PUBLIC HEARING REQUEST

Owner/Applicant:                                                       Board Meeting Date:

Vint Hill Economic                                                        December 16, 2002

Development Authority (VHEDA)

Staff Lead:                                                                 Department:

Robert C. Counts                                                         Community Development

Magisterial District:  Cedar Run                                PIN(s):

Service District: New Baltimore                                  7915-77-2128-000,
 7915-77-4735-000, and
 7915-77-2958-000

Topic: A Resolution to Approve Rezoning Application RZ03-CR-05, Pins: 7915-77-2128-000, 7915-77-4735-000, and 7915-77-2958-000, Cedar Run District, Vint Hill Economic Development Authority, Applicant                                                                                                                                                          

Rezoning RZ03-CR-05-Vint Hill Economic Development Authority

Topic Description:

The applicant proposes to rezone a currently proffered school site to PCID (Planned Commercial Industrial Development District).  Following the dedication of the middle school site in the Brookside development, this proffered school site was determined to be expendable by Fauquier County Schools and was returned to the VHEDA by the Board of Supervisors.  The proposed rezoning includes an amendment to the original proffered conditions to delete all references to the school proffer.

Land Area, Location and Zoning:                                                    

The subject property contains ±30 acres and is located with frontage on the south side of Kennedy Road within the Vint Hill planned development. The property is currently zoned PRD (Planned Residential District). It needs to be noted that the original Vint Hill EDA rezoning included two categories: PRD and PCID. The middle school site was included within the PRD portion because that zoning classification allowed public schools by right.

Neighboring Zoning/Land Use:

Land surrounding the subject property is largely undeveloped, but is planned for commercial/industrial uses and is zoned PCID.

Requested Action of the Board of Supervisors:

The Board is requested to conduct a public hearing and take action on RZ03-CR-05. The Planning Commission has recommended approval of this rezoning.

Staff Analysis:

Staff and appropriate referral agencies have reviewed this request for conformance with the Comprehensive Plan, the Zoning Ordinance, and other relevant policies and regulations. Staff and referral agency findings, comments, and recommendations are summarized below.

The Comprehensive Plan and Zoning

The Fauquier County Comprehensive Plan and the New Baltimore Service District Plan designate Vint Hill as an employment-oriented, mixed-use, business park to be redeveloped on public sewer and water.  This designation supports the goals of redeveloping the former Vint Hill Farms Station military complex to replace jobs that were lost due to the base closing, and to create a new, primarily non-residential, tax base from sale of sites to future commercial users.

The Board of Supervisors rezoned Vint Hill to the PRD and PCID districts on December 21, 1999 .  As part of that rezoning, the Vint Hill Economic Development Authority (VHEDA) proffered a 30-acre school site to the county.  That site was zoned PRD to allow for school construction.  The approved proffers contained a provision that the 30-acre Vint Hill site would revert to the VHEDA if an acceptable replacement school site were offered that was located away from Vint Hill. 

A replacement site was identified at the Brookside development. It was proffered and accepted by the county as a substitute for the Vint Hill school site. The 30-acre Vint Hill school site has been returned to the VHEDA for other uses. The current PRD zoning was approved to facilitate the proffered use: a new middle school site. Without the perceived need for the school site in 1999, this property would likely have been zoned as PCID, the zoning district that surrounds the property. Given that there is no longer a need for the proffered school site, the proposed rezoning to PCID is consistent with the planned use for this property.

The VHEDA is not requesting additional Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for the increase in PCID acreage. The previously approved and proffered maximum 3.1 million square feet of non-residential FAR remains unchanged. The proposed uses will, however, be required to conform to Section 4-601, Planned Commercial Industrial Development District, of the Fauquier County Zoning Ordinance.  These uses will require subdivision plat or site plan approval as appropriate.

Transportation

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) commented that since Vint Hill is not requesting any additional FAR for the 30-acre increase in PCID, trip generation from floor area square footage would not be increased from what has already been studied and approved for this site. Additionally, VDOT stated that it generally does not accept streets in commercial developments into the Secondary System of State Highways. Since the proposed streets’ service and maintenance is the responsibility of the developer, no internal traffic patterns were included in the VDOT review.

Summary and Planning Commission Recommendation:

The proposed rezoning is consistent with the planned use of the subject property and with the current needs of Fauquier County . The current zoning for PRD was established in order to allow the site’s development as a new middle school. With the relocation of the school to another site, the PRD designation is no longer required and does not facilitate the planned development of the area as well as the proposed PCID zone. Given that there are no technical findings that would preclude the proposed change in zoning designation, the Planning Commission has forwarded RZ03-CR-05 to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation of approval as proffered.