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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/15/2021 - Work SessionMINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE TOWN OF VINTON PLANNING COMMISSION HELD ON THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2021, AT 6 P.M., IN THE TOWN COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING MEMBERS PRESENT: Keith Liles, Chairman David “Dave” Jones, Vice Chairman Robert “Bob” Benninger Sarah Reid MEMBERS ABSENT: Andrew “Ty” Braxton STAFF PRESENT: Richard Peters, Town Manager (at 6:30 p.m. and for a brief time) Anita McMillan, Planning and Zoning Director Nathan McClung, Assistant Planning and Zoning Director Julie Tucei, Planning and Zoning Coordinator AGENDA WORK SESSION—6 P.M. I. Call to Order—Roll Call II. Overview of Upcoming Community Meeting on Ordinance Revisions (August) 1. Activity #1: Maximum temporary signage demonstration 2. Activity #2: Eight (8)-line measurement exercise 3. Activity #3: Square footage of various ADU layouts 4. Activity #4: ADU examples and voting on various regulations/requirements 5. Activity #5: Maximum parking and new requirement scenarios 6. Activity #6: RB and CB Districts dimensional changes 7. Activity #7: Homestay regulations 8. Activity #8: Landscaping ordinance scenario print-outs 9. Activity #9: Parking lot design activity 10. Activity #10: Potential stormwater impact demonstration III. Outdoor Refreshment Areas (ORAs) in the Town of Vinton 1. Overview of new State Code provisions 2. Potential locations in the Town and drafted code language IV. Miscellaneous Ordinance Topics Discussion 1. Proposed flag regulations 2. Proposed window coverage requirements for signs V. Comments of Planning Commissioners and Planning Staff VI. Adjournment Mr. Liles welcomed everyone to the meeting and called it to order at 6 p.m. He asked Ms. Tucei for the roll call. Ms. Tucei called the roll, and all members were present, except Mr. Braxton. The following members of Town Staff were present: Richard Peters (at 6:30 p.m. and for a brief time), Anita McMillan, Nathan McClung, and Julie Tucei. PLANNING COMMISSION WORK SESSION JULY 15, 2021 PAGE 2 Mr. Liles called the first item on the agenda which was the overview of the upcoming community meeting on ordinance revisions. Mr. McClung stated that it is important that the Town have an in-person meeting about the revisions. He said it is critical. He said he is looking to have it in August, and it is planned to be an interactive meeting held on a Saturday at the Charles R. Hill Community Center. Mr. McClung said there will be exhibits and interactive displays. He showed the theme for the community meeting on the TV screen which is, “A Penny for Your Thoughts”. Ms. McMillan asked the Planning Commission to let staff know if they think the meeting should be held on a weekday instead of a Saturday. Mr. Jones suggested that they provide some type of light food to help attract more people to the meeting. Mr. McClung mentioned that the event is designed with the Charles R. Hill Community Center in mind. He said that he initially considered combining the event with the Town’s National Night Out event, but decided not to so that the focus can be solely on the Zoning Ordinance updates. Ms. McMillan said we may still try to have the Police Department participate by serving hotdogs from their outreach trailer. Mr. Jones said it will be an easy way for people to participate and be able to tell the Town what they like and do not like about the proposed changes. He remembered when Mike Chandler did the onions and orchids during a community meeting a few years ago, and he thought it would be good to look at that list and see what has changed since then. Mr. McClung stated that he has taken their suggestions and comments and made revisions to the zoning ordinance draft. He said he has already sent the draft to the Town’s attorneys for review. He said he hopes to send it to Council for approval this fall. Next, Mr. McClung went over the various activities that will be covered during the public outreach meeting. The first was the maximum temporary signage demonstration. He showed in the PowerPoint slideshow, a copy of which will be made a part of the permanent record of this meeting, an example of a convenience store with the maximum number of signs displayed. He said this will show property and business owners what they may be able to do under the new sign regulations. He stated that, during the community event, he will use the Charles R. Hill Community Center building and property to display sample signs showing how the new regulations will work. The next activity is the eight line measurement exercise for measuring signage, which Mr. McClung showed an example of in the PowerPoint presentation. Mr. McClung said this will be an interactive activity for attendees of the outreach meeting to actually try their hand at doing an eight line measurement of a sample sign. Next are activities three and four which are the square footage of various ADU layouts and examples and voting on the various regulations and requirements. He mentioned that 300 square feet is the minimum size for an ADU, and that during the public meeting he will use heavy duty pavement tape to mark out different examples of ADU layouts of various sizes including 300 square feet, 500 square feet, etc. He said there will also be photos printed out on foam board showing some actual ADUs. Mr. McClung mentioned that the minimum of 300 square feet will be enforced. He