MRAC's July 23, 2001 Letter of Appeal to Amelia McCulley
Below is the letter from MRAC organizing committee members Thomas Hutchinson and Christopher Hyland appealing Amelia McCulley's zoning determination related to the Faulconer Construction Company site plan. This appeal was filed with the county by hand on July 23, 2001. Her determination states the Faulconer plan is allowed by right within the light industrial district at Ivy Business Park.
July 23, 2001
Amelia G. McCulley
Zoning Administrator
County of Albemarle
Department of Building Code & Zoning Services
401 McIntire Road, Room 223
Charlottesville, VA 22902-4596
Dear Ms. McCulley:
This letter and attached appeal application form constitute a formal appeal of your June 26, 2001 "official Determination of Use" related to the Faulconer Construction Company's proposed use of the 27.37 acre parcel of land in the Ivy Business Park (TM 58, Parcel 37) currently zoned light industrial (LI). We hereby file this appeal as joint applicants and abutting land owners and also as members of the Morgantown Road Action Committee (MRAC) organizing committee. The June 26, 2001 determination should be rescinded and a stay should take effect on all proceedings related to the County's review of the Faulconer site plan, until this appeal is heard by the Board of Zoning Appeals, because your determination was issued prior to completion of County staff's review of even a preliminary site plan and in the absence of a certified engineer's report as required under Albemarle County Code Section 4.14.18.
Faulconer Construction Company requested suspension of the review of their preliminary site plan on May 23, 2001 and that review was suspended by County staff at the time of your determination. Without the certified engineer's report and a final site plan reviewed by the County, a determination that Faulconer's future operations would be "typical" of a light industrial contractor's office is based solely on conjecture. The purpose and intent of Albemarle's zoning ordinance (Code Section 1.4 to 1.6) clearly requires a more comprehensive review by the Zoning Administrator.
In the absence of the comprehensive review of a final site plan and certified engineer's report, the Zoning Administrator cannot adequately assess the requirements for public safety (Code Section 26.12 site planning, adverse influences), off-site traffic impact (Code Section 26.12.1 vehicular access), industrial district performance standards (Code Section 4.14) and special permit requirements, all of which apply to Faulconer Construction's preliminary site plan. As such, it is impossible to know if Faulconer's activities would be allowed by right within the light industrial district and the County cannot at this time ensure the "protection of surrounding areas from adverse influences within the district" as required in Code Section 26.12.
With respect to vehicular access (Code Section 26.12.1), the County has made no effort to evaluate whether Faulconer's activities would present "minimum hazards to vehicular and pedestrian traffic." Further, the VDOT has said it will not assess impacts to roads off-site as part of the site plan review. Thus it falls on the County, as provided in the zoning regulations, to ensure that "pavement widths and strengths of both internal and external roads shall be adequate to accommodate projected traffic generated from the district."
Finally, the performance standards (Code Section 4.14) for industrial districts are not discussed at all in your determination. For past occupants at the Ivy Business Park (e.g. Smith Time, Inc.), these seven performance standards have been reviewed and assessed as part of the issuance of a zoning compliance clearance. This precedent and the zoning ordinances documented above should all be followed in the review of the Faulconer Construction Company's site plan. Until such a review is completed, we hereby request that your June 26, 2001 determination be rescinded immediately.
We reserve the right to raise additional matters inasmuch as the June 26, 2001 determination was not made available to the undersigned until July 17, 2001, nine days before expiration of the appeal period.
Sincerely yours,
Thomas E. Hutchinson, Christopher V. Hyland,
individually and for the MRAC individually and for the MRAC
cc: Albemarle County Board of Zoning Appeals
Sally Thomas, Albemarle County Board of Supervisors
Charles Ward, Chairman, Albemarle County School Board
Kevin Castner, Division Superintendent, Albemarle County Schools
David Rogers, Principal, Murray Elementary
Encl: County of Albemarle Zoning Appeal Application
Supporting materials form Faulconer Construction's web site
