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Background
The Zoning Ordinance incorporates lot requirements for both
conventional and cluster subdivision development. Minimum
lot area is specifically set forth in the table in Section
3-400 for both conventional and cluster development in each
zone. The table also sets forth lot width and yard
requirements for conventional development, and provides
direction in footnote #2 for determining the lot width and
yard requirements for cluster development. The relevant
existing regulations for the rural and residential zones
are:
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USE LIMITATIONS |
RC9 |
RA9 |
RR-2 |
V |
R-1 |
R-2 |
R-3 |
R-415 |
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3-401 |
Maximum Density (DU/A)1 |
* |
* |
0.5 |
1.4 |
0.9 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
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3-402 |
Minimum Lot Size |
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(acres or thousand sq. ft.) |
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1. Conventional2 |
2a. |
2a. |
2a. |
30 |
40 |
20 |
10.5 |
10 |
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2. Cluster |
30 |
30 |
30 |
10 |
25 |
10 |
8.5 |
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3-403 |
Minimum Lot Width (Ft.) |
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Conventional |
400 |
300 |
200 |
90 |
135 |
90 |
80 |
70 |
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Cluster |
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70 |
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3-404 |
Minimum Front Yard (Ft.)4,10,11,12,17 |
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Conventional |
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1. Local Collector |
75 |
75 |
75 |
50 |
60 |
50 |
50 |
50 |
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2. Major Collector |
90 |
90 |
90 |
65 |
75 |
65 |
65 |
65 |
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3. Major Thoroughfare |
105 |
105 |
105 |
80 |
90 |
80 |
80 |
80 |
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3-405 |
Minimum Side and Rear Yard (Ft.)4 |
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1. Residential Districts: |
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Conventional |
50 |
25 |
25 |
15 |
25 |
15 |
15 |
10 |
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Cluster |
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10 |
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Two footnotes in Section 3-400 further address cluster
subdivision provisions:
2. Minimum lot width and yard requirements for cluster
development shall be the same as those for the least dense
Residential or Rural Zoning District in which the cluster
development would be allowed (with respect to lot size), as
a conventional development. See Section 2-414 for corner
lots.
15. In the R-4 Zoning District for Single Family detached
cluster development, the minimum lot size shall be 5,000
square feet, the minimum lot width shall be 50 feet, and the
side yards shall total twelve (12) feet with a minimum side
yard of five (5) feet. Please note that the minimum lot
size for single family attached cluster remains as 1,800
square feet.
The text amendment also seeks to bring clarity to the
ordinance about what constitutes a rural cluster.
Requirements for RA and RC lots vary depending on whether
the lots are conventional lots or cluster subdivision lots.
A third variation in requirements occurs when the lots are
created as family transfer or administrative lots; the
requirements are summarized below:
Minimum Lot Width Front Yards Side/Rear
Yards
Minimum Lot Area
(feet)
(feet)
(feet) .
Conventional 2 acres
400 (RC) 300 (RA) 75/90/105 50 (RC)
25 (RA)
Cluster 30,000 sq.
ft.
90 50/65/80 15
Family/Admin 40,000 sq.
ft.
135 60/75/90 25
The current format of Section 3-400 requires that the
cluster provisions for lot width and setbacks be calculated
based on the footnote. This text amendment proposes to
place the actual requirements in the table in 3-400,
deleting the relevant provisions in the footnote. This
change will bring clarity to cluster provisions.
The text amendment also seeks to clarify what constitutes a
conventional lot versus a cluster lot in the RA and RC
zoning districts. Typically, a cluster is distinguished by
the provision of a significant portion of the lot in open
space, and the definition of SUBDIVISION, CLUSTER in the
Zoning Ordinance supports this concept:
SUBDIVISION, CLUSTER: An alternate means of subdividing a
lot premised on the concept of reducing lot size
requirements for the provision of open space in conjunction
with the development, all in accordance with the provisions
of 2-406.
Under the sliding scale and non-common open space provisions
of the Fauquier County Zoning Ordinance, most developments
in the RA and RC zone provide 85 percent open space and
would, therefore, under this definition be considered
clusters. The exceptions are divisions of parcels less than
30 acres in 1981 and large lot divisions; both have no open
space requirements.
Therefore, the language of the ordinance currently
categorizes any lot created from a parent parcel with a
non-common open space requirement as a cluster lot, and that
cluster lot is subject to the requirements of the Village
(V) zoning district, with a minimum lot size of 30,000
square feet, lot frontage of 90 feet, front setbacks of 50
feet to 80 feet and side setbacks of 15 feet. These
existing zoning ordinance setbacks are provided in the
attached table.
