DRRC 09-28-17 Meeting AgendaCOUNTY of FREDERICK
Department of Planning and Development
540/ 665-5651
Fax: 540/ 665-6395
MEMORANDUM
To: Development Review and Regulations Committee
From: M. Tyler Klein, AICP, Planner
Subject: September 28, 2017 Meeting and Agenda
Date: September 21, 2017
The Frederick County Development Review and Regulations Committee (DRRC) will be
meeting on Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the first floor conference room
(purple room) of the County Administration Building, 107 North Kent Street, Winchester,
Virginia. The DRRC will discuss the following agenda items:
AGENDA
1) Solar (Photovoltaic) Energy Facilities. Discussion of a request to add solar
(photovoltaic) power generating facilities (i.e. solar farms) to the use list for the RA
(Rural Areas) Zoning District.
2) Chicken Coops. Discussion of a request to allow backyard chicken coops in the RP
(Residential Performance) Zoning District.
3) Other.
Please contact this office if you will not be able to attend the meeting. Thank you.
Access to this building is limited during the evening hours. Therefore, it will be necessary to
enter the building through the rear door of the four-story wing. I would encourage committee
members and interested citizens to park in the County parking lot located behind the new
addition or in the joint Judicial Center parking lot and follow the sidewalk to the back door of
the four-story wing.
MTK/pd
Attachments
Item #1: Solar (Photovoltaic) Energy Facilities
Staff has received an amendment request to Chapter 165 – Zoning Ordinance to add solar power
facilities (i.e. solar farms) to the RA (Rural Areas) Zoning District use list. Solar energy facilities
are generally defined as a “utility-scale commercial facility, which uses solar energy specifically
for the conversion of sunlight by photovoltaics (a technology that converts light directly into
electricity).” This item was previously discussed at the July 27th and August 24th DRRC
meetings, with staff facilitating a discussion of how other localities addressed this emerging
technology and what supplemental use regulations may be appropriate for siting these types of
facilities in Frederick County. Staff has drafted a new revision to the Zoning Ordinance to
include a definition for “Solar (Photovoltaic) Energy Facilities,” inclusion of the use as by-right
in the RA Zoning District, and provided supplemental use regulations to accompany the use.
Staff would like to discuss with the DRRC proposed text amendment.
If the DRRC is supportive of this ordinance amendment, Staff will forward it to the Planning
Commission and Board of Supervisors for discussion.
Attachment: 1. Zoning Ordinance - Proposed Revisions (additions show in highlighted
bold underlined italics).
ARTICLE I
GENERAL PROVISIONS; AMENDMENTS; AND CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS
Part 101 – General Provisions
§ 165-101.02 Definitions and word usage.
Solar (Photovoltaic) Energy Facility
An energy conversion system consisting of photovoltaic panels, support structures, and associated,
control, conversion, and transmission hardware on property consisting of six (6) or more acres. Also
may be termed a “solar farm.”
ARTICLE II
SUPPLEMENTARY USE REGULATIONS, PARKING, BUFFERS, AND REGULATIONS FOR SPECIFIC USES
Part 204 – Additional Regulations for Specific Uses
§ 165-204.32. Solar (Photovoltaic) Energy Facility
Solar (Photovoltaic) Energy Systems in the RA (Rural Areas) District shall be subject to the following
requirements:
A. An engineered site plan, in accordance with the requirements of Article VIII, shall be submitted
to and approved by Frederick County.
B. The facility shall, at a minimum, meet the setback requirement for primary structures in the
RA District.
C. All wiring not on the solar arrays shall be underground except where necessary to connect to
the public utility.
D. Buffers and screening (including distance, opaque elements, and landscaping) shall be
determined by the Zoning Administrator at time of site plan.
E. Within 365 days of the date of abandonment or discontinuation, the owner of the system shall
physically remove all components of the solar energy system. If not removed within the
allotted time, the County may have it removed at the expense of the owner.
ARTICLE IV
AGRICULTURAL AND RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS
Part 401 – RA Rural Areas District
§ 165-401.02 Permitted Uses.
Structures and land shall be used for one of the following uses:
Q. Public utility generating (including solar (photo voltaic) energy facilities regardless of whether
owned or operated by a public utility), booster or relay stations, transformer substations,
transmission lines and towers, pipes, meters and other facilities, railroad facilities and sewer and
water facilities and lines owned by public utilities, railroad companies or public agencies
2
Item #2: Chicken Coops
Staff has received an amendment request from a private citizen to Chapter 165 – Zoning
Ordinance to allow backyard chickens (and chicken coops) in the RP (Residential Performance)
Zoning District. Currently, agricultural uses, including the keeping of chickens, are only
permitted in the County’s RA (Rural Areas) Zoning District. Staff will facilitate a discussion
with the DRRC regarding the appropriateness of this request.
Should the DRRC find the request to be appropriate, staff will take any feedback garnered at this
meeting and draft a new proposed text amendment, which will come back to the DRRC for
further discussion at a future meeting (TBD).
Attachment: 1. Letter requesting ordinance amendment dated August 23, 2017.