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CPPC 07-17-95 Meeting AgendaCOUNTY of FREDERICK Department of Planning and Development 703/1665-5651 FAX 703/678-0682 MEMORANDUM TO: Comprehensive Plans and Programs Committee FROM: Kris C. Tierney, Deputy Planning Director RE: Meeting Date and Agenda DATE: July 6, 1995 There will be a meeting of the Comprehensive Plans and Programs Committee on July 17, 1995 at 7:30 pm in the Conference Room of the Old County Court House. Please let me know if you are unable to attend. 1) AGENDA Discussion of DrAft Land Use Plan for Round Hill Community Center. Staff has revised the land use plan in response to the Committee's discussion in June. A description of the plan and a written description are enclosed. The revised proposal involves a phased approach to development and the corresponding provision of sewer and water. 2) Discussion of timp, frame for proceeding with the plan. The Committee will need to decide at what point to discuss the plan with the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for their input. Also, when to take the plan and/or alternatives to a public meeting in Round Hill. One approach would be to have a work session with the Planning Commission and Board in August or September followed by a public meeting in September within the Round Hill Community. 107 North Kent Street Winchester, VA 22601 P.O. Box 601 Winchester, VA 22604 Page 2 CPPS Agenda Meeting of July 17, 1995 3) Discussion of Draft Battlefield Network Plan The Committee needs to review the plan and make any recommendations or endorsement which they feel is appropriate. The plan will have ramifications on Comprehensive Planning within the County. A copy of the Draft plan is enclosed for citizen members of the Committee (If any Commissioners did not receive a copy or have misplaced the one they did receive, please contact us.) 4) Other. Round Hill Community Center Discussion of Proposed Land Use Plan Introduction The Frederick County Comprehensive Plan identifies ten areas of the County as potential Rural Community Centers. The Plan acknowledges that these ten areas have distinct characteristics which set them apart from the surrounding rural areas. Some of the Community Centers identified have traditionally played a role as service centers for residents in and around the centers. The County has long recognized that standard rural area regulations may not be suited to these centers. Retail and service oriented commercial enterprises have existed in the centers for many years and some remain in existence today. The challenge facing the County is to develop land use policies and regulations which will allow these centers to continue to serve their traditional function, without spoiling their rural character. The Round Hill Community Center is, in a number of ways, under the most pressure due to its close proximity to the City of Winchester, the Route 5 0\3 7 interchange, central sewer and water and the County's Urban Development Area boundary. With this in mind, the Comprehensive Plans and Programs Committee has undertaken the task of developing a long range land use plan for the Round Hill Community, complete with recommendations for the formulation of specific development regulations. Background The process began on May 8, 1995 when the Frederick County Comprehensive Plans and Programs Committee (a subcommittee of the County Planning Commission) and staff from the Department of Planning and Development, conducted a public meeting at the Round Hill Fire Hall. Estimates of the attendance at the meeting ranged from 120 to 140 individuals. Given the size of the community, this was considered to be a excellent turnout. The high attendance was attributed to a variety of factors. The meeting had been advertised in both the Winchester Star and the Northern Virginia Daily. Flyers, which announced the time, location, and intention of the meeting, had been posted throughout the community and invitations had been sent to all 311 property owners within the established boundaries of the community. These invitations were in the form of a newsletter intended to educate the residents on the current status of their community with regard to county policies, and give them an idea of the purpose of the planned meeting. These notices also contained a one page comment sheet which recipients were urged to either mail in or bring to the public meeting. A large parcel of land located within the defined community, on the north side of Route 50, just west of the Route 37 intersection, had also been advertised for auction (C.L. Robinson tract). The entire Round Hill community contains approximately 1,100 acres. The parcel advertised for sale contained 243 acres. It is believed that curiosity and concern over the impact of this proposed land sale also contributed to the meeting attendance. The Round Hill community had been the focus of discussion on and off for a number of years. The primary issue addressed in these discussions was whether or not to provide sewer to the community and the possible impacts this would have on the area. This discussion was fueled in part by the existence of a sewer line just to the east of Round Hill. A sewer line had been extended to the eastern edge of Route 37 by the City of Winchester, prior to the construction of the