Jefferson County Planning Commission Reports


 
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Planning Commission Report September 8 - 22, 2009

The September meetings have dealt almost exclusively with internal matters. The only public action item involved a time extension for Breckenridge East Subdivision. It was simply a precautionary measure. The Applicant wanted to make sure that unforseen administrative delays didn't push approvals and filings past the statutory time allowed. The extension was only for two months.

Internal items were confined to discussion of support and advocacy for the zoning ordinance vote. The county commission and planning commission still seem to have communication issues. The true wishes of both bodies are not being transmitted clearly. There are several reasons.

Our new planning director is trying to improve the situation. She attends both meetings. It isn't easy to determine what the actual wishes are with either group. Each body discusses an issue, each member gives opinions. Rarely is there a consensus message to wrap up any "pleasure of the group" position.Click to Listen

Mystery still surrounds the county commission member that is actually holding the title of liaison. The one person on BOTH bodies that could relay not just motions but the feeling of both groups doesn't. When he does purport to represent a fair reading of position it is generally his position and not necessarily that of either body. It does create difficulty for both the planning commission and the county commission. Surkamp at the PC meeting Click to Listen
Surkamp at the CC meeting Click to Listen

Where was I? Ah yes, advocacy for the zoning vote.

Surkamp posed the question of sending a message to the CC urging them to become active. That created a long discussion of the issue. Commissioners Dunleavy and Maxey were the most outspoken. Dunleavy was specific in stating the new ordinance does a better job of managing growth. Click to Listen Maxey waxed more philosophic. His statement was related to his responsibility as a PC member to "........endorse the new ordinance and lobby for it in the community" Click to Listen. Many PC members have strong opinions about the ordinance itself and levels of support.

Their concensus seemed to be that the CC should come out in favor of the new ordinance. I believe they passed a resolution to that effect on the 22nd.


 

Fred


 
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Report on the Planning Commission Meeting July 14, 2009

There are two items that will be covered from the PC's regular meeting. First is a Final Plat hearing and action on Allstadt's Corner Subdivision. This is located in the area of a Flea Market on Rt. 340 near Harpers Ferry. This application is in a controversial area due to its proximity to Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. The item has been postponed twice. PC President has changed the order of this item. It will start with public comment. This will be followed by applicant statements on the issues raised. Then there will be an opportunity for more public comment. Staff recommendations would be made and the PC members would ask questions and comment throughout.

Public comment was fairly predictable. There wasn't anyone speaking for the project. Opposition was really just a rehearing of what were CIS items. Most comments were anecdotal without any verifiable data. Items included:

Applicant comments covered most items presented in public hearing. Staff comments include the standard statement that all conditions and standards of ordinance are in compliance.

Some PC members seemed to be searching for ways to vote against the project. A lengthy discussion included controversy surrounding the water and sewer lines crossing park property. The water line and wastewater treatment plant got most of the attention.

An executive session was called to discuss options with new PC lawyer Groh.

Two motions ended the agenda item:

Motion (Surkamp) to approve with condition that park service issue permit for the existing waterline crossing, second (Maxey). Motion fails 3-4 (Reynolds, Dailey, Deming, Sidor)

Motion (Reynolds) to approve the final plat, second (Deming) Motion passes 7-0.

The second agenda item of interest was a simple exchange between the PC and their county attorney. It was a series of statements that made one thing clear. The new PC lawyer is viewing the position as an attorney client relationship. He intends to advise the PC on issues at their request. He will also attempt to defend or advocate for any position the PC members choose to take. The correctness of a PC position will not be the over riding factor.


 
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Report on the Planning Commission Meeting, June 9, 2009

It was a meeting with short agenda but many important actions.

There were two key figures absent from the meeting. The newest member of the Planning Commission was not there. Neither was the County Commission representative. Tom Trumble had a previous commitment and surkamp was recovering from a vision correction procedure.

