STAFF REPORT TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: Chairman Scullin and Members of the Planning Commission C.

Christopher Mothersead, AICP Interim Director of Planning & Community Development March 15, 2013

Preliminary Plat #12-03 Rizer Subdivision. Request for a 74 lot subdivision on six (6) individual parcels totaling 25.0995 acres in the R-10 Residential District. The parcels are located on the east side of Winchester Street across from North Court. A collector road is planned to provide a connection from Winchester Street east to North Hill Drive in North Rock PUD and on to Blackwell Road. The applicant is Jeffery K. Rizer, Warrenton, Virginia. _______________________________________________________________________

BACKGROUND Pin Numbers: Property Owners: Property Address: Lot Size: Current Zoning: Current Use: GPIN #6984-37-1634, 6984-38-3140, 6984-38-2398, 6984-27-7888, 6984-28-7086, 6984-37-1256 Jeffery K. Rizer, Warrenton, VA Assemblage of 6 lots adjacent to Winchester Street (east side) at the intersection of North Court Average 0.31 acres R-10 Residential Large residential lots with access to Winchester Street; large, well-known residences with historic significance

The request is for a 74 lot residential subdivision that would include construction of a public collector road and local streets terminating with cul-de-sacs. Access to the subdivision is proposed at Winchester Street, across from North Court, and continuing east to North Hill Drive in the North Rock Community. The parcels are entirely within the R-10 Residential District and comprise 25.09945 acres. The adjacent Yonder Lea property is not included in the development area and the rear half of Presque Isle is included, leaving adequate buffer for the dwelling. Surrounding properties include single-family residential units zoned similarly zoned R-10.

Zoning Requirements According to the towns Zoning Ordinance, the legislative intent of the R-6 and R-15 Residential Districts includes the following: R-10 This district is composed of certain low concentrations of residential uses, plus certain open space areas where similar development would be consistent with the provisions of the Towns comprehensive Plan. The regulations of this district are designed to stabilize and protect the essential characteristics of the district, to promote and encourage suitable environment for single-family residential units, and to prohibit all activities of a commercial nature, except neighborhood professional businesses. The minimum lot size for any new development in an R-10 District is 10,000 square feet. The district is composed of low to medium concentrations of residential uses. The required front setback for lots is twenty-five (25) feet/maximum thirty (30) feet, the rear yard setback requirement is twenty (20) feet, and a ten (10) foot setback requirement for the side yards. The minimum lot frontage is seventy-five (75) feet and the maximum lot coverage is sixty-five percent (65%). Maximum height of a single-family dwelling cannot exceed thirty-five (35) feet and accessory buildings must be no more than fifteen (15) feet in height. Front loaded garages must be setback at least fifteen (15) feet behind the front building line (BRL) of the primary structure. Side-loaded garages must be no closer to the front lot line than the front edge of the primary structure. ANALYSIS The development includes 74 lots with 0.35762 acres of roads and 1.200 acres of open space. This produces an average lot size of 0.318 acres or 13,857 square feet per lot. The proposed lots vary from 10,005 to 15,016 square feet. Each lot must be 75 feet at the front setback line based on the R-10 District regulations. These are not marked on the plat as required by the ordinance and cannot be confirmed. Side and rear yards are indicated and appear to scale appropriately. Densities proposed by this preliminary plat are consistent with the legislative intent of the Zoning Ordinance. The 2025 Town of Warrenton Comprehensive Plan identifies this area as Low-Density Residential. This indicates predominantly single-family dwellings of up to 2.5 dwelling units per acre. This is the equivalent of an average lot size of 0.4 acres or 17,424 square feet. The proposed development is 0.31 acres average lot size or 3.14 units per acre. This is slightly denser than contemplated by the Comprehensive Plan, but reasonable close to the intended development of the area. For comparison, the Zoning Ordinance allows up to 4.35 units per acre at the 10,000 square foot lot size. The comprehensive Plan also identifies Winchester Street as a minor arterial in the Town providing traffic circulation from the downtown commerce to the bypass and onto other regional arterials (Route 15/29, 211 and 17). The preliminary plat shows a new intersection with Winchester Street at North Court and connection of the new street with North Hill Drive to the east and Blackwell Road. This connection creates a new collector road that is not identified in the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan illustrates with the transportation and land

