Supes Discuss Mixed Use, Approve Cell Tower

Thursday, September 16, 2010

At their Tuesday evening meeting, James City County supervisors discussed concerns over a part of the development approval process, and they approved a cell tower and a new fast food restaurant.

Chairman Jim Kennedy asked that the board issues and directives portion of the meeting, which usually happens at the end when nearly everyone in the audience has gone home, be moved to the beginning in order to let folks know about issues that are important to supervisors.

One issue the board talked about was the development approval process, specifically the ability of developers to get a project approved only to have the financial projections be completely wrong (and therefore the plan flounders or changes).

Kennedy brought up a mixed-use development from years ago that offered a rosier picture of financial projections than what actually came to be. He suggested the process be altered to make it not as easy for things to change drastically (especially financially) without more discussion.

Supervisor John McGlennon suggested the discussion should be about the mixed-use ordinance, and that he was struck by a similar concern when driving by a residential development recently where the price of homes was significantly lower than what the developer had told the county to expect.

He cautioned that “when we accept a proposal… we are taking chances” that things won’t go as planned.

Supervisor Mary Jones argued that “you’ve got a free market” in which some businesses succeed and some don’t, and that mixed use ordinances tell developers what uses are okay and which aren’t, so supervisors will know what kinds of uses to expect without surprises.

Kennedy argued that more fiscal impact analysis needs to be done, and supervisors agreed to discuss the topic further in the future.

Other Business

Supervisors unanimously approved a revised cell tower application for Ingram Road. The planning commission had previously denied the application because the tower would be too visible according to balloon tests, but the applicant moved the proposed tower to a different location on the property from which it would be significantly less visible.

The applicant asked the county to reduce the buffer from the required 100 feet down to 50 feet because the property owner wanted to be able to develop his land in the future and this would limit what he could do.

Only Supervisor Bruce Goodson agreed that increasing the buffer would be a good idea, because the current buildings did an effective job of screening, he said.

The applicant said there weren’t significant trees in the extra 50 feet to block the tower, and that ordinance said the screen had to be around the tower base.

Planning Director Alan Murphy countered that screening could be anywhere near the tower and that the owner of the property would have to apply to get a building added to the property and could do so if he followed current county guidelines (which likely wouldn’t allow for more buildings on the lot).

Supervisors approved the tower unanimously, with the 100-foot buffer maintained.

Supervisors also unanimously approved a fast-food barbecue restaurant at the location of the former Spray King Truck Wash on Pocahontas Trail without much discussion.

The applicant pointed out that this was a redevelopment of a closed business and would look nicer as well as decrease the amount of pervious pavement in the area.