Planning Commission

City of Petersburg Planning Commission Meeting November 4, 2021 Minutes The City of Petersburg Planning Commission meeting held on Thursday November 4, 2021, virtually was called to order by the Chair, Mrs. Tammy Alexander at 6:09 p.m. A roll call was completed by Ms. Michelle Murrills. Members Present: Ms. Tammy Alexander, Chair Mr. Fenton Bland, Vice Chair Ms. Marie Vargo Mr. Michael Edwards Mr. Thomas Hairston Mr. William Irvin Members Absent: Ms. Candy Taylor Dr. James Norman A Quorum was established by the Chair. Others Present: Mr. Reginald Tabor, Ms. Michelle Murrills, Ms. Sandra Robinson, John Babanoe, Mr. Timothy Brown, Mr. Taiwo Onadipe, and Mr. Gordon Will. Adoption of the Agenda: Chair Alexander called for any changes…there were none Commissioner Edwards moved approval of the agenda; Vice-Chair Bland seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 1 Minutes: Commissioner Edwards moved for the adoption of the Minutes from the October 14, 2021, meeting; Commissioner Vargo seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Public Information Period: Chair Alexander opened the Public Information Period to anyone who wished to speak on an item not on the agenda. Mr. Timothy Brown, 56 Grayson St, I come today to address the noise complaint for next week. What I would like done by the city to get out the word somehow, some way to those that are affected. I feel that the only way that this issue can truly be heard fairly is if restaurant owners and those that sell alcohol are alerted. I was extremely disappointed to have to find out about this meeting on Facebook from a rumor. The city has reached out to us before and I don’t see why they can’t again. So, Tuesday I would like to have all restaurant owners and those that serve alcohol present and I feel that it is your duty to get that done. That is all that I have to say. Public Hearings: Chair Alexander read the notice of a public hearing as follows: 6A. 21-REZ-04: Request by PBFL, LLC represented by C. Burton Cutright to rezone property located at 1220 Harrison Creek Blvd., PID 040030805, and 1255 Harrison Creek Blvd., PID:040030807, from PUD with conditions, to PUD, no restrictions. The prosed rezoning will allow the applicant to construct 52 single-family detached rental homes on 6.26 acres located along Harrison Creek Blvd. between Route 460 and Acqua Luxury Apartments. The parcels have street frontage along Harrison Creek Blvd. of approximately 261.06 feet. Ms. Robinson added that there is one more parcel to be added at 1225 Harrison Creek Blvd, PID:040030807. Ms. Robinson then made the presentation. Several years previous, when Acqua Apartments had started, the planning commission had rezoned the properties to a PUD with conditions for commercial properties. But now the proposal is to eliminate the commercial aspect to allow for more residential units—52. 2 Around this property you have 460 county drive and across the street from this you have Roma’s pizza, the ice cream establishment and there is a nail establishment as well as a barber/hair salon. The property is currently zoned PUD-planned unit development. The site is currently served by water and sewer and no indication has been given by the utilities department that the proposed development would overburden the existing facilities. the property is not in a historical district. In terms of storm water, the storm water manager did not see any problem with the proposal. Statement of Law Article 16, "B-3" Central Commercial District Regulations encompasses the shopping and office core of the central business district. Appropriate uses are the same as for the "B-2" General Commercial District, but with altered off-street parking requirements, in recognition of the difficulty of providing off-street parking for smaller establishments, and because of the relatively small area not included in the district, all points being within convenient walking distance of the boundaries beyond which additional off-street parking should be provided. One of the features of the B-3, District is that parking is exempt, thereby the subject property would not be required to provide off-street parking on the lots. There are several vacant lots near the properties located along Henry and Bank Street which would be a practical means of assisting those owners in encouraging renovations and adaptive reuse of the structures eliminating what was once a hinderance. Properties could also be used for more than just residential but shopkeepers, small art and yoga studios, craft & hobby/gift shops, tea rooms, cafes, bookstores to name a few. These properties are not included in that section of the proposed B-3, district which requires that properties located along the east side of Adams Street are not restricted from having 1st floor dwelling uses. Buildings existing prior to the adoption of this amendment that were built as, or is, a single family detached dwelling shall be permitted by right and not deemed non-conforming. Historic properties located in a local historic district are subject to additional review and approval. Additional requirements may be required. The B-3, Central Commercial District allows by right for residential/apartment usage. Chair Alexander then called for the owner of the property to speak. Mr. John Babanoe, Chesapeake, representing Acqua Apartments, made a presentation to the commission about the new portion that they want the changes made for. With the 10,000 new soldiers that are filtering into Fort Lee, who does not have the room on base for them, the surrounding areas are building new housing for them much fast than the city of Petersburg. So, they want to change the zoning so that they are able to build small single-family homes (that would still be considered rental apartments) to rent out to families from Fort Lee. There would still be a front and a back yard with house which would give it a much homier feeling, but you get the amenities of apartment living. With the pandemic this gives people less common space and allows for a more independent type living. When we originally were designing this many 3 years ago, we had thought to have commercial space, but as we all know, the idea of the strip mall is more in the past. We have spent a lot of money advertising trying to get some commercial places interested in being in our area but there is just no interest and so we are wanting to retool this property in order to help with the housing needs of Petersburg. He then asked if there were any questions. Chair Alexander