use concept plans that the access to the rear portions of the large lots on Winchester Street would be achieved with a parallel north-south route utilizing the dedicated public right-of-way along the adjacent North Rock Residential PUD property connecting to Branch Drive Extended at Lee Highway. This will produce cross-traffic and new circulation/travel volumes between North rock and Winchester Street that were not considered in the development of the Comprehensive Plan. This traffic issues must be properly studied and comprehensive Plan amended to insure planned coordination with the street network and Town subdivisions. . Open Space A tabulation for open space is provided as part of the preliminary plat. The R-10 District requires 10,000 square feet of green is required for each 10 acres of gross site area within the subdivision per Article 3-4.3.5.3 of the Zoning Ordinance. Green space is proposed to be 1.2 acres (52,272 square feet) contained in two (21) open space areas within the subdivision and the stormwater management pond at the north end of the site. While this complies with the regulations, there are two (2) intermittent streams/drainage channels on the property that also must be accommodated by either open space or easement. Landscaping A tree inventory, in accord with Article 8 of the Towns Zoning Ordinance, showing the location of all trees on the site with a caliper of six (6) inches or greater is required. Wooded areas must be designated by symbols that indicate the perimeter of the area covered by the canopy of the trees. Trees to be removed must be indicated and trees and/or wooded areas to be retained, and methods to be used to assure adequate protection for trees adjacent to disturbed areas, must be indicated. Such methods must conform to Section 3, Subsection 1.85, Tree Preservation and Protection of the Virginia Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook and the requirements of the Towns Zoning Ordinance. A 20 percent tree canopy is required for a residential site zoned for 10 units or less per acre. Trees removed must be at a minimum identified as deciduous or nondeciduous, as replacement calculations cannot be made without this information. Replacements should be made based on deciduous or non-deciduous. Traffic Impact The applicant submitted a traffic study of the proposed development on February 1, 2013 (Traffic Impact Analysis for the Rizer Property, Vettra Company, November 30, 2012). It assessed the projected traffic from the site and its prospective impact on surrounding streets and intersections. The Town obtained the services of kimerly-Horn and Associates, Inc. to assist in the evaluation of the traffic study. Their report is attached and identifies a number of issues to be reviewed and revised to properly reflect the impacts on the Town road system. The preliminary plat also presents a new road from Winchester Street to North Hill Drive in the North Rock PUD. This creates a new collector road between Blackwell Road and Winchester Street that produces a new functional road for the Town network. As such, it must comply with other new collector streets in the town and avoid the access of driveways form individual dwellings that can create congestion and present a traffic hazard to the public. The plan proposed twenty-one (21) driveways onto the new collector road that must be removed or modified to avoid future traffic problems.

The Preliminary Plat also indicates a number of dead-end streets (cul-de-sacs), which are prohibited unless specifically recognized as such on the Comprehensive Plan or approved by variation or exception by the Town Council. Approval of a waiver would be required from Town Council for the cul-de-sacs. One of these cul-de-sacs is identified for a north-south circulation road to replace the right-of-way currently in North Rock (on the west boundary). Again, this is not part of the Comprehensive Plan and has not been studied by staff for its potential. The Comprehensive Plan actually indicates that this north-south collector would be the most appropriate circulation for this area rather than the one proposed in the Preliminary Plat (connection east-west to Winchester Street). The proposed collector road also suggests a profile at the existing Town right-of-way in North Rock that renders it unusable as a north-south circulation road, which is unacceptable. Turn lanes on Winchester Street will be required in accordance with the Warrenton Public Facilities Manual (WPFM) and curve radii will likely be 200 feet where 100 feet is provided. The rolling nature of the cul-de-sacs may not comply with the WPFM and adherence or revision must be demonstrated. Lighting/Environmental A street lighting plan is required n accordance with Article 9-8 of the zoning Ordinance and must be provided with the Preliminary Plat. The property is not situated within the 100-year flood plain. A small portion of steep slopes are indicated and accommodated in the subdivision layout without disturbance. No wetlands or other environmentally sensitive areas are indicated. The existing layout of thte parcels is not included with the submission, so existing structures, trees and other features cannot be evaluated at this time. STAFF RECOMMENDATION The review of the preliminary plat revealed that, while lots appear to conform to the Zoning Ordinance, there are a number of problems with the road system and the potential to the adjacent properties and the Town streets that are indicated. The traffic study requires revision and the Preliminary Plat requires supplemental information to enable Staff to thoroughly review the proposal. The density of the proposal is slightly in excess of the guidelines contained in the Comprehensive Plan and the proposed connector road is considerably at odds with the adopted network in Town documents. See attached February 22, 2013 Staff Report for detailed comments by Town Departments. In addition, the assemblage of parcels for this project includes multiple owners. The application did not include an affidavit from each of the owners or any certification that each owner (other than Mr. Rizer) committed their property (or part thereof) to the project. We must withhold a recommendation until there is confirmation from all of the participants in the project. ATTACHMENTS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Application Property assemblage Preliminary Plat Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) Kimerly-Horn review of the TIA

6.

Staff comments to applicant, 2/22/2013