Town ponders Sayre property subdivision proffers and Dynamic Life text amendment request for R-3 cemetery zoning by SUP

At a work session the evening of April 10th, the Front Royal Town Council got two planning staff recommendations for approval of first, a rezoning request on existing town zoning maps for a 43.9-acre (or 44.138, take you pick of presentations) parcel now earmarked for development of a 128-lot subdivision (3.03 units per acre) on the sprawling home property of Tom and Carla Sayre. The request is for a change from “Estate Residential District, R-E, to Residential District R-1A from NVR, Inc/Richard Lanham, the potential developer of the Saddle Crest subdivision; and second, for a “Text Amendment to Town Code Chapter 175 to Permit the Creation of a Cemetery in the R-3 Zoning District with a Special Use Permit (SUP) Application.” The latter item is related to the request from Dynamic Life Praise and Worship Center to facilitate the burial of its late minister and co-founder Pastor W. Carlton Rogers on the property.

There were questions from council on the long-term implications of both recommendations. On the latter matter, while it seems the current request is focused on the burial of one person, Pastor Rogers, on what was illustrated as 0.01 acres (one-hundredth of an acre) on the church’s extensive property, are there plans to expand an approved cemetery to broader parishioner use in the future, and if so to what degree. Council moved action on the requested text amendment to allow cemetery as a use by SUP in the R-3 District to a Special Meeting at 6:30 p.m. on May 1st, to be followed by a regularly scheduled work session.

Graphic accompanying the Dynamic Life cemetery zoning text amendment request allowing cemeteries in R-3 zoning appears to indicate in small light circle the area of a proposed cemetery on 0.01 acre of Dynamic Life’s blue-shaded property. Council wondered if the use is planned for eventual expansion, and to what degree that might be.

On the Sayre-property Saddle Crest subdivision, vehicular access and ongoing issues with railroad blockages of the current sole access point at Happy Creek Road’s intersections with nearby Leach Run Parkway and Shenandoah Shores Road, was a focal point. Discussion indicated an expressed opinion of VDOT (Va. Dpt. of Transportation) that a discussed traffic flyover of the tracks at Leach Run Parkway will never happen here due to various approval criteria, including costs, cited at $35-to-$45 million, and an absence of a significant degree economic development that would be accessed north of the railroad tracks by a flyover there.

That shifted discussion to development of, and potential developer proffers related to, a long-discussed East-West Connector Road linking the Shenandoah Shores area north of the tracks where the Sayre/Saddle Crest project is located, to the north side of downtown Front Royal in the vicinity of 8th Street and the Bing Crosby Stadium-anchored recreational park area.

The planned Saddle Crest subivision on the Sayre property is pictured in yellow-outlined section in upper right-center, above. Below is closer graphic representation of the now proposed 128-unit subdivision with single-family detached homes, three per acre, with some park or recreational area spaces included in the plan.

Another area of concern was whether offered proffers related to impacts on the county’s public school system were adequate. And while Mayor Cockrell, a former school system employee, pointed out the Town is not involved in the management or funding of public schools, it was observed that children within the town do to a great degree use public schools. So, an increase in the number of school-age children within the town limits is a concern for the County-overseen public school system. The proposed proffer is for $3,600 per unit to the Warren County Public School system.

The Saddle Crest discussion ended without council forwarding the requested rezoning to a specific date for action.

Following those discussions and council forwarding five items for inclusion on the April 24 meeting Consent Agenda, Downtown business woman Ellen Aders went to the podium to present an item added to the agenda at the work session’s outset. That was discussion of forwarding a Resolution of Support of an “Explore Main Street” initiative that has a grant application deadline of April 28 approaching. Aders explained a past history of town involvement in similar programs that seemed to eventually fall by the wayside.

Ellen Aders, at podium upper right, explains some time pressure on council passage of a Resolution of Support for a non-profit entity ‘Explore Main Street’ to be created and apply for an enabling grant by April 28. Council scheduled a vote on approval for April 24.

She fielded questions on how the program might interact with the joint tourism efforts the town and county governments have been pushing towards in recent years, as well as describing a positive response from downtown business owners she had approached about a program of this sort’s resurrection. There was also discussion of how the currently described 509-2A involved “public charity” entity might be shifted to the more familiar 501-C3 designation. In general council seemed receptive to a renewed effort to put more focus on the organization and promotion of Front Royal’s Historic Downtown Business District. Council moved a vote on the Resolution of Support to its April 24 meeting, giving Aders four days to complete and submit the associated grant application.

The items forwarded to the April 24 Consent Agenda were: A. Bid for 2022 Manhole Rehabilitation Project; B. Bid for Engineering Services for 8th Street Bridge; C. Task Order for Water Treatment Plant Clearwell Inspection and Evaluation; D. FY23 Budget Amendment for Relocation of Utilities for Rockland Road VDOT Project; and E. Proclamation for Municipal Clerk’s Week; and F. Proclamation for Administrative Professionals Day

Council also discussed items for in inclusion in the next Town-County Liaison Committee meeting, April 20, as well as continuing its discussion of a reworked Liaison Committee framework that would allow both the county and town’s full elected bodies to participate. The advantages and disadvantages of adding what would have to be a joint council/supervisors official meeting were part of the discussion. Council appeared reluctant to add that topic to the April 20 agenda without knowing the county supervisors readiness to discuss it further at this time.

See these discussions in the Town video.