also stated that if someone has an existing structure already on their property that is larger than the maximum allowed, they will still be able to use it for an ADU. PLANNING COMMISSION WORK SESSION JULY 15, 2021 PAGE 3 The fifth activity is the maximum parking and new requirements scenarios. Mr. McClung said he will use chalk paint to mark parking spaces showing the current parking requirements and the proposed new parking requirements. The sixth activity is the RB and CB Districts dimensional changes. Mr. McClung said he will have graphics on display that show how many things will be more in compliance after the new ordinance is approved. He stated that, if approved, the maximum setback for CB will be 15 feet, and mentioned that at the public meeting, he will flag the different required setback footages so that people can get a visual of the setbacks. Mr. McClung also mentioned that he plans to use an Upwords game to build a small model of downtown to show building heights, with each letter tile representing a certain amount of building height. Mr. Liles asked if the Town has any buildings in downtown with four levels. Mr. McClung said there are none currently, and the tallest is currently Vinton Baptist Church. He also mentioned that the Fire and EMS building is very tall. The seventh activity is the homestay regulations. Mr. McClung explained that this will be a piggy bank activity where people will use pennies provided to them to vote on what they would like to see. The piggy banks will be painted different colors by Planning Staff. Mr. McClung mentioned that we have kept this event under budget by coming up with these types of random activities and ideas. Ms. McMillan said it has helped to keep the costs down tremendously by having Mr. McClung rewrite the entire ordinance. Mr. Liles said he would be happy to lend Mr. McClung the pennies for the voting, and he could get them back after the event. Mr. McClung said that some pennies may be pocketed, though, if people don’t vote and just pocket the money. The eighth and ninth activities are landscaping ordinance scenario print-outs and a parking lot design activity. Mr. McClung showed an example in the PowerPoint presentation of a sample building on Hardy Road, which Mr. Liles mentioned is the former Kenny’s Restaurant building. Mr. McClung showed what buffering and landscaping on the property could look like. Ms. McMillan stated that it really shows how buffering and landscaping can change a property. Mr. McClung said this will be the most interactive activity at the public meeting. He said that attendees will be able to build a miniature parking lot model. He said staff will give them guidelines to follow such as every ten spaces would need to have one tree planted. They will use railroad model items such as miniature trees and cars to build a model parking lot. He said there will be three of these setups for people to try out at the meeting. Mr. Jones said it would be nice to get younger people like middle school and high school kids at the meeting to participate in these types of activities because it will help them remember it later in life. The tenth activity is the potential stormwater impact demonstration. Mr. McClung said one person will be needed to run the stormwater demo. DCR has a stormwater model, but it is currently in Williamsburg so Mr. McClung is not sure if it will be back in Roanoke in time for us to use it. Mr. Jones asked if Virginia Tech has one. Mr. McClung said he plans to check with them soon to see if they have a model that can be loaned. Mr. McClung said that concluded the information about the planned activities at the community meeting, and he asked if they had any questions. Mr. Jones asked if Clean Valley Council had a stormwater model PLANNING COMMISSION WORK SESSION JULY 15, 2021 PAGE 4 they could use. Ms. McMillan said the Clean Valley Council’s model is more of a pollution demo, and that staff would like to have one that shows how stormwater runoff works. Mr. Jones asked if VDOT has a model. Ms. McMillan said she doesn’t think they have one, but she knows Virginia Tech has one, and that will be our next contact. Mr. McClung said he wants mostly interactive items at the meeting, but there will be one quick PowerPoint presentation showing information about items such as doggy daycare. Ms. McMillan mentioned that if they have any ideas for other activities to let staff know in next week or so. Mr. Jones mentioned that the County has done a great job with the streambank restoration at Goode Park, and maybe we could incorporate information about that into the meeting. Mr. McClung mentioned that the Charles R. Hill Community Center is available on August 7, 2021, after 11:30 a.m., and on August 14, 2021, before 6 p.m. Mr. Liles said he is already booked up on those dates, and Ms. Reid said August 14th is not good for her. It was decided to look into September or October for available dates, and it might be cooler weather then as well. Ms. McMillan said that perhaps staff could send out a Doodle Poll to line up some possible dates. Mr. Jones suggested having it on a Friday evening when there isn’t a William Byrd football game. Mr. McClung said the meeting is planned to last a total of about three hours. Mr. Liles mentioned that having it in the evening would work with serving food to attract more attendees. The next topic for discussion was Outdoor Refreshment Areas (ORAs) in the Town of Vinton, including an overview of new state code provisions, potential locations