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Summary Staff Report:
Background
At the May 14, 2009 regularly scheduled meeting of the Board
of Supervisors, the Board passed an amendment to Chapter 13,
Article V of the Fauquier County Code relating to
law-enforcement requested towing. The newly adopted
amendment seeks to ensure proper storage, availability and
service by persons and firms authorized to provide towing
services at the request of the Sheriff’s Office or other law
enforcement personnel by establishing proper regulatory
procedures. As a part of these procedures, Section 13-64.2.e
requires that eligible towers be in compliance with local
Zoning Ordinance regulations.
Following adoption of the amendments to Chapter 13, Zoning
staff received numerous inquiries from existing towing
businesses operating within the County requesting
certification that their companies were in fact in
compliance with zoning regulations. Under the current
regulations motor vehicle impoundment and towing businesses
are allowed by-right with site plan approval in the I-1 and
I-2 zoning districts, and with Special Permit and site plan
approval by the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) in the C-1 and
C-2 zoning districts; in each case, the maximum number of
vehicles that can be impounded on a property is ten.
The vehicle limit raised a significant level of concern by
several of the applicants seeking placement on the Sheriff’s
Office authorized list of service providers. In many cases,
vehicles, especially those that are involved in an
automobile accident, can remain on an impoundment lot for
many weeks while insurance and repair related activities are
carried out. By virtue of this type of activity alone, it is
reasonable to consider that an increase in the number of
vehicles allowed on-site may be appropriate. Furthermore, in
one instance, staff discovered that five separate towing
businesses were operating on one parcel (without permits).
While there is no expressed prohibition on the number of
actual companies allowed to operate on one parcel, the 10
vehicle storage limit would still apply to the property,
thus making it difficult for multiple users to realistically
conduct business on any given site. Therefore, the purpose
of this text amendment is to allow a potential increase in
the number of vehicles allowed for impoundment on a parcel,
thereby granting more flexibility to both single occupancy
and multiple occupancy towing businesses. For this reason,
the Board of Supervisors initiated this text amendment at
their regularly scheduled meeting held on July 9, 2009. The
Board initiation did not include specific language.
Comparison With Surrounding Jurisdictions
Staff
reviewed similar ordinance regulations for Fairfax, Loudoun,
Prince William, Stafford and Culpeper counties to assess
where impoundment lots were allowed and the limits placed on
them. While each county regulates towing and impoundment
activities in some fashion, none actually limits the total
number of vehicles allowed to be stored on any given site as
a by-right use. However, Prince William County only permits
the use by-right in its M/T – Industrial Transportation
District, and by special use permit only in the B-1 –
General Business District and the M-1 – Heavy Industrial
District. Similarly, Culpeper County only allows the use to
occur in its LI-Limited Industrial District with approval of
a conditional use permit. Staff notes both of these examples
since as a special or conditional use the governing body
would have the authority to limit the actual number of
vehicles as a part of any approval, despite the absence of
any specified limitation in any zoning ordinance. Fairfax
County only allows the use to occur in its higher intensity
industrial districts – the I-4, I-5 and I-6 Districts – and
prohibits the use in all commercial zoning districts.
Furthermore, in its lower intensity I-4 District, all
impoundment activities must occur in an enclosed building.
Of the remaining counties, Loudoun County does allow the use
by-right in both its GB – General Business District and its
MR-HI Industrial District with site plan approval. Stafford
County has taken a somewhat different approach, in that the
activity is not specifically allowed as a primary use but as
an accessory use to motor vehicle repair facilities.
Therefore, such a use could occur in a variety of commercial
and industrial districts as both a by-right and special use.
Proposed Amendment
While the approach taken by other counties sets no real
limit on the number of impounded vehicles in a by-right use
scenario, staff believes that some limitation in both the
commercial and industrial districts is appropriate given the
auto-oriented nature of the use. Therefore, as set forth in
the attached amendment language, staff is not proposing any
change or increase in the commercial districts. Although
many of the companies currently operating in the County are
found in the commercial districts, staff believes that motor
vehicle impoundment and towing businesses are better suited
to occur in industrial districts where similar, more
intensive uses are already occurring.
For the I-1 and I-2 Districts, the Planning Commission
recommended an increase to the by-right number of allowable
impounded vehicles from 10 to 30 for a single site. In
addition, the draft language establishes a third category
that would allow a user to exceed the 30 vehicle maximum
with special permit approval. Staff considered the option of
including an upper limit to the number of vehicles allowed
for impoundment with special permit approval but opted in
favor of a standard that limits the number of vehicles based
on the available land area of the subject property. As
proposed, a user cannot exceed 10 vehicles per acre of land;
therefore, an applicant seeking special permit approval to
impound more than 30 vehicles on a 5 acre I-2 parcel has the
potential to store up to 50 vehicles on the subject
property. The intention is to only allow 10 vehicles per
acre, so the 30 vehicles that are allowed by-right on the
same I-2 subject property would not be factored into
the overall number of impounded vehicles allowed on-site.
This scenario limits the introduction of the expanded use on
industrial parcels smaller than 3 acres in size since the
proposed standards only allow 10 vehicles per acre.
The proposed changes are summarized in the table below.
Required Approval For Impoundment Lot and
Maximum Number of Vehicles Allowed, By Zoning District
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Existing Regulations |
Proposed Regulations |
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C-1
C-2 |
Special Permit: 10 vehicles
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Special Permit: 10 vehicles
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I-1
I-2 |
By-Right: 10 vehicles |
By-Right: 30 vehicles
Special Permit: > 30 vehicles |
Process &
Planning Commission Recommendation
The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the
proposed amendment at its August 27, 2009 meeting and
unanimously recommended that the Board of Supervisors
approve the text amendment as proposed in this report. |