Winchester Medical Center. This line had been oversized as part of an agreement between the City and the County Sanitation Authority. The agreement required that the Sanitation Authority pay the cost difference of the oversized line and the City agreed to allow use of the line to serve an estimated 1,100 acres of medium density development within the Round Hill Community. The County had also participated in a study which was conducted in 1993 to examine the feasibility of providing some alternative method of sewage treatment to the community. The study concluded that it would be possible to install a small diameter sewer collection system that would work in conjunction with individual residential septic tanks. This collection system would carry liquid waste to a treatment facility that would discharge into Abrams Creek. The estimated cost to construct such a system was 2.8 million dollars, double the estimated cost of tieing into the existing line east of Route 37. Plan Description The future land use plan that is being proposed for the Round Hill Community has three distinct phases. The timing of the phases is very tentative and subject to factors such as the economy and the desires of individual landowners. In general, the time periods used for the phases are in five year intervals. This is more for the purpose of establishing a basis for comparison than a hard and fast time line for development. Naturally, the later the phase, the more uncertain the timing. There are a number of recommendations that are critical to the proposed phasing. First, given the fairly uniform response from residents of the community, no area is proposed for high density residential development. It is the recommendation of the staff that a new zoning category be adopted which, among other things, allows residential development within the Community Center at a density in keeping with traditional development patterns for the community. The actual development of any given area of community will be dependant on the availability of appropriate infrastructure. A second recommendation is that along with an alternate minimum lot size, the new zoning classification should also establish building location and use regulations which perpetuate the existing development patterns. In the case of Round Hill, the staff is suggesting that a minimum lot size of one half acre be established. This acreage is based on a study of existing lot size which revealed that nearly half of the roughly 400 lots within the Round Hill Community were under one half acre in size. Approximately 100 of the existing lots are between a half acre and one acre in size. It is suggested that the half acre minimum would go into effect as part of Phase II of the proposed land use plan. This change would only take place as part of an overall zoning change for the core area of the Community that addresses other issues such as building location and permitted uses, and would be dependant on the installation of a central sewer system. 20C Round Hill Community Number of Lots by Acreage 0-112 1n-1 1-2 2-5 5and up Lot Size Description of Phases Phase I The first Phase in the proposed plan involves the establishment of a Business/Office area immediately adjacent to the Route 37 interchange. This phase contains roughly 100 acres. Implementation of this phase is anticipated within the near term, with a five year time frame suggested. One of the anticipated results of this first phase would be to bring sewer and water to the west side of Route 37, thereby bringing these services that much closer to the existing residential community, portions of which have a demonstrated need. Business and office development would require the extension of public sewer and water, and therefore, would necessitate an extension of the county's sewer and water service area. The staff recommendation is that standards be developed that will minimize the visual disruption to the Route 50 corridor. This would involve standards for shared entrances, screen of structures and parking areas, the location of parking in relation to Route 50 itself, size, number and location of signage and finally, landscaping. The objective is to prevent the creation of a typical strip commercial development along this route. The regulations should discourage individual business entrances on Route 50 both for aesthetics as well as transportation efficiency. Commercial establishments should front feeder roads which connect to Route 50 at signalized intersections. Phase II The second phase of the proposed plan involves an extension of the commercial area established in Phase I, west along the northern side of Route 50 to the western edge of the VDOT property and north adjacent to Route 37 to the northern limit of the Community Center. The total business area in this phase amounts to roughly 35 acres. This phase also includes the proposed transition of the southeastern portion of the Community center to a medium density residential area in keeping with the character of the older established residential development within Round Hill. This residential area encompasses approximately 30 aces. As mentioned above, it is not recommended that this residential development take place under the current Residential Performance regulations, but rather that new regulations be developed that enable the