in the Town, and the drafted code language. Mr. McClung stated that this would be a pedestrian oriented area like the mall in Charlottesville. He said the Town will have to apply for an ABC permit to cover the ORAs. The ORAs will have spaces dedicated for ride share services such as Uber. Ms. McMillan stated that it has to be located certain distances away from churches. The ORAs will be a part of the Town Code, not the Zoning Ordinance. The Vinton Farmers’ Market area during events such as Mingle at the Market is an example of an ORA. The Town would be allowed to have up to three areas for this type of use. Mr. McClung stated that most of the language in the regulations cannot be changed as it is taken directly from the State Code. He said in an ORA, you would be able to, for example, buy a beer at Twin Creeks and then go drink it at the Vinton Farmers’ Market. He mentioned that alcohol would not be allowed to be consumed on any church property. Mr. Jones thought that the vacant lot near 8th Street would make a good location for one of the ORAs, but Mr. Liles said they are looking to have them in more dense areas with businesses nearby. Mr. Jones said, in that case, the Farmers’ Market and the Vinton War Memorial would both be good locations. The next items for discussion were the miscellaneous ordinance topics, and the first of which are the proposed flag regulations. Mr. McClung stated that people will be able to display any type of flag. Single family or two-family homes will be allowed a maximum flag pole height of 25 feet, and a maximum of three flags per lot. Mr. McClung showed a copy of the proposed regulations in the PowerPoint. He mentioned that other uses such as those that are commercial will be able to have flag poles up to 60 feet tall. A larger flag would require a special use permit. Ms. McMillan asked if that should be a variance from the BZA, rather than a special use permit. Mr. McClung said he would check on that to see if it would go to the Planning Commission and Town Council or the BZA. PLANNING COMMISSION WORK SESSION JULY 15, 2021 PAGE 5 The next topic was the proposed window coverage requirements for signs. Mr. McClung explained the major points of discussion to keep in mind for window coverage for signs using the PowerPoint presentation. Mr. Liles thought it was kind of funny how all this came up after the Twin Creeks’ mural went up. However, Mr. McClung explained that it is temporary for use during construction and is used in place of brown paper or tarps covering the window. Mr. Liles asked about the property across from the Vinton Farmers’ Market. Ms. McMillan said that location is being used as a temporary storage facility, which is technically not allowed in the CB-Central Business District. She stated that Planning and Zoning was not aware of this agreement for the building to be used as storage. She said that the items being stored will be delivered to that location, and then will relatively quickly be delivered out to customers. She stated that it will not be long term storage of the items. Mr. Liles asked about mirror tint or other tint that covers windows and if that would count. Ms. McMillan said as long as it doesn’t have a commercial message, it would not be considered a sign and would not be regulated. She mentioned that having a mural is better than tarps or paper covering the windows. Mr. McClung stated that permanent signs will be going to eight line measurement, which will help with more sign area. He said that removing the permitting requirements for temporary signs will also help. He mentioned that the maximum height for temporary signs will be four feet. Ms. McMillan said that feather signs would likely be prohibited. Mr. Liles said at least the feather signs do not take up as much overall space, even though they are taller. Mr. Liles stated that he does not like the Town telling people what they can and can’t buy such as the feather flag signs. Mr. McClung mentioned that Roanoke County prohibits feather signs, but they just do not enforce it. Ms. Reid said she thinks they look better than some other types of signs. Mr. Liles said he also likes the feather flag signs better than some of the other types of signs. Ms. McMillan said staff would revisit the feather flags and reevaluate them. Mr. Liles said telling people they cannot do something is not very business friendly. Ms. McMillan said staff would look into and see how we can address them. The discussion also included differences between permanent and temporary signs. Mr. McClung stated that regardless of whether a sign is temporary or permanent, only 25 percent of windows can be covered at a time. He said that window signs will not be allowed for residential uses, and signs will be prohibited above the first floor unless a business is actually located above the first floor. Lastly, home occupations will no longer be allowed to have signs in residential areas. Mr. Liles said he thought it is good that the Town is doing something about that. They briefly mentioned the home occupation Pilates sign on Duke Drive and the lighthouses and cornhole games sign on Washington Avenue. Mr. Liles asked for further questions or comments, and there were none. With there being nothing further to discuss in the work session, a motion to adjourn was made by Ms. Reid, and it was seconded by Mr. Jones. The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Liles at 7:29 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Anita McMillan Planning Commission Secretary