Planning Commission

City of Petersburg Planning Commission Meeting November 3, 2022 Minutes The City of Petersburg Planning Commission meeting held on Thursday, November 3, 2022, was called to order by the Chair, Mrs. Tammy Alexander, at 6:50 p.m. A roll call was completed by Ms. Michelle Murrills. Members Present: Ms. Tammy Alexander, Chair Ms. Marie Vargo Dr. William Irvin Dr. James Norman Mr. Thomas Harriston Members Absent: Mr. Fenton Bland, Vice Chair Mrs. Chioma Adaku Ms. Candy Taylor Mr. Michael Edwards A Quorum was established by the Chair. Others Present: Mr. Reginald Tabor, Ms. Michelle Murrills, Ms. Sandra Robinson, Mr. Andrew Condlin, and Mr. John Lombardo. Adoption of the Agenda: Chair Alexander called for any changes…Chair Alexander said that the date was wrong and that it needed to be November 1st. Commissioner Hairston moved for the approval of the agenda; Commissioner Vargo seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 1 Minutes: Chair Alexander asked what motion was sent to the City Council about Wagner Road because she did not remember that the motion was denied at the Planning Commission meeting. Chair Alexander asked for a motion to put off the approval of the minutes until the recording could be heard to verify the minutes from the last meeting. Commissioner Vargo made the motion, and Commissioner Irvin seconded to accept the minutes, which was then put forward by Commissioner Hairston and seconded by Commissioner Norman. It was 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. No one chose to speak, and so the Chair closed the public information period. 6. Public Hearings: Chair Alexander read the notice of a public hearing as follows: A. 22-REZ-05: A petition from John Lombardo, lessee, or agent to rezone property from PUD, Planned Unit Development District to B-2, General Commercial District, to be permitted to construct and operate a stand-alone car wash or car washing and detailing operation with accessory vacuum spaces, and similar facilities at property addressed as 3450 South Crater Road, Petersburg, VA. The property is further identified as Tax Parcel #087030815, containing an approximate area of 34,369 sq. ft with a total of 0.0789 acres and having a public street frontage of 195 feet. The subject property is located immediately adjacent to the South Crater Road Shopping Center. Ms. Robinson gave the presentation. This property is located in front of the Walmart shopping center. The property is zoned PUD. Staff was not able to find anything to reject a request like this. There is nothing in the ordinances that excludes car washes. But you do have to be in a B2 or an M1 zone. Plus, there is an overlay for a special use permit. We did one across the street for Flagstop. Tonight they cannot go through with the result unless they get the rezoning as well. They want to request a B-2 classification in order for them to be able to be in the appropriate zoning classification. And then, they need to overlay approval for the special use permit to construct the cash wash. There are conditions for the property, but those are for the special use permit. We are using the same conditions that were used for the one across the street. If this is 2 approved, the applicant will not be able to exceed 150 sq ft in signage. The setback for the structure shall be 100 feet from the center of Crater Road. Chair Alexander then asked the applicant to come up and speak. Mr. Andrew Condlin made the presentation. Mr. Condlin is an attorney, and Mr. John Lombardo, a real estate expert, both representing Mr. Charles Cuthbert. Mr. Condlin and Mr. Lombardo then made a pitch for changing the zoning so that the car wash could go in. They said that they are not looking to change the entrances to the area or anything like that. They also explained how everything went when coming to the car wash. They explained how cars (customers) came in and out of the area and how the building would look. They also showed actual photographs of other ModWash car washes. Chair Alexander then asked if there were any questions from the commissioners. Commissioner Norman asked if there were any problems with the water since there was another car wash right across the street. Mr. Condlin said that there was not because almost 70% of the water that is used is recycled. Commissioner Hairston asked what the staff recommendation was, and Chair Alexander said that they recommended approval, but first, there had to be a public hearing. Commissioner Norman also asked if there was enough business for two car washes side by side, and Mr. Condlin said that they had done their research, and the answer was yes. There was also a question about price…which had not been set yet, but that it would be between $20 and $40 a month. Chair Alexander then clarified that the company had to stay within 150 sq ft for their signage, whether the signage was on the building or a separate entity. Chair Alexander then opened up the public hearing so that the public could speak for or against it. No one was interested in speaking. Commissioner Vargo made a motion to follow the recommendation of the Planning staff to change the zoning from PUD to B-2. Commissioner Hairston seconded it. It passed unanimously. Chair Alexander then read the second notice of public hearing: B. 22-SUP: A petition from John Lombardo, lessee, or agent for a Special Use Permit for the property addressed as 3450 South Crater Road, Petersburg, VA, Tax Parcel #087030815, to permit the construction and operation of a stand-alone car wash or car washing and detailing operation with accessory vacuum spaces, and similar facilities. The subject property is 34,369 sq. ft with a total of 0.0789 acres and has a public street frontage of 195 feet, located immediately adjacent to the South Crater Road Shopping Center. Ms. Robinson explained that it was the overlay district special use permit that was required for the car wash. Applicants checked back in. Ms. Robinson said that the staff’s recommendation is for approval. She also wanted to add that the conditions are for the special use permit. So if this business goes out of business and someone else wants to utilize the property, the special use permit would transfer as long as they agree to follow the staff’s recommendations. Chair Alexander asked the commissioners if they had any questions. Commissioner Irvin asked what the hours would be since, typically, Walmart is 24 hours. 