Election of officers... This item was prompted by the resignation of Bob Reynolds as the planning commission President. The election result did have a twist. Dailey was nominated to move from Vice President to President. There were no other nominations. Dailey was elected by consensus. That in itself seemed to be a little unexpected. The office of Vice President became open. Dunleavy nominated Reynolds. The odd part wasn't that there was a nomination of the person that resigned as President but that there was no objection by him. It was a very odd event. Some silence was followed by the nomination of Deming. Reynolds was elected on a 5-2 vote. It was a strange sequence of events.

Item 5 was the first applicant action. It turned out to be a pretty significant event. A request by William H Gordon on behalf of Jane Stone for a variance to extend the final plat process from May 09 to February 2010. There was also a request to reopen the file for Stonecrest Subdivision. It is on Flowing Springs Road at the intersection of Job Corp. (A previous request for time extension for this project had been denied. The file was closed due to time expiration following that action.) There was a presentation by the applicant. The staff report recommended approval. Several factors were discussed by the PC members and applicant. What it came down to was the reason for an extension request. What were the specific items that prevented the final plat from moving forward? There was a good bit of discussion and repetitive questions. It all came down to a literal enforcement of regulations. Specifically the 4 required questions in approving a variance. This particular request seemed to be denied focusing on one of those items. Self imposed hardship. Economic issues and delay due to contract negotiations were not accepted as justification for an extension.

The end result of this action is very serious for all current projects. The line has been drawn on time extensions.

Item 6 was another time extension request. James Gibson for a variance to extend the time for final plat hearing for Allstadt's Corner Subdivision. This is located in the area of the Flea Market on Rt. 340 near Harpers Ferry. This is another item that had been before the PC previously. The original hearing was on the May 26 meeting agenda. The PC held it over due to procedural questions and representations made by Scot Faulkner regarding published notice of the hearing. The delay was to establish the merit of Faulkner's statements regarding date certain scheduling. It was determined by staff that the previous scheduled hearing had been properly noticed. Back to this meeting, the applicant's representative made a statement with several key points. The first was that review had indicated that the meeting was properly noticed and the scheduled public hearing could move forward. That was followed by an explanation that the current request for a delay was to ensure there were no further issues with public notice time requirements. The final portion was to waive the 60 day time limit to a date certain. The new public hearing has been moved out to July.

The remaining agenda items were internal PC items:

Letters regarding the Flowing Springs waste treatment plant proposal and the ever popular Faraway Farms (FAF) legal appeals. It isn't over. The PC is moving ahead with some type of Federal appeal by split vote.

Charles Town has also had a Planning Commission change. Mary Lois Gannon Miller has been appointed to replace Geraldine Willingham on the town planning commission. The approach to future development in town may be modified due to the recent elections.

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Planning Commission Meeting, April 28, 2009

It was a beautiful spring evening. The flowers were at their peak of brilliance. A small gathering of friends and business associates was about....... Wait a minute, that's the wrong story! Where was I? Ah, the fourth Tuesday in April.

The Jefferson County Planning Commission was about to begin its meeting. The venue is a windowless multi purpose foundation for Charles Town's public library. The time, 7 PM. All but one of the eight current planning commission members has arrived. The staff is in place. Many of the professional representatives of agenda applicants are at the rear of the room. The final PC member arrives (Maxey) and the meeting can begin.

Let's start with approval of minutes...... Well actually not. There is a problem so that isn't going to happen.

Citizen Communications is up next. Well, actually not. There is no one wishing to address the group.

Request for postponement. Now we're getting somewhere. 4 through 7 of the agenda requested items are gone or postponed.

4. Declaration of Violation for Russell Fritts, Inc is withdrawn. Whatever the problem was got fixed.

5. Final Plat for A. Bradley Askin minor subdivision is withdrawn.

6. Final Plat for Allstadt's Corner Subdivision postponed to May 26 (No DOH permit)

7. Final Plat for William D. Rinker minor subdivision is postponed to 26 May.

Back to the action items.......

