JCC Notebook: Supes Meeting Agenda Packed

By Desiree Parker Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Board of Supervisors has a jam-packed agenda for their Tuesday meeting. View the entire agenda here.The board will meet at 7 p.m. in Building F at the County Government Complex on Mounts Bay Road. Employee Bonuses

One item the board will consider Tuesday is raises for county employees.

County Administrator Robert Middaugh is proposing one-time bonuses of $500 for part-time employees and $1,000 for full-time employees, for a total county expenditure of about $568,000. This money would come out of county surpluses from last year.

Based on a previous discussion at a board work session, three supervisors seemed to support the idea. Read that story here.

Should the Board approve the bonuses, checks would be distributed on Friday, Dec. 16.

Settler’s Market

The board will also open a public hearing on some changes to Settler’s Market.

The half-built mixed-use development was purchased in February by Federal Capital Partners, to be developed in a joint venture with Westmoreland Partners. The property had previously been owned by AIG Baker, which defaulted on its loan and left the four parcels mostly barren save for a row of shops and a spider’s web of streetlights and roads.

The applicant aims to reduce the number of residential units from between 215 and 279 down to 120. Also, the applicant wants to amend design guidelines, remove mixed-use buildings and revise the layout of the residential area.

Though the plan for the area hasn’t changed that much, a rezoning application was needed because proffers were amended. Read more about the project here.

Candle Factory Project

Supervisors are also set to hold a public hearing on the Candle Factory project, one which has had a bumpy road over the years and was deferred several times at the request of the applicant.

Candle Development, LLC, is looking to rezone 64 acres behind where the current Candle Factory shops sit along route 60 in order to allow for a mixed use development which would have about 175 residential units, 30,000 square feet of commercial and office space, and a 90,000-square-foot assisted living facility. The plan first came on the books in 2007, and had some issues to address after the first visit to the planning commission.

The main concerns supervisors had last year when they deferred a decision on the plan had to do with the changes made in the proffers since the approval by the planning commission, whether the creation of an assisted living facility would be assured, and the amount and price of workforce and affordable housing in the development. Read a previous story here.

The applicant is back before the board with several proffer changes, the main one being that it agrees to phase construction so only 87 units can get building permits before the assisted living area has a certificate of occupancy.

Disclosure Policy

The Board will also discuss possibly adopting a disclosure policy.

The Planning Commission adopted a disclosure policy that requires members to disclose external conversations with applicants either in writing or at the meeting an approval is considered.

Supervisor Jim Kennedy wants supervisors to do the same.