Town Planning Commission considers short-term tourist rentals, zoning for possible data center, asserts responsibility for Comp Plan

The Front Royal Planning Commission, at its regular meeting on May 18th, voted to authorize advertisement for public hearings for its first two special use permits for short-term tourist rentals.

The Commissioners previously reviewed the two applications as the Planning Department continued to iron out the procedures.

In February, the Planning Commission had considered and recommended approval of a draft ordinance that included a clause requiring short-term rental properties in residentially-zoned areas to be owner-occupied. On the way to Town Council enactment on February 28, that requirement disappeared. It remains to be seen whether the cautionary comments by the Planning Commission and also by now-former Councilman Scott Lloyd prior to the Council’s vote to adopt the ordinance as amended play out in the future.

Not surprisingly, one of the first two short-term tourist rental permit requests subject to the new ordinance language was made by a D.C. area investor, Bridget Scanlan of Alexandria, VA. That property is at 108 Virginia Avenue and is zoned residential. The other request was made by a local contractor, Aaron Hike, for the former Trout Drug building at 201 E. Main St. That property is zoned commercial and is in the downtown Historic District.

The consent agenda for the meeting included authorizations to advertise public hearings for those two special use permit requests and an interesting proposed change to the Town’s zoning ordinance. The change adds and defines “Data Centers” as a by-right use of property in the I-2 Industrial Zone.

A use by-right is a use permitted in a zoning district and is therefore not subject to special review and approval by a local government. In the case of the I-2 zone, automobile garages (auto repair) would be considered as a use by-right. Proposed uses other than those listed in the ordinance would require a special use permit. The advantage of the special use permit is that it requires a public hearing before its issuance, so community members get to offer input publicly twice – once to the Planning Commission and once to the Town Council.

The proposed zoning change would allow this new use – a data center – in the Industrial Zone without that check and balance of a public hearing.

The timing of the mystery zoning ordinance change is odd, given that one of the outcomes of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan rewrite is new zoning and subdivision ordinances. According to the Town’s $115,000 contract with Summit Design and Engineering Services, the contractor will begin the rewrite of the existing ordinances in July with the effort, described as the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part, over the next eight months. Making a significant change to the current ordinance before the rewrite leads to the question of why? The Planning Commission has so far not been given a town council resolution asking for the ordinance change, and a review of the Town Council’s public activities doesn’t provide a clue, but the Town’s Planning staff has produced one.

The recruitment of prospective businesses always raises the issue of government transparency (or lack thereof), and the newly-formed Front Royal Economic Development Authority will likely play its cards close to its vest as it negotiates the risky waters of matchmaking with prospective employers. But there is a reason for the processes established by law to provide accountability to the taxpayer. If the community learned one thing from the debacle a few years ago with the Front Royal-Warren County EDA, it is that oversight and consistent adherence to established policy is essential.

Town Planning Commission Chair Daryl merchant muses on the agenda for next month’s commission meeting, which will include a text amendment to the Town’s zoning ordinance to allow data centers as a by-right use in Industrial Zones.

The Regular meeting was exceedingly short – six minutes (a new record!) since there were neither citizen comments nor public hearings, and the Commissioners held a short work session afterward, their second for the month. In the work session, Chairman Merchant distributed the Draft Future Land Use section of the Comprehensive Plan to the commissioners. Merchant reiterated his earlier concerns about “who does what” in the process of rebuilding the Town’s Comprehensive Plan.

While the town has a contractual relationship with the contractor, since the Code of Virginia clearly states that the Planning Commission shall act in an advisory role to the governmental body (Town Council), it would make sense for the commissioners to be consulted about the necessary elements of the plan. Yet so far, the commission has had a relatively minor role in providing edits to parts of the plan, getting some updates on progress, and providing previously completed sections to the contractor. A notable absence from the process has been the establishment of a citizen advisory committee, which the contract statement of work identifies as a component of the process. Previous rewrites of the plan have relied on the advisory committee to keep the final product aligned with community needs. Chairman Merchant said, “It’s sometimes messy, but it works!”

Planning Director Lauryn Kopishke, who was absent from the May 18 meetings, told the Commission in its May 4 work session that a Community Input session is planned for May 20 from 12 noon-2 p.m. in the community room at the Sheriff’s Office, 200 Skyline Vista Drive, and a second event on May 21 at 10 a.m. in the Town Hall lobby, during the annual Wine and Craft Festival held downtown. The planning director has emphasized that maximum exposure to this planning process by the public is the objective of the community input sessions. See separate story here. The finished plan ultimately will then be subject to two public hearings, one provided by the Planning Commission and the other by Town Council.

Click here to watch the Planning Commission meeting.

The next regular Planning Commission Meeting will be held on June 15 at 7 pm.