HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-15-23 Planning Commission Minutes
Commissioners Present: AJ Schrantz, Vice-Chair; David Hall; Van Taylor; Frank Neice; Rachel Arthur
Commissioners Absent: Kevin Meyer, Chairman; Terry Hale
Town Staff: Summer Bork, Town Planner.
Call to Order
Vice-Chair Schrantz called the Planning Commission to order at 6:02 p.m.
Roll Call of Commission
A quorum was determined with five commissioners present.
Review and Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve May 08, 2023 minutes was made by Comr. Hall and seconded by Comr. Arthur.
The motion passed unanimously.
Motion to approve Minutes for May 19, 2023, special joint session made by Comr. Taylor and Seconded by Comr. Hall. The motion passed unanimously.
Public Hearing
NA
Old Business – Medical Office Definition
Ms. Bork explained to Commission that the solution, decided in the last meeting, for the term medical office--namely, to append the term medical office to the “existing” definition of
medical clinic-- was not feasible. The definition, Medical Clinic, was no longer in the Town’s Zoning Ordinance. This meant that the Commission would need to hold a public hearing
and recommend that council
adopt a text amendment, recommending a new definition be adopted. She also explained that Council had recommended the following edit to the Commission for consideration.
Medical Office(s): An establishment in which doctors, dentists, or other practitioners licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia provide health care services to clients, including medical
or health-related physical or massage therapy, counseling, mental health care, diagnoses, or treatment, exclusively on an outpatient basis. “Medical Office(s)” provide outpatient care
on a routine basis and may offer and may offer minor surgical care but do not provide overnight care or serve as a base for an ambulance service.
Ms. Arthur requested clarification concerning the recent rezoning of 2460 Lee Hwy, which had exposed the missing definition.
Ms. Bork explained that the council adopted the rezoning for the Lee Hwy property with a conditional definition. However, this definition would only apply to the Lee Hwy property, and
now the Commission is cleaning up the medical office use definition for the entirety of the ordinance text.
After discussion involving the following issues:
whether mental health care would open the door for Narcan and other pharmaceutical dispensaries and not address the core issues of substance abuse disorder with effective treatment.
Whether diagnoses and treatment were necessary to articulate, because what else would health care providers do for their patients?
That more clarification was needed surrounding the issue of mental health care uses and the possibility of exploring other definitions specific to mental health care within the ordinance.
Ms. Arthur requested a copy of the Savita Health Special Exception case to understand the circumstances around that facility and the issues more fully.
Possibility of creating geographic limitation of not allowing clinics within a certain radius of one another.
The motion was made by Mr. Taylor and seconded by Mr. Neice that the following definition be moved to a public hearing.
Medical Office(s): An establishment in which doctors, dentists, or other practitioners licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia provide health care services to clients, including medical
or health-related physical or massage therapy, exclusively on an outpatient basis, and may offer minor surgical care, but do not provide, substance abuse disorder services, overnight
care, or serve as a base for an ambulance service.
The Commission asked for a note to be made to review the medical office definition along with the question of mental and substance abuse counseling services again at a later date.
New Business – None
Other Business—
Ms. Arthur motioned to make Summer Bork, The Secretary of the Planning Commission. Mr. Taylor seconded the motion, and the motion passed unanimously.
Staff Report
Ms. Bork explained to the commission that per section 7.7.1-3 of the zoning ordinance, she was required to give commissioners a copy of variance applications so that they could stay
informed. She explained that they could make recommendations to the Board of Zoning Appeals should they choose or appear as a party in the case. However, this was completely up to the
commission as a body, She explained that the commission could also say “That’s nice” regarding applications and move along.
Ms. Bork also briefly explained the particulars of the two variance cases before the BZA and answered the commissioners’ follow-up questions.
A motion to recommend to the BZA that the Calfee School’s variance be granted was made by Mr. Taylor and seconded by Ms. Arthur and passed unanimously.
Ms. Bork then explained that the Town had released an RFP to address the inconsistencies within zoning and land use, which Ms. Fancon’s analysis for the Comprehensive Plan showed. Ms.
Bork also explained that she was working on compiling a list of issues that need to be addressed with the zoning ordinances so that the commission and town had strong and consistent
documents on which to base decisions. Ms. Bork explained that addressing issues in a lump would make it easier for all parties to review and streamline the adoption process.
A recent issue Ms. Bork had found was a missing definition for the use: Gas Station. The following initial language definition was provided to the commission as a jumping-off point
for discussion.
Gas Station: A building used of intended to be sued for the retail sale of fuels, lubricants, air, water, and other operating commodities for motor vehicles may include the space and
facilities for the installation of such commodities for motor vehicles and in addition, the space for minor repair, and servicing of said
vehicles, but not to include body repair, painting, rust-proofing, and refining, nor may cars be stored on the premise.
Commission comments regarding this definition included:
Shouldn’t services stations not be their own accessory use?
Maybe there should be an exploration of additional forms of fuel, including but not limited to bio-diesel or electric charging.
Was a provision again storage counter-productive for the automotive repair shop?
The discussion concluded that Ms. Bork needed to redraft the definition.
The Commission then asked Ms. Bork to update them on the need for green energy definitions, as mentioned in Mr. Haskin’s report from the previous meeting. Ms. Bork explained that upon
further examination of the zoning regulations for the sites where these companies wanted to locate, It was determined that the town’s definition for Utilities Services, Major and Utility
Services, Minor allow one company to come in by right and the other by special exception.
Ms. Arthur expressed the concern that with emerging green technologies being potentially volatile and, in some cases, experimental that she would like for the town to have the ability
to ask questions of prospective companies and ensure public health, safety, and well-being and, if needed put conditions in place to ensure emergency preparedness and response.
Mr. Schrantz added that he agreed with Ms. Arthur’s concerns but also saw green energy as an opportunity for the town to benefit economically from a growing business sector.
He and Mr. Neice both stressed the importance of ensuring that regulations were in place to enable the town to control how Solar production appears in the town to prevent these areas
from being an eyesore.
The commission expressed their interest in pursuing the development of green-energy zoning regulations within the town, and as a temporary measure, Mr. Schrantz moved, and Ms. Arthur
seconded to have a public hearing to amend the zoning ordinance by changing Utilities Service, major to only allowable by special exception in the zone in which they are by right.
Mis Arthur then asked what parameters were used to determine if circumstances required an emergency joint secession. Ms. Bork tried to explain the situation surrounding May 19, 2023’s
special session. Ultimately, the Town Manager decided to hold a special joint session, and Ms. Bork was uncertain what Ms. Burcham’s rationale was. She did reiterate to the commission
that this was an issue that should have been caught and corrected several years ago, and the business owner in question was trying to open soon.
Ms. Arthur, in general agreement with other commission members, requested a “Commissioner’s Comment” line item be added to the agenda to enable discussion of non-agenda items if needed.
Ms. Bork said she would add it to the agenda in the future.
Adjournment
Mr. Hall moved to adjourn the meeting Ms. Arthur seconded, motion passed unanimously. With there being no further business to discuss, Vice-Chair Schrantz adjourned the meeting at 8:37
p.m.
Kevin Meyer, Chair
ATTEST:
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Summer Bork, Town Planner