JCC Comp Plan 'A Tool,' and Some Commissioners Vote to Use It

By Amber Lester Friday, May 07, 2010

The James City County Planning Commission approved an amended proposal to extend county sewer and water outside the Primary Service Area at its Wednesday meeting.

The decision came six months after the Board of Supervisors approved a new comprehensive plan that included the Primary Service Area as a growth management tool. The commission’s hour-and-a-half debate focused on whether the commission should defy its new comprehensive plan. The decision split the board 4-2, with Richard Krapf and Joe Poole dissenting. Al Woods was absent.

Lennar’s first proposal to expand its Colonial Heritage Deer Lake development outside the PSA was approved by the commission 4-3 on April 7. The original plan would have added 50 townhomes in a residential cluster, as opposed to a rural cluster plan previously approved by the commission. The townhomes were intended to provide workforce housing, and would have been accessed off Jolly Pond Road.

The commission requested Lennar make the proposed development age-restricted like the rest of its community. That necessitated several other changes, including altered proffers and rezoning requests.

In its new application, Lennar removed the entrance from Jolly Pond Road, where traffic is expected to increase when two new schools open in the fall. The first application called for the area to be rezoned to R-2 General Residential, but private streets are not allowed under that zoning ordinance. The revised application requests Mixed-Use zoning, which allows private streets.

Lennar also withdrew proffers for schools and for parks and recreation, instead offering to construct a trail on its grounds. Proffers are voluntary, but the Board of Supervisors adopted a cash proffer policy that suggests age-restricted developments are not exempt from offering proffers for schools, according to planning department staff.

For a second time, planning staff recommended the denial of the proposal because it conflicts with the Comprehensive Plan. Also, the staff argued Lennar’s offer of 90 acres of conservation lands was not a significant net gain in acreage. Scott Thomas, director of the county’s environmental division, told the commission that between reconfiguration of lands and enhanced buffers, the offer of 90 acres equaled a net gain of eight acres for the county.

In a tense question-and-answer period, commissioners countered many of planning staff’s arguments for why they recommended denial. Jack Fraley argued the residential cluster was better environmentally because it had, in his opinion, a better stormwater plan. Later, commissioner Reese Peck asked senior planner Jason Purse to explain why the planners recommended denial for a neighborhood that is just outside the PSA. Peck argued that with two new schools, a major sports complex, an open space park, a recycling center and a police station all located nearby, the public facilities are already in the neighborhood.

“I don’t think planning would ever approve growth outside the PSA regardless of what happened in the past,” Purse said.

In a public hearing, four citizens voiced opposition to the proposal. New resident Jacob Hostetter said workforce housing is needed, and didn’t understand why the commission seemed to be ignoring staff. “Staff has been working hard to try to follow the guidelines and rules and expectations of the community, and many of the questions coming from you folks seem to be against them,” he said.

Sarah Kadec, of Hunters Ridge, said it was only reasonable for citizens to expect the commission to support its own comprehensive plan. “You have no choice,” she said. “You cannot approve this application to extend the PSA without saying to the public you represent it no longer matters.”

Commissioner Joe Poole agreed with the speakers, saying the application “has gone from bad to worse.” He warned it could set a dangerous precedent to approve the extension of public water and sewer; Purse confirmed another developer has inquired about extending the same services since the April 7 meeting.

Chris Henderson disagreed, saying the fact people have inquired about extending services had no bearing on the decision before the commission. “I look at this as part of a land use case as part of a master plan,” he said.

Before voting, commissioner Reese Peck told the audience, “The PSA is not a line; it’s not something to make us feel good. The Comp Plan says it’s a growth plan tool. That’s it…it’s a tool.”