Notwithstanding the language of the Zoning Ordinance, the
long-standing historic practice in Planning has been to
allow cluster lots to be reduced to a minimum of 30,000
square feet, but to utilize RR-2/Residential (RR-2)
requirements for lot width and setbacks, resulting in a lot
width requirement of 200 feet and side/rear yard
requirements the same as for RA non-clusters, 25 foot side
yards and 75/90/105 foot front yards.
Discussion
Three lot characteristics need to be established for the
residential clusters: lot size, lot width and setbacks.
Lot Size
Lot size is currently not established by the alternate
zoning category utilized in clusters, but rather is
specifically designated in the table in Section 3-400 to be
30,000 square feet, compared to a minimum of 2 acres for a
non-cluster lot. The existing 30,000 square foot minimum is
unachievable for two key reasons. One, it is almost
physically impossible to fit a house plus the required
drainfield and reserves on a lot as small as 30,000 square
feet. Two, Section 4-11.1.A of the Subdivision Ordinance
requires that any subdivision containing a lot less than one
acre in size be served by central water system. For the
small subdivisions typical in rural clusters, central water
is typically impracticable. Staff would therefore
recommend that the minimum lot size for rural clusters be
increased to one acre, to reflect what is achievable and
consistent with other ordinance requirements.
Frontage
Staff has analyzed the application of the Village (V)
District width requirement (90 feet) and the RR-2 width
requirement (200 feet). The analysis has shown that the
Village (V) District frontage requirement of 90 feet is not
generally achievable. Given that a rural lot is typically
at least one acre for the reasons discussed above, a 90 foot
wide lot would have a depth of 484 feet, creating a very
long, narrow lot where the depth of the lot is almost five
times the length of the width of the lot. This violates
Section 4-18 of the Subdivision Ordinance, which requires
that lots be generally shaped such that the depth of the lot
is no more than 2 ½ times the frontage of the lot. To meet
the lot shape ratio requirement of the Zoning Ordinance, a
one acre lot would generally need to be at least 133 feet in
width.
Therefore staff would recommend that the Village (V)
District frontage requirement of 90 feet be replaced, at a
minimum, with the R-1 frontage requirement of 135 feet.
Alternatively, the 200 foot frontage requirement
historically utilized could be incorporated.
Setbacks
The Village (V) District setbacks provide for a
substantially reduced front yard setback for rural clusters,
to 50/65/80 feet down from 75/90/105 feet, depending on
street type. Under the historically utilized RR-2
provisions, setbacks for front yards remain at 75/90/105
feet. These same front yard setbacks also apply to R-1
lots. Staff believes the somewhat larger setbacks are
appropriate for rural areas, where homes are typically set
back from the road.
Under the Village (V) District provisions, side and rear
yards are reduced to 15 feet from 25 feet and 50 feet,
whereas under the traditional applied RR-2 district, side
and year yards remain at 25 feet. The lesser yards in the V
district is intended to facilitate the smaller lots allowed
in that district (30,000 square feet). Given that a rural
cluster lot is never likely to be less than one acre, the
lesser setbacks are not necessarily needed. For example,
lots in the R-1 zoning district, which are required to be
and typically are just under one acre, have side and rear
setback requirements of 25 feet. Therefore, staff is
recommending 25 foot rear and side setbacks be maintained
for clusters. Staff would also note that since,
historically, a 25 foot setback has been applied to rural
clusters, keeping the 25 foot setback would avoid the issue
of changed requirements and expectations on thousands of
existing rural lots.
As a minor housekeeping matter, the text amendment also
places some additional setbacks that are currently required
along major arterials in service districts in the table in
Article 3; they are currently embedded in a footnote and
therefore sometimes overlooked.
Planning Commission Action
The Planning Commission initiated this text amendment on
August 30, 2007, recommending amending the RA and RC rural
cluster requirements to utilize the RR-2/Residential
requirements for lot width and setbacks, resulting in a lot
width requirement of 200 feet and side/rear yard
requirements the same as for RA non-clusters, 25 foot side
yards and 75/90/105 foot front yards. This approach is
consistent with the long-standing historic practice Planning
staff has applied to rural subdivisions. The attached text
reflects the RR-2 recommendation. The Planning Commission
unanimously recommended approval of the text amendment after
the public hearing on September 27, 2007.
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