Town Planning Commission wrestles with Holloway Subdivision Approval/Denial fallout after Town Manager releases report

Wednesday’s regular Front Royal Planning Commission was supposed to include a discussion of a completed report requested by the Planning Commission at its September 15 meeting, prior to its public release. Instead, the commissioners puzzled over several dated versions of the report crafted by Town Attorney Douglas W. Napier. The request was for the “Planning Director, or designee, to investigate and determine the facts surrounding the circumvention of the subdivision ordinance regarding Minor Subdivision application FRSUB2852-2021”, submitted by Mayor Holloway’s construction company. Earlier Royal Examiner reporting has revealed that the town attorney was asked to complete the report rather than the planning director, who works for the Town Manager.

Town Attorney Douglas Napier studies the texts of competing versions of the Planning Commission’s requested report. At one point Mr. Napier retreated to his office to try to find a missing version of the report from October 21, which includes corrections to the version released by the Town Manager. Royal Examiner Photos by Stephen Sill

In an unusual turn of events, just hours before the Planning Commission meeting, the Town released an earlier version of the report, accompanied by a statement from Town’s Public Information Officer (who knew we had one?) Joanne Williams. In this statement, the Town was oddly ambivalent about the report it was releasing, characterizing it as concluding “there was no wrongdoing by the Town Manager, Administration, staff, or Holloway Construction. While it appeared that more time could have been taken to review requests, the findings indicated that the mayor’s company was not given priority over other projects.”

The text of the report included with the Town press release is somewhat at variance with the language of the press release itself, since it gives a specific example of “at least Implicit pressure” for the interim planning director to sign the re-subdivision plat as soon as it was presented to him. The report goes on to say that “As a result, correct Town Code Procedures were not followed …”

The report attached to the press release further states:

“In the facts set out here, it became clear that there was a desire and pressure for much faster than usual land-use decision approval. This is understandable that a builder would want this.

However, when dealing with complex land use issues, this, in turn, cause significant mistakes being made by Town staff, in the form of approval of a re-subdivision plat and issuance of zoning permits that should not have happened when it did, before it should have, and without the required issuance of a special exception, had those mistakes not been caught after the mistakes were made (grammar in context). Had those mistakes not been caught, the title to those lots would have been bad because the private street accessing the subdivision lots would not have been legal. To Town staff, this rush to approval was seemingly done to please the applicant, even in the absence of any overt pressure having been exerted by the applicant.”

The commissioners were at pains to point out that Planning Director Lauren Kopishke, who took her position after the events at issue had occurred, was really the hero of the piece and prevented a lot of future heartache for the Applicant and the Town. Several commissioners shared their hope that she would get credit for her vigilance.

Flanked by its planning director, left, and clerk, far right, Front Royal’s Planning Commission wrestled with which of five dated versions of its requested report on the Holloway Construction LLC approval process was really the final draft submitted by the town attorney. So, action on approval of the document was delayed until that could be established.

The Commission eventually agreed to defer action on the report until it is received in its final verified form; can be discussed at a work session, and targeted for approval at the regular December meeting. Commissioner Merchant commended the Planning Staff and Town Attorney Napier for their good work on the report. This reporter wonders whether the final report will be an exact copy of that released by the town. Time will tell.

Other business

In other business, the Commission was presented with the FY 2022-2027 Draft Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The plan covers capital improvements to the town infrastructure and is not so much part of the budget preparation process, but it can help prioritize large expenditures in harmony with the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. Not all items end up in any one year’s budget. The commissioners asked several questions about the commission’s role in developing the CIP. Planning Director Kopishke responded that the commission’s review role helps make sure that items identified in the CIP are also in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan, which is currently under development. The commission voted to table further review and discussion of the draft CIP until its December work session and regular meeting.

The commission also took a first look at a circulating draft of a new ordinance governing short-term tourist rentals in town. The County developed an ordinance and has been approving short-term tourist rentals in the county, so Planning Director Kopishke used the County’s ordinance as a starting point for such a Town ordinance proposal. The Town currently has no such mechanism, so technically facilities like AirB&B and VRBO in the town limits are not operating legally by a Town code, Director Kopishke pointed out. The commission will take up the draft ordinance at its December meeting, and meanwhile, the planning staff will review surrounding communities’ regulatory mechanisms for this phenomenon.

Watch the Town of Front Royal Planning Commission meeting here.

Town Administration beats Planning Commission to punch – releases report on Holloway LLC’s subdivision approval process Wednesday afternoon