continuation of the rural community atmosphere. Phase III The third Phase encompasses the core area of the Community and proposes in fill residential development under new regulations discussed as part of Phase II. This portion of the phase involves roughly 250 acres. As with other phases, the type of development anticipated would require the availability of central sewer. Since the provision of public utilities will involve a substantial investment, this phase also proposes further expansion of business\offices westward out Route 50. The business area in this phase contains roughly 70 acres. Again, it is recommended that the commercial development be permitted only after the formulation of specific standards designed to address the visual impact of such development. Infrastructure As with development proposals within the current Urban Development Area, construction of new collector roads and the installation of sewer and water within the Community Center would be the responsibility of the developer. Each of the phases contain portions of connector roads designed to channel traffic to and from a few key intersections along Route 50 rather than permitting a hodgepodge of individual business entrances on Route 50. It is expected that these key interchanges will require signalization as the respective areas begin to develop. In some instances the collectors act as separation between areas designated for business and residential use. The Washington Post Page 1 of 3 Study Suggests That Cluttered Commutes Have Negative Mental, Physical Effects By Anna Borgman Washington Post Staff Writer For years, Washingtonians have griped and grumbled about subur- ban sprawl, even as they have embraced it. Traffic congestion and long commutes were obvious trade-offs accepted in exchange for a lawn, better schools and a lower crime rate. But another part of the bargain has been the "sprawLscape," and gat may be hazardous to unsuspecting suburbanites' health. Ask Maria Lonsbury, who commutes daily down Route 1 from Sav- age to College Park past a glaring jumble of fast-food signs, billboards and strip malls. "You become numb," Lonsbury said. "It's information overload. I try not to think about it." Or Paul Bryant, who grows more and more tense as he drives a van pool from Rockville to the Federal Emergency Management Agency building on C Street SW and then spends the beginning of his work day trying to unwind. 'Teople have learned ... to stay away from me for the first 15 minutes of the day," Bryant said. Lonsbury, Bryant and thousands of others in the Washington ar- ea—which has one of the nation's longest average commutes—may be more alarmed than surprised by a new study suggesting that sprawl and its attendant visual clutter affect everything from work performance and mood to blood pressure and facial muscle activity. Roger Ulrich, an environmental psychologist at Texas A&M Uni- versity School of Architecture, spent two years with a team of re - See SPRAWL, B4, Col. 1 Stressed -out commuter: Maria Lonsbury drives each day down Route I from Savage to College Park pasta glaring jumble of fast food signs, billboards and strip malls `7 try not to think about it, "she says Sunday, June 18, 1995 The Washington Post Page 2 of 3 Sunday, June 18, 1995 .04 SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 1995 THE WASHINGTON POST ,,-ay'tudy Says Billboards, Strip Malls _May Be Hazardous to Your Health SPRAWL, From Bl `4earchers studying the suburban sprawlscape and concluded that it afiit'do more than waste land, gaso- '"Lne and other precious resources. It 141§o"has unpleasant psychological arid' physiological consequences on "those who view it, Ulrich's team found. The Washington area, in particu- :,hr,'. is well known for its abundant 4Wdevelopment blight, Ulrich said iii viii interview. ;'It's an onslaught of visual ele- meths," said Ulrich, who presented �reTmiinary findings at a conference 'InLWashington this spring. "this is not -mere ugliness any longer. We're AaUding about the welfare and per- haps health of the public conceivably being affected over a long period of tinw of exposure." An- the A&M study, researchers shad' 1'60 people drive simulated com- 'mutes. First, Ulrich said, the sub- `'jects performed difficult math prob- lems or viewed workplace safety videos that showed workers getting .their hands chopped off. Then, once Yhtp; were stressed, the 160 people were assigned randomly to one of four rides in a simulator at 35 mph. -While the subjects looked straight ,-ahead during the simulated com- mute, stress levels were monitored bfk checking blood pressure, respira- , heart rate, skin conductance, �cial muscle activity and eye move- -.-ments. For those exposed to a rural set - 'ling nr a parkway, stress levels de- clined relatively quickly, while stress Levels for people exposed to strip de- velopments remained high, Ulrich aai& After the commute, the study's .subjects did math problems or were :gbown videos to measure their work -productivity and ability to deal with stress. Once again, Ulrich said, peo- ple exposed to the sprawlscape fared poorly. "If our research is replicated, it would be justified to raise the possi- biJity of roadside blight and strip �alidscapes being in some respects abublic health issue." he said. X�ugh the study appears to be thtime anyone has tried to iso- lat *suburban sprawl as a variable, researchers long have studied and speciilated about the effects of one's en vnment. f*erick Law Olmsted, the 19th century landscape architect who de- signed Manhattan's Central Park (he grounds of the U.S. Capitol, feved intuitively that nature kries produced "tranquillity and ?4t�o the mind." In the 1950s, hu- T6iist psychologist Abraham Mas- low concluded that people responded differently to beautiful, average and ugly rooms. Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson has argued that people are genetically predisposed to prefer na- ture. Investigators at the University of California -Irvine also have re- searched the effects of commuting and nature views on stress levels, with one study of Los Angeles resi- dents showing that 20 percent of mood during the evening could be traced to commuting stress. High- way planners have found anecdotal evidence to support beautification "You become numb. It's information overload." —Commuter Maria Lonsbury efforts that minimize billboards and encourage wildflowers and panoram- ic views. Jerry Wachtel, an engineering psychologist who ran the highway aesthetics research laboratory for the Federal Highway Administration and now testifies as an expert wit- ness in court, said he is not surprised that visual clutter is stressful, al- though he had not reviewed Uh-ich's study and has never seen scientific evidence proving a cause -and -effect relationship. Research on drivers along Inter- state 95 from Washington to New York, however, showed that motor- ists reported a drop in driving plea- sure after crossing the border from Maryland to Delaware, Wachtel said. In Maryland, I-95 is generally pleasant, with flowers in the median and roadside trees. Drivers typically could not define what had changed, but they reported being more tense in Delaware, which permits and en- courages roadside billboards. "The roadside environment is a fairly complex place, so you can nev- er really be sure that it's a billboard that's causing stress," Wachtel said. Some officials are skeptical about the effects of visual roadside ele- ments on psychological well-being. John J. Clark, planning director for Montgomery County, said he has viewed unsightly sprawl as primarily a design and safety issue. The envi- ronment, he said, seems less likely to be a major stressor than would, for example, having another driver cut you off in traffic. Montgomery County tries to limit "sign pollution" to create a safer and more pleasant environment, Clark said. "If you had scientific evidence that people are harmed by driving by a i billboard or sign, that could be very helpful in weighing the argument in favor of the public interest," he add- ed. Critics of the research findings contend that the suburban stress of looking at a convenience store sign or used car lot is nothing compared with the urban stress of worrying about a child getting shot. But Ulrich said fear of violent crime is a separate issue, and com- muting through sprawl appears to be an added stressor. Constance Beaumont, director for state and local policy with the Na- tional Trust for Historic Preserva- tion, said she believes Ulrich's re- search could help make a case for curbing suburban sprawl. The Washington Post Sunday, June 18, 1995 Page 3 of 3 BY LARRY MORRIS. -THE WASHINGTON POST A suburban "sprawlscape" assaults the senses on Route 1 south of Alexandria. Researchers say clutter may hinder work performance. "He's making the point that sprawl and automobile -dependent congestion have social and public health implications as well as fiscal and environmental ones," Beaumont said. Milton Laughland, a computer specialist for the Justice Depart- ment, has driven from Prince Wil- liam County to the District for the last 20 years and has seen suburban sprawl gradually encroach to within a mile of his home. "It's as if Fairfax has moved out to us," Laughland said. "And they're still building malls and shopping cen- ters and housing developments. Of course, one man's clutter is anoth- er's back yard." x COUNTY of FREDERICK Department of Planning and Development 703/665-5651 FAX 703x678-0682 MEMORANDUM TO: Comprehensive Plan Subcommittee Historic Resources Advisory Board FROM: Robert Watkins, Frederick County Planning Director SUBJECT: Battlefield Network Plan DATE: June 23, 1995 Ultimately, we would like to have the endorsements of the Battlefield Network Plan from the Historic Resources Advisory Board, the Comprehensive Plan Subcommittee, the Planning Commission, and the Board of Supervisors. This might require additional work and discussion. We also intend to make the following revisions based on the discussions on June 22: Refer to downtown Winchester as the fourth key battlefield site. The use of the internet under the public awareness and promotion strategies. Additional work is needed to define the type of organizational framework that will be needed to carry out the strategies. We would greatly appreciate input from you concerning this and other issues. I would ask that you take whatever steps you believe are necessary to make a recommendation on the plan to the Board of Supervisors. We will gladly provide any assistance that you need. RWW/rsa 107 North Kent Street Winchester, VA 22601 P.O. Box 601 Winchester, VA 22604