The recommended change to Section 9-4 of the
Subdivision Ordinance regarding preliminary subdivision
applications requires this application to be officially filed and
accepted for processing 40 days prior to the next scheduled
Planning Commission meeting.
The preliminary subdivision application process is
consuming more Planning Commission time and energy due to
application volume and process deficiencies.
After the official filing, the Fauquier County Subdivision
Ordinance and Virginia Code require Planning Commission action
within 60 days after the official filing, unless the applicant
agrees to an extension. To
be placed on the Planning Commission agenda for review and action,
the amendment requires the preliminary plat application to meet
submission and checklist review requirements as presented in the
analysis section herein.
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The
issue is with unrealistic timeframes, which result in incomplete
preliminary subdivision applications reaching the Planning
Commission. At
present, an applicant or their engineering firm/representative
must file the preliminary plat application package forty days
prior to the Planning Commission scheduled meeting.
The Department staff has seven days to review the
application and must notify the applicant in writing within ten
days of the filing on whether their application has been accepted
or rejected. If
rejected, the submission package must be returned to the
respective applicant with the written list of deficiencies.
Even
though the application has been rejected, the applicant can
submit, under the existing Subdivision Ordinance rules, a revised
application that addresses the listed discrepancies up to 23 days
before the next Planning Commission meeting.
If the application is accepted, the Department then
transmits the preliminary plat to all referral agencies for their
review and recommendations. VDOT and other agencies require a minimum of 30-45 days for
the review of projects, depending on the application’s
complexity. The
result is that staff does not receive the essential technical
reviews for the Planning Commission meeting, and the applications
proceed through a series of postponements.
With the volume of land development applications, plan
reviews required at the last minute to meet agenda and packet
delivery deadlines are subject to errors and oversights.
This archaic process is simply not an efficient use of
applicant, Planning Commission and staff time.
Note that there is no change to the decision action
timeline of 60 days once the application is accepted and
designated officially filed.
The
text amendment states that a submission must be filed, with any
corrected deficiencies, and officially accepted 40 days prior to
the Planning Commission’s next regularly scheduled monthly
meeting.
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