. In summary,
the Draft puts forth land use plans that meet the objective
of this plan update. Staff recommends that the
attached Comprehensive Plan Amendment be scheduled for
public hearing.
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