Despite Planning Commission recommended denial, Town Council “conditionally” approves Mayor’s private street exception

The Front Royal Town Council, minus the Mayor himself, at its regular meeting on September 27th, effectively overruled a recommendation by the Planning Commission to deny approval for a private street to service a new townhouse development for Chris Holloway Construction, Inc. (See the previous story on the Planning Commission action) Site work for the 6-unit construction project at the end of Carter Street had already begun, to the chagrin of neighbors, who had complained to the town Planning Commission that stormwater from the project was dumping mud and water onto their properties on Steele Avenue.

Vice Mayor Lori Cockrill presides while the Front Royal Town Council deliberates whether to grant an exception to allow Mayor Chris Holloway to create a private street to service a townhouse subdivision. Holloway did not attend the meeting.

The private street exception request ran into a bureaucratic snag in the planning process since a site plan and building permits were administratively approved in July and the preliminary site work began before the street extension had been approved. All planned subdivisions are required by town ordinance to have street frontage BEFORE the subdivision plat can be approved and recorded. After that, the site plan is reviewed and approved, then finally building permits are issued and inspections conducted.

The Planning Commission had made its recommendation to the Town Council to deny approval because of the lack of

• – Provision of a turnaround for emergency vehicles

• – An explanation for a proposed street width of 20 feet instead of 40 feet per Code (148-820.N.1.b.5. )

• – Provision of construction plans to see how the proposed private street ties in with existing public streets

• – Applicant’s lack of a provision of Private Deed Restrictions and a Road Maintenance Agreement.

When Vice Mayor Lori Cockrill opened the public hearing for this request, two witnesses addressed the Council. Bill Barnett, a longtime real estate professional and town property owner was supportive of the request, as it provided better traffic flow by connecting two dead-end streets, and improved the neighborhood by creating high-quality housing.

Joe Brogan addressed the Council as the project surveyor to answer any questions the council had and to address the issues that had been raised by the Planning Department staff and Planning Commission. Mr. Brogan provided the council with a historical overview of the project, indicating the lots in question had been created in 1981 and fronted on an unimproved Carter Street. The applicant, Mr. Holloway is attempting to create access for the lots that were created so that they can be developed. Work has been stopped on the project until the proper steps can be completed. Mr. Brogan indicated that the subdivision plat was voluntarily vacated by the applicant while the correct sequence of approvals are done. The concerns identified by the neighboring property owners regarding mud and water runoff from the site have been resolved by maintaining the silt-fence barriers, according to Brogan. Those neighbors did not attend the Council meeting.

Surveyor Joe Brogan explains the history of the Steele Subdivision project to the Front Royal Town Council.

None of the Council members appeared to be opposed to the subdivision creation itself but were more concerned with the process being clearly understood and followed.

Councilman McFadden asked if the Planning Department would issue a written report for the council covering the circumstances of this particular subdivision approval process and how to prevent such situations from happening again. Council and town staff avoided pointing fingers in favor of identifying ways to tighten the process.

In the end, in a partial vindication of the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny approval for specific reasons, the Town Council approved the exception request, contingent upon the applicant meeting the requirements identified by the Planning Department.

See this discussion, and all other council business, in the Town Council Meeting video. That other business, including Special Exception Request for Poe’s River Edge, LLC, a new Warren Avenue Dwelling, and an Ordinance Amendment for the Dusk-to-Dawn Light program will be covered in a forthcoming story.