The Botetourt Planning Commission postponed a decision on whether to recommend allowing a new Verizon cell tower off Davis Run Road near Buchanan, and did recommend Comprehensive Plan amendments, three rezonings and approving a Special Exceptions Permit (SEP) for a 288- home and commercial development on US 220 in Daleville.
The commission also recommended a rezoning that will allow RYT LLC to enlarge and enclose an existing building at the towing service location south of Buchanan. The Planning Commission members offered no discussion among themselves after presentations by staff and developer Robert Fralin, and the required public hearing before approving the six resolutions endorsing the proposed Fieldstone development off US 220 just north of Orchard Marketplace where Food Lion is located.
The proposed development would include a 10.96-acre commercial area at the front of the property on U 220, a 22.51-acre area for 200 apartments and 46.75 acres for 34 single-family townhomes and 54 single- family houses. A new type of crossover on US 200 got the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) approval for the entrance to the development that is across US 220 from Ikenberry’s Orchard. The “Continuous Green T Intersection” seemed to satisfy the commissioners and some of the neighbors who spoke during the public hearing. Chris McMurry and Keith McMurry offered their support for the project, and felt the new intersection would be helpful. Keith McMurry suggested a connection from the new development into the Food Lion development that would allow residents to get to an intersection with a full stoplight. He also asked that the speed limit on US 200 from Daleville to Botetourt Center at Greenfield be reduced to 45 miles per hour.
Prior to the meeting, the developer agreed to provide screening and a minimum property line setback of 75 feet for the R-4 High Density portion of the development that joins the Layman Family property. Traffic still bothered Amy Wilson, who lives in Ashley Plantation. She said proposed improvements to US 220 in Daleville that are part of the county’s Smart Scale application to VDOT are six years away (if funded). She felt adding as many as 7,000 vehicle trips a day from the new development would exascerbate the traffic situation on US 220. She said the county’s Comprehensive Plan noted that US 220 was “almost failing” in 2010. “There’s no fix out there for the amount of traffic already there, and now you’re adding more,” she told the commissioners. Amsterdam District Planning Commission member Hiawatha Nicely made the six motions needed to move the development forward. The Planning Commission voted 4-0 (one member was absent) to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve rezoning the 80-acre parcel from Agriculture A-1 to the new R-4 High Density, R-3 Medium Density and B-2 Commercial Districts.
The commissioners also recommended amending the Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map to show part of the property as High Density and Commercial. They also recommended a SEP be approved to allow up to 15 units per acre in the R-4 District. Several conditions were attached to the SEP including the screening and 75-foot setback from the property line. The property owners, Baileywick LLC and Hal and Cindy Bailey, with Fieldstone Place, LLC as contracted purchaser, will go before the Board of Supervisors at its August 28 meeting Several nearby residents spoke against a request by RES Springwood Farm LLC, which is owned by Raymolene E. Simpson, for a Commission Permit and SEP to construct and maintain a non-illuminated 199-foot telecommunications facility within a 36,422-square-foot area on part of a 163-acre parcel at 1235 Davis Run. Cellco Partnership (Verizon Wireless) proposes building the singlepole galvanized cell tower to help fill in its coverage in the Springwood area north of I-81.
Planning Commission Chair Sam Foster said the members would not make a recommendation at Monday night’s meeting because of an advertising problem, but it did hold the public hearing on the request. The visual impact from the proposed cell tower was the major concern, and several residents criticized the Verizon representative’s photographs that showed a limited visual impact from the proposed cell tower. Cellco Partnership officials did a second “balloon test” from other areas before the meeting, but those photographs also drew criticism, and prompted two residents to provide their own to the commissioners. Nearby resident Jennifer Mundy had her own photos of the balloon test and presented the commissioners with a petition signed by 30 neighbors with property that would be visually impaired by the proposed cell tower, and she feared those visual challenges would affect the property value of the home they live in now and the one they’re building— both with views of the proposed tower. After the public hearing, commission member Steve Kidd told the Verizon representatives, “I’d take this as a Mulligan. You might want to look at a second best site.” That comment came after Board of Supervisors member Billy Martin asked if the company had an alternate site— which was also suggested by one of the nearby residents.
Verizon representatives said they did not have a backup site in mind. The commission members voted 4-0 to table the request until their September 10 meeting. The Planning Commission did recommend rezoning .885 acre from Manufacturing M-2 to Business B-3 at the at the corner of US 11 and Hardbarger Road. That will allow RYT LLC, owned by Robert Young, to build a 100’x90’ addition to a service station building on the property. The parcel joins another parcel that’s already zoned B-3.
The commission also recommended making several changes to the provisions in the Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) section of the zoning ordinance. Daleville Town Center is the only TND-zoned property in the county and the planning and zoning staff worked with the developer on the proposed changes. The amendments adjust the minimum lot area for residential uses, the required yards for residential uses, side lot area for single family and duplex dwellings, side yard setbacks for single family dwellings and duplex dwellings, commercial and industrial lot and building requirements, design of commercial areas to allow illumination to project onto multi-family residential uses from another property inside the TND, requirements for a minimum separation of five feet between parking lots on adjacent properties, required off-street parking and loading spaces, and maximum site area in impervious surface for multi-family uses.
The Board of Supervisors will take up the recommendations at its regular August 28 meeting at 6 p.m. at Botetourt Center at Greenfield.
