Supervisors traverse lengthy public hearing agenda, seem confused on management plan aspect of short-term rental CUP process

At its recently instituted third meeting of the month, this one on June 27, added to tackle additional Public Hearings driven largely by Short-Term Tourist Rental Conditional Use Permit requests, the Warren County Board of Supervisors faced 11 public hearings, 9 of which were, in fact, short-term rental permitting requests.

The board also saw a Consent Agenda of 9 items, which it approved minus one item removed near the meeting’s 6 p.m. outset — a Festival Permit Request of the Warren County Fair Association. Six of the remaining eight items were authorizations to advertise short-term tourist rental permitting applications for upcoming public hearings. On a motion by Walt Mabe, seconded by Jay Butler, the Consent Agenda was approved by a unanimous vote.

In the formerly routine matter of approving monthly departmental “Accounts,” South River Supervisor Cheryl Cullers continued her string of “no” votes based on what she perceives as departmental failures to adequately describe line item appropriation submissions. Despite her concerns, on a motion by Mr. Mabe, seconded by Mr. Butler, the Approval of Accounts passed by a 4-1 vote.

Chase Lenz – Chase Lenz, Zoning Administrator, and Matt Wendling, Planning Director, present information to the Board concerning short-term rental applications.

As to the public hearings of June 27, the results were as follows in the order in which they were presented:

Public Hearings

1. Public Hearing – Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-01, Mary Francis Jimenez & Zach Kramer for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 2034 Smith Run Road in the South River District – After a staff summary by Zoning Administrator Chase Lenz and one adjoining neighbor speaking in favor of the permitting, on a motion by Mr. Mabe, seconded by Delores Oates, the CUP was approved unanimously.
2. Public Hearing – Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-02, Roman Semenov for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 259 Cashmere Court in the Skyland Estates section of the Happy Creek District. Zoning Administrator Lenz again summarized the application, pointing out that after their public hearing, the planning commission voted 3-1 to recommend denial. The board heard from the applicant at length regarding questions about his plan, including submission of a management plan. One other public hearing speaker appeared, a representative of the Skyland States subdivision. He expressed opposition to the permitting as presented, prominently citing the absence of a management plan at this point.

This was the meeting’s first reference to exactly when and how a management plan for short-term rentals is required by county code in the approval process. Staff seemed to indicate that the existing code required one for planning staff review prior to even a board-approved operation being authorized to begin acting on that received approval. After some discussion with staff, Mr. Mabe made a motion to table the matter until a management plan is submitted by the applicant for review. Following a second by Mr. Butler, the board voted unanimously to table a decision pending review of the as yet un-submitted management plan.

1. Public Hearing – Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-03, Benjamin & Dana Straub for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 91 Present Way in the South River District. After Zoning Administrator Lenz summarized the application, the board had a brief question and answer with Mr. Straub. There were no other speakers, and on a motion by Ms. Oates, seconded by Mr. Butler, the CUP application was unanimously approved.
2. Public Hearing – Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-04, Kemandri Govender for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 128 Orchard Lagoon Drive, again in the Skyland Estates subdivision of the Happy Creek District. Zoning Administrator Lenz again summarized the application, after which the board heard from the applicant. She explained that the property is her primary residence, and as stated in the staff summary, she only wishes to list the home for short-term rental while traveling for her job, an estimated 4 to 6 days a month. There were no other speakers at the public hearing. On a motion by Mr. Butler, seconded by Ms. Oates, the board unanimously approved the permitting.
3. Public Hearing – Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-05, Roberto Rodriguez & Gretchen Wagner for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 1820 Gooney Manor Loop in the South River District. Following Zoning Administrator Lenz’s summary, the applicants responded to questions, clarifying the listing of them as applicants but not the owners as a result of their purchase of the property as not having been finalized when the permitting application was filed, so the builder was listed as the owner prior to transferring ownership to the couple. As a teacher at Alexandria City High School, Ms. Wagner explained they would use the property as a personal residence more often during the summer when she would be off work. On a motion by Mr. Butler, seconded by Mr. Mabe, the permitting was approved unanimously.
4. Public Hearing – Z2023-05-01 Zoning Text Amendment – An ordinance to amend Warren County Code Section 180-63G Modification of conditions and permitted uses to amend the language identifying the application fee for a conditional use permit modification from “…of $75″ to …” Zoning Administrator Lenz summarized the proposed adjustment of the fee schedule to a staff-suggested $250. Responding to Mr. Mabe’s question, Planning Director Matt Wendling said the CUP application fee had been implemented in 2003, with some adjustments the following year. Since then, no hike to cover increasing departmental costs had been implemented, Wendling told the board. No one spoke at the public hearing. With that information in hand and no public push-back to the suggested rate increase, on a motion by Mr. Butler, the board unanimously approved the adjusted fee schedule, apparently to the staff-suggested level.
5. Public Hearing- Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-06, Barbara J. Hessler for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 2930 Long Meadow Road in the Fields of the Valley subdivision in the North River District. Planning Director Wendling presented this application summary, noting the applicant planned to live at the three-bedroom property while offering the home and its two other bedrooms to short-term renters. When questions arose about a property management plan, it was established that at least one or two, according to the applicant, had been submitted. In a subsequent discussion, it was observed that with the owner/applicant living on-site during rentals, essentially, they would be “the property management plan.” On a motion by Ms. Oates, seconded by Mr. Mabe, the permitting was unanimously approved.
6. Public Hearing- Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-07, Frank O’Reilly for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 320 Old Barn Lane in the Ellen E. Hoskins Family Farm subdivision in the Shenandoah District. Following Planning Director Wendling’s summary, no one addressed the board, and on a motion by Mr. Mabe, seconded by Butler, the permitting was unanimously approved.