then asked if the landscaping would all be taken care of by the apartment complex and the answer was yes. It is important that the landscaping will be esthetically pleasing. She also asked if there were any pictures of the cottages. Commissioner Hairston asked how much they would rent for. Mr. Cuthright answered that it would be $1200-$1300 per month and the two bedroom would be closer to $1500 a month. Commissioner Hairston also asked about putting in an electric car plug in…answer is probably. Acqua right now is at average of 97% occupancy right now at about the same cost of rent. Commissioner Edwards then asked Ms. Robinson if anyone had spoken to her in opposition of the proposed changes. She said no…nothing. Not even from the police, fire, etc. Commissioner Edwards then asked about the traffic problems, Ms. Robinson said that she heard nothing back from the appropriate departments. Director Tabor said that there would be more opportunities to check on the different things that might not work with this new development. Commissioner Edwards said that he brought all this up because he, being a bus driver who sometimes drives this route, is worried about the safety aspect of bringing in more people and more usage of the roads in that area. Chair Alexander then asked about staff recommendation. Ms. Robinson said that staff recommends to change the zoning as this is just an amendment to a previous PUD. She believes that this will actually help mitigate some of the issues that Commissioner Edwards is worried about. It is a less intense type of usage. Commissioner Irvin made a motion to approve the recommendations of staff along with the resolution as well. It was seconded by Commissioner Edwards. The vote was taken and unanimously the motion passed. Chair Alexander then moved on the next public hearing 6B. 21-REZ-05: Request to rezone thirteen parcels within the block bounded by Henry Street, 3rd street, East Bank Street, and 4th Street, addressed as 203 Henry St., PID 11200014, 209-211 Henry St, PID: 11200012, 213 Henry St, PID: 11200011, 215 Henry St, PID :11200010, 217 E Bank St, PID: 11200002, 216 E Bank St, PID: 11200003, 222 E Bank St, PID: 11200004, 230 E Bank St, PID: 11200005, 234 E Bank St, PID: 1120000, from M-1, Light Industrial District to B-3, Central Commercial District, to permit residential uses. 4 Ms. Robinson gave this presentation as well. She said that this came about because a property owner wanted to do some renovations on their house and the Planning Department discovered that the properties, which are houses, were zoned M-1 which means that no one can live there unless you have a groundkeeper or something like that. The gentleman who recently bought one of these properties, bought a gutted-out house and thought that he could live in it once the renovations were done, but instead discovered that he could not even though it was a house. It was explained to him that his house would have to be reclassified in order to get the ability to live in it. The category of B-3 was chosen because it seemed to fit best with what the neighborhood was trying to do. The B-3 category also allows for all kinds of other uses as well. The property is in the Centre Hill Historic District. Which means that anything on the outside will have to be approved by Architectural review board. The Property that is on the south side of Henry Street, behind Centre Hill, there used to be an apartment there, but it burned. That these surrounding properties are zoned B-3 and M-1. The B-3 category runs from Old Towne down to Poplar Lawn where Surry Lane is, all the way across to where the Halifax Triangle is, down to Market Street where the fire department is and back down to North Market and Bank Street is. Since the city is the requestor for this change, this is the only presentation. Chair Alexander than asked for who would like to speak in favor of this. The gentleman whose application was denied spoke first. Mr. Taiwo Onadipe, 215 Henry St, he used to live in the lofts next door and always wanted to own one of the houses next-door. When it came up for sale it allowed him the ability to own what he had always wanted. The man that he had bought the property from, his permits got approved but when it came time to modify those permits, then it came out that this building, a house, did no allow anyone to actually live in it because it had been vacant for more than two years. So, he is hoping that by coming to the Planning Commission that this can get resolved. Mr. Gordon Will, 223 N. Jefferson, the property directly across the street from 215 Henry Street. I came to the Planning Commission 40 years ago to get the garage at the end of the street rezoned to general commercial. I just want to reiterate that the housing that is across the street has been used for all of those years as housing and nothing else. And really there has not been a problem of any kind that has put any extra burden on the City (to my knowledge). I think that it will be a good home for that gentleman. I believe that this is a positive thing for the neighborhood. I wanted to make sure that my property was not changing in the zone change. (It is not) Thanks Chair Alexander then closed the public portion of the hearing. Commissioner Irvin then asked a question about the density of the structures on Henry St. How many units are allowed into each home? According to the Planning Department only three are allowed max. He was told that this will be different than downtown as downtown has always been commercial with the upper units being used as storage and this has always been a neighborhood. 5 Commissioner Edwards made a motion to accept staff’s recommendation to include the resolution of the rezoning of the said property. Vice-Chair Bland seconded the motion. The motion then passed unanimously. 7. Old Business: Chair Alexander called for old business, there was none. 8. New business: Chair Alexander then called for new business, there was none. Announcements: Chair Alexander then called for announcements. She then reminded everyone that the next Tuesday night there was going to be another meeting at the Train Station at 7:00. Before the meeting was adjourned, Commissioner Edwards asked Director Tabor to have a press release sent out so that everyone who might have any interest in such a hot button topic would be advised of the next meeting and be able to plan accordingly. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned 7:20 p.m. Next meeting is at 7:00 p.m. on November 9th, in person at the Train Station. 6