December 07, 2011 Minutes of Work Session With Planning Com. & Public Works Com.A Joint Work Session of the Frederick County Board of Supervisors and the Frederick
County Planning Commission and Public Works Committee was held on Wednesday, December
7, 2011 at 12:00 P.M., in the Board of Supervisors' Meeting Room, County Administration
Building, 107 North Kent Street, Winchester, Virginia.
PRESENT Chairman Richard C. Shickle; Vice - Chairman Bill M. Ewing; Christopher
E. Collins; Charles S. DeHaven, Jr.; Gene E. Fisher; Gary A. Lofton; and Ross P. Spicer.
OTHERS PRESENT
John R. Riley, Jr., County Administrator; Kris C. Tierney, Assistant County
Administrator; Jay E. Tibbs, Deputy County Administrator; Eric R. Lawrence, Director of
Planning and Development; Candice Perkins, Senior Planner; Harvey E. Strawsnyder, Director
of Public Works; Joe Wilder, Deputy Director of Public Works; Scott Fincham, Virginia
Department of Health; Planning Commissioner members: George Kriz, Charles Triplett, Kevin
Crosen, Stan Crockett, Larry Ambrogi, Paige Manuel, June Wilmot, and Gary Oates; and Public
Works Committee members Robert Wells, George Ludwig, Whit Wagner, and Jim Wilson.
CALL TO ORDER
Vice - Chairman Ewing called the work session to order. Vice - Chairman Ewing then
turned the presentation over to Director Lawrence.
Director Lawrence stated the purpose of the work session was to discuss two items:
1. Low Impact Design and related ordinance revisions; and
2. Pump and haul status and process update.
LOW IMPACT DESIGN AND RELATED ORDINANCE REVISIONS
Director Lawrence advised that staff received a request from Greenway Engineering to
amend the Zoning and Subdivision ordinances to allow for low impact design techniques in
residential developments and an increase in the maximum cul -de -sac length allowance. He noted
the proposed ordinance amendments would help the county achieve the State's storm water
management requirements. The proposed changes were:
- Revisions to provide the Zoning Administrator with the ability to waive the curb and
gutter requirement for private roads when Low Impact Design is proposed. This
would also require approval from the Director of Public Works.
- Revisions to the street layout requirement for the continuation of planned, existing or
platted streets on adjoining parcels.
- Revision to the sidewalk requirements to allow alternative materials for sidewalks
and walkways.
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- Revision to allow individual lots on private roads to be up to 1,000 feet (originally
500 feet) from a state road and to allow the Planning Commission to allow lots up to
1,200 feet (originally 800 feet) from a state road.
He went on to say the Public Works Committee and the Development Review and Regulations
Committee reviewed these changes and both groups were supportive of the proposal.
Director Lawrence next reviewed the subdivision proposal. He advised the Doonbeg
Subdivision, which would be located off of Apple Valley Road and contain lots under 4,000
square feet, seeks to construct a development containing:
- A private street system without curb and gutter;
- Pervious brick paver sidewalk adjacent to the street;
- Individual lots with small bio- retention cells and rain barrels;
- Large bio- retention facilities within common open space areas;
- Managed stormwater quality and quantity discharge; and
- Stormwater quality testing for use by the Public Works Department.
Deputy Director of Public Works Joe Wilder advised the State's new stormwater
management regulations are proposed to be implemented July 1, 2014. He noted this project
caught the attention of Public Works because Frederick County would be charged with issuing
stormwater permits in the future. He went on to say these regulations would affect all new
development and redevelopment in the county. He explained that another component of the
stormwater regulations was the requirement for long -term monitoring, which would create a
tremendous amount of work. He went on to say Greenway Engineering approached the county
with this project. Deputy Director Wilder believed it could help Frederick County with its
program implementation. He concluded by saying we need to know what areas of the ordinances
need changed in order to properly implement the new stormwater ordinance.
Evan Wyatt, Greenway Engineering, stated he was excited to have the opportunity to
bring this project forward and to do some innovative design. He went on to say they have
spoken with VDOT, Public Works' staff, and Planning staff. He explained that currently best
management practices and low impact design is done outside of the VDOT right -of -way. The
premise of this design is the capture of rainwater and run -off. He concluded by saying this
proposed development would provide the county with a place to perform baseline testing.
(Chairman Shickle arrived.)
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Planning Commissioner Roger Thomas stated a section needed to be written into the
ordinance allowing the option of no curb and gutter, but we should not just get rid of curb and
gutter all together. He went on to say we need to be careful how we write the ordinance.
Planning Commissioner George Kriz stated the advantage of gathering data ahead of time
as it would allow for more local control. He went on to say we really need to take a look at this
proposal.
Public Works Committee member Whit Wager stated this was a win -win for Frederick
County. This would allow the county to have a full -scale experiment to see what works.
Supervisor Spicer asked what the consequences were for not meeting the requirements.
Deputy Director Wilder responded the county has to monitor the run -off, there are Total
Maximum Daily Load requirements through the EPA. The back stop to ensure the county is
monitoring is that the regulators could go after waste water treatment plants.
Supervisor Spicer asked what the consequences would be if one development was not
compliant.
Deputy Director Wilder responded he was not sure.
Planning Commissioner Thomas asked if the county needed to approve an ordinance to
require the retention of one inch of rainfall.
Deputy Director Wilder responded the new regulations would cover that. He went on to
say there was no need for us to tweak our regulations regarding that at this time.