8-8 was the answer. Mr. Condlin 3 said that usually, there would be four employees working at a time, and that was what had worked elsewhere. Ms. Robinson then asked if there were any problems with the conditions that Staff had put forth…specifically the hours put forth by the city of 7-10. They said no. Then Chair Alexander asked if anyone from the public wanted to speak for or against the special permit. As no one answered, she then closed the public portion of the meeting. She then asked for a motion from the commissioners. Commissioner Norman then put forth a motion to accept the staff’s recommendations, seconded by Commissioner Irvin. Commissioner Irvin then asked about when the site plan would be coming out so that he could see more about where the building would be. Director Tabor said that that would be the next step and that once the actual site plan came out, it would have to comply with all city, state, and federal laws, and there would probably be some back and forth on that before the final building, and surrounding area would be built. A vote was then taken, and it was passed unanimously. Chair Alexander then wished them well and said that they would be going on to City Council with a positive recommendation from the Planning Commission. Commissioner Hairston then had to leave. 7. OLD BUSINESS Comprehensive plan update: Mr. Tabor did the presentation. Following the kick-off meeting with City Council on October 4th, the Planning Department has been working closely with the City’s consultants to continue to do the updating. He is wanting the commissioners to look at the questionnaire that he emailed out. He wanted the commissioners to fill it out. The update is required by the code of Virginia. This update is very important. There are many different parts to the plan. Once it is done, all zoning issues will reference the city plan. Once the plan is approved, it must be implemented. The Schedule will be as follows: The kick-off was in October. In November, we will start the public engagement process, and that will continue through Jan 2023. Then starting in March 2023, we will have bi-monthly meetings with the Planning Commission and the consultant to draft the language of the update. The draft will be done then by November 2023, and then around April or May of 2024, we anticipate the update to be done. So we will bring this back to you in the December meeting. The one thing that will need to be done is that the Planning Commission decides on a date that is good for the commission to hold bi-monthly meetings to work on the draft language for the update. You could do the second Tuesday of the month, the fourth Tuesday of the month, or the third Thursday of the month. We will have focus group meetings that will start on November 17th and then we will start back up in January. Commissioner Irvin clarified who would be part of the focus groups. He wanted to verify that the people in the focus groups had already been selected. Mr. Tabor said that the groups would be between 10-20 in size. Commissioner Vargo said that there were many ways that the city was already trying to get more and more stakeholders involved. Mr. Tabor said that this survey would be broadcast to get as 4 much of the public involved as possible. There will be hard copies as well for those who do not do the Internet at the city offices. There will be a new website (which is live now) for all of this. Mr. Tabor wanted to find out from the commissioners if they thought that the previous comprehensive plan was a good fit and if they thought it was something that was useful. Chair Alexander said that it was because the Planning Commission used it to refer back to all the time. She said that others may not realize that it is available and that perhaps they did not find it useful because of that. Mr. Tabor also asked what were the most pressing issues in the City of Petersburg. The commissioners came up with the following issues…education, crime, health disparities, jobs, schools, infrastructure, rental issues, unhealthy city, and blighted homes. He also asked what goals and objectives should the city focus on for the future. Chair Alexander said that if the city could tackle the issues of more business and jobs she thinks that would bring up all the other problems. Commissioner Norman said that he thought that the most important thing to work on was the schools since that is where all the education that would be needed for the careers would start. Plus all the new workers coming in in the future might have kids and would be looking toward the schools. Mr. Tabor then asked what were some of the advantages of being in Petersburg. Chair Alexander mentioned the history here in the area. The old housing stock…even with Walnut Hill coming into being a historical district. Commissioner Norman said that he would like to see Petersburg become a university town because when you think about Petersburg vs all the other burgs in the state (Blacksburg, Williamsburg, Fredricksburg, etc.) they are all university towns and he would like to see Petersburg become one as well; whether through VSU or some other university. 8. NEW BUSINESS Chair Alexander asked if there was any new business or announcements. When the answer was no… Commissioner Irvin then moved to end the meeting at 7:50 p.m. 5