8. Consideration and Vote on the Community Impact Statement (CIS) for Faraway Farms. This item is still going on from the last meeting. You might recall that the meeting ended when two members left and there was no quorum to continue.

Wait a minute..... Maxey makes a motion. He wants to move up item 17. That is his pet agenda item. There is more to the plot. It seems he has already got himself on the County Commission agenda to say that the PC voted to move forward with a grant application entitled Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed study affair. It is to be used in the yet to be approved Mountain Study. The catch is that Dunleavey, Deming and the commissioner from Shepherdstown are going to recuse for item 8. Maxey is afraid that if any of them go home, there may not be a quorum later to address his item. That would be a problem. He is already committed to Thursday's presentation with PC approval not yet given.

Reynolds speaks up that the public items will be taken before PC items. A pretty firm statement was made and reference to expectations that those recusing would return.

The motion fails........

Back to item 8.

A statement is made that the only issue before the group is accept, accept with condition or reject the CIS. There will be no more information discussed. It is at the point of deliberation.

Maxey immediately passes out a prepared motion to accept with conditions. He begins to read.....

The discussion begins. Most of the comments relate to water. The biggest issue being on site capacity and draw down impact to surrounding property. Issue 3 was split in to two items clarifying the separate water issues. That created 5 items.

The vote is 4-1 with Sidor voting no. He raised most of the water availability issues. Most of the members commented in some way or another.

Maxey fires the next motion. Have the PC lawyer (Casimiro) draw up findings of fact and conclusions of law to provide the applicant with a clear understanding of the conditions approved. Casimiro enters the room. His position is that the acceptance and conditions are only advisory but he will draw them up. The vote is 5-0.

This whole thing will make the preliminary plat meeting interesting. The applicant will probably not agree with some of the Redman recommendations. That is where the trouble will begin. Maxey may state that the CIS approval was based on the applicant adopting all 17 recommendations. He may claim that wasn't done and therefore the CIS wasn't accepted. It doesn't make any technical or legal difference but will sway some members of the PC and Public. A pretty good strategy actually.

Let's move along to item 9. Wait a minute. Now the commissioner from Shepherdstown wants to move up item 17. Something about it being a commission priority. I don't know what commission he was talking about but it clearly wasn't this one. Reynolds simply said no.


 

Back to item 9.

A request for consideration by Peter Chakmakian for a proposed amendment to the Jefferson County Subdivision and Land Development Regulations regarding project time extensions.

The proposal was basically to add automatic 6 month or multiples of 6 month extensions to project requirements. The PC members asked a few questions. The focus was on a couple of basic points. The first was that the PC has no interest in any automatic extension. They want to review each extension request individually. The second was how to remove the provision later. Another question was the casual query about what other jurisdictions might be doing on this issue. It was a little half hearted. Probably more curiosity than interest. The commissioner from Shepherdstown also said something about changing the ordinance would somehow creep into the new ordinance. Again, I have no idea what he was talking about. The appointment actually just came to an end.

There is more to the story. Later in the meeting Reynolds admonished temporary planning director Davis for giving Chakmakian the appointment to appear. Reynolds stated that it gave too much credibility to the request. It should have done during public comment like everyone else. The PC will listen to anyone. That doesn't mean they have to take any action. It was just citizen comment. May was the backup with amen comments throughout. The exchange starts at 1:07:35 of part 1 of the webcast.

Back to the meeting........

Reynolds calls the next item (10, Director's report) but they are not going to give up moving item 17 forward. They talk about the grant both pro and con. Seems Maxey and May are the committee moving this thing. It finally ends with a 7-0-1 vote with abstention by Dunleavey to request the grant. The best part were statements that the PC can apply for the grant but a vote to accept the funds might be another matter. Strange group.

The next item was a brief discussion about when the new $85,000 planning director would be available. Jennifer Brockman is scheduled to start on the 26th of May. She will be here for two weeks before leaving on two weeks of personal business. Only time will tell if she is the lady from Philadelphia

That's a wrap.......

Fred

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