Chairman Shickle asked how staff and the applicant proposed to enter into this
relationship.
Mr. Wyatt responded the county ordinance amendments would allow us to implement our
design. He stated they would get flexibility on the design and the county would get the benefit
of stormwater monitoring.
Chairman Shickle asked how the developer would develop the site.
Mr. Wyatt responded the developer would get the plans reviewed while the ordinance
amendments were going through the process. The infrastructure and housing would be
developed concurrently. If all went well, construction would start this summer. He noted this
project would be part of the owner's rental portfolio.
Planning Commissioner Crockett asked about the county's exposure.
Director Lawrence responded our only exposure is we would be changing the ordinances.
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Vice - Chairman Ewing asked if this development did not work out would it still meet the
county's requirements.
Director Lawrence responded yes from a stormwater management standard.
Public Works Committee member Robert Well stated this was a good opportunity to do
some local testing and he thought this was a good experiment.
Supervisor DeHaven stated he did not see a downside.
Supervisor Fisher agreed. He supported giving the amendments a try because the worst
thing we could do is nothing.
The consensus of the Board was to move the amendments through the process.
Planning Commissioner Thomas asked if the amendments would apply to low impact
design developments only.
Director Lawrence responded yes.
Planning Commissioner Thomas asked if the next step would be to develop a low impact
design ordinance.
Deputy Director Wilder responded the new ordinance and best management practices
would be one regulation. He went on to say low impact design is one part of best management
practices.
Planning Commission Chairman June Wilmot stated the Planning Commission consensus
on this proposal was positive.
Supervisor Fisher stated the Public Works Committee agreed also.
PUMP AND HAUL STATUS AND PROCESS UPDATE
Senior Planner Candice Perkins appeared before the Board regarding this item. She
advised the Board had expressed concern about the issuance of permanent pump and haul
permits and wanted to ensure that those systems were going through a thorough review process.
On August 19, 2011 staff met with representatives from the Virginia Department of Health to
review the process for determining when a pump and haul system was necessary. During that
meeting, Department of Health staff reviewed its process, which includes:
- Support for the use of a pump and haul system when the existing health system has
failed and cannot be repaired and when the soils on the property cannot support
another type of system. This is determined through a VDH field survey of the
property to evaluate the current conditions and the site constraints.
- If the site conditions would not allow for a new drainfield the owner must contact
adjacent properties to see if an off -site drainfield easement is possible.
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- Once all options have been investigated and deemed unachievable, the pump and haul
application is forwarded to the County for review.
She went on to review the history of pump and haul requirement and the issuance of permits in
Frederick County. She noted that VDH regulation prior to 2000 required quality soil depths of
18 inches for a conventional system. At that time, pump and haul permits were sought when a
property's system had failed and a new conventional drainfield could not be installed. She went
on to say that 59% of Frederick County's pump and haul permits were issued prior to 2000. In
2000 VDH regulations changed which allowed for the use of alternative systems. She state that
some of the properties that received a pump and haul permit prior to 2000 may now qualify for
an alternative system.
Senior Planner Perkins briefly reviewed the revisions to the County Code pertaining to
the issuance of pump and haul systems. Under this provision, all new pump and haul systems
must be approved by the Board of Supervisors and must be inspected every three years. She
went on to say that since the adoption of these amendments and the initial inspection of systems
under the new provisions, a number of properties have been cited for being out of compliance.
As of December 1, 2011 there were nine remaining violations to be corrected. Going forward,
the next round of pump and haul inspections will take place in 2013. At that time, VDH will
also look at properties to determine whether or not they may now qualify for a permanent sewage
disposal system, such as an alternative sewage system. She concluded by saying that Chapter
161 currently allows for the revocation of pump and haul permits for non - compliance; however,
staff is seeking direction from the Board as to whether the ordinance should be amended to allow
for the revocation of pump and haul permits when an alternative means of sewage disposal is
available.
Chairman Shickle stated he would like to see the installation dates of the pump and haul
systems to see if this is an ongoing issue or if the issue is fading away.
Public Works Committee member Robert Wells stated the further away you can stay
from a pump and haul permit the better. He went on to say these systems should be checked.
Scott Fincham, Virginia Health Department, advised that temporary pump and haul
permits are regulated through his office, but permanent systems needed to get board of
supervisors' approval.
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Planning Commissioner Thomas asked if we should consider a sunset clause on pump
and haul permits.
Chairman Shickle asked if the ordinance had enough teeth in order to deal with those
systems that do not pass inspection.
Senior Planner Perkins responded we could either take the applicant to court or revoke
the permit.
Chairman Shickle stated he believed there was great support for revocation in instances
of long -term neglect or non - compliance.
Vice - Chairman Ewing stated he was comfortable with where we are.
Mr. Fincham advised the Board could ask VDH to perform six -month inspections for
those bad systems.
Supervisor DeHaven stated we need to be more proactive in encouraging alternative
systems.
Chairman Shickle noted it was important for pump and haul systems to be inspected and
working because the waste is not treated.
There being no further business, the work session was adjourned at 1:22 P.M.
Richard C. Shickle J R. Riley, Jr.
Chairman, Board of Supervisors Clerk, Board of Supervisors
Minutes Prepared By: 4�:Dl f L ` W
Jay E. T' bs
Deputy Clerk, Board of Supervisors
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Board of Supervisors Work Session with Frederick County Planning Commission
and Public Works Committee on 12/07/11