About those short-term rental management plans

2015. Public Hearing – Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-08- Yesl Cho for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 3744 Browntown Road in the Plantation Pines subdivision in the South River District. Planning Director Wendling noted, as reported in the staff summary: “The applicant is requesting a conditional use permit for a short-term tourist rental for the property her parents purchased in February of 2015. The owner would like to make the property available for short-term lodging for visitors of the Warren County area while they live in the lower level of the home and rent out the upper level in order to offset the costs of home ownership. The applicant will manage the property personally as the Property Manager on behalf of her parents.” The applicant addressed the board, noting that her parents “retired to Front Royal eight years ago,” and she would be the point of contact for the rentals and the property manager, with hospitality and rental experience in her background and living only 20 minutes from her parents’ home.

However, after hearing from the same Skyland States subdivision representative who spoke at the earlier public hearing that had been tabled due to the lack of a management plan, despite being assured by both County Administrator Ed Daley and Planning Director Wendling that submission prior to final authorization to begin renting was an implied part of the existing process, on Mr. Mabe’s motion, seconded by Mr. Butler, the board unanimously “tabled” action until a management plan had been submitted.

The applicant said she had been unaware one was expected by the public hearing and promised to submit it shortly. In response to a question from Ms. Cullers about delaying approval for a full month, Planning Director Wendling said with the public hearing held and closed, a vote of approval could be slated for the next meeting, even as part of the Consent Agenda.

1. Public Hearing – Conditional Use Permit 2023-04-09 – Shelly Cook for a Short-Term Tourist Rental at 137 Lee Burke Road in the J&T Smith subdivision in the Fork District. – Planning Director Wendling summarized the application as part of Ms. Cook’s multi-use Rural Events Facility connected to her winery property that will eventually have 20 one-bedroom short-term rental lodging units planned for the Agro-tourism facility. The applicant spoke and began by expressing concern that the board seemed not to be complying with its ordinance directions as far as, at which point, a property management plan for short-term tourist rentals was required to be submitted. That observation echoed what the planning director and county administrator had attempted to clarify to the board earlier. Following the applicant’s comments, there were no other speakers to her application. On a motion by Mr. Butler, the board unanimously approved her permitting application.
2. Public Hearing – Planning, Zoning, and GIS Department Fees – An ordinance changing certain zoning and subdivision fees as authorized by Virginia Code 15.2-2286(A)(6) and 15.2-2241(A)(9). These fee changes will include fees for Board of Supervisor planning and GIS-related fees. The specific zoning and subdivision fees for which a change is proposed and the dollar amount of the increased fee are shown in the attached table. – Planning Director Wendling noted that, like the earlier ordinance amendment on a hike on application fees for conditional use permit, this lengthy list of fees was in a similar situation of not having been raised to cover increasing costs for some time. There were no speakers at the public hearing, and on a motion by Ms. Cullers, seconded by Mr. Butler, the board unanimously authorized adoption of the revised schedule for Planning, Zoning, and GIS fees.

With no other new business on the agenda, the meeting adjourned an hour-and-35 minutes after its 6 p.m. start. See all or selected discussions in the  County video.