The Town of Round Hill held a joint workshop between the Town Council and Planning Commission on Wednesday, March 10, to begin to formulate the Town's response to Richmond American Homes' rezoning application for the proposed Woodgrove Village.

In his opening remarks, Mayor Frank Etro explained that the goals of the workshop were to discuss the comments the Town received at the public input session held March 2 and for the members of the council and planning commission to make their own comments on the application. Three members of the Town Council were present: Mayor Etro, Vice Mayor Mary Anne Graham and Meg Nash. Edgar Ellis, Anne Crouch and Scott Nash represented the Planning Commission.

After this meeting, Mayor Etro plans to draft a preliminary response to present at a second joint workshop, which is scheduled for Monday, March 22. All members of the council and commission will receive copies of that draft prior to the second meeting in order to facilitate discussions at that meeting.

The goal of the March 22 meeting will be a final draft of a letter to be sent to the county. The planning commission has been asked to determine its consensus on the letter at its March 23 meeting; town council will vote on the letter at its meeting on April 1. A list of public comments collected at the March 2 input session will also be included in the Town's formal response.

After Mayor Etro's opening remarks, members of the council and commission discussed the specifics of the application, as well as details and questions about the public's concerns regarding the proposal.

Major issues addressed include the necessity of affordable housing for limited- or fixed-income residents in the Round Hill area;  the need for houses and lots that are of a manageable scale for senior citizens; defining the "fabric" of the Town, including lot sizes, character, uniqueness, and diversity; preserving the floodplain and environment; concerns raised by the fire department; traffic calming along the northern section of Main Street; water and sewer utilities; and permanent open space easements.

The Round Hill Area Management Plan (RHAMP) allows the County to consider rezonings that would bump density up to 1.3 units/acre for development "offering permanent open space easements in addition to adequate road, storm water and utility provisions, sidewalks and pedestrian paths. ... The County recommends that 30% of the total units of a new residential development be directly associated with open space easements located in the Round Hill planning area" (RHAMP, pg. 41).

This 30% open space easement is independent of open space and buffers required in the County Zoning Ordinance and discussed in the application for rezoning. The County Planning Staff has requested that the Town identify parcels it would be interested in seeing preserved as open space if the density bump were allowed. The council and commission members were provided with maps and lists of properties for consideration. They were asked to review these materials in advance of the second workshop.

The RHAMP also allows consideration of a density bump up to 2.5 units/acre for developments that meet all the requirements above and also provide "such facilities which serve the region or the planning area as school sites, park sites, library sites, roads and/or financial assistance to support the creation of such facilities" (RHAMP, pg. 42)

Upon discussion, those present concluded that supporting this density bump would be difficult, since compliance with the requirements of the RHAMP appears to be nearly impossible due to the limited total acreage.

In the discussion that followed, it was determined that there were a number of inaccuracies in Richmond American's application and that the application did not adequately address the requirements of the RHAMP.

Noted inaccuracies include assertion that "capacity is currently available at existing Town facilities" to serve the water and sewer needs of a rezoned development; that the proposed use will have "incremental, albeit marginal impacts on the existing road network"; that "nearby planned or existing schools are adequate to serve the proposed project"; and that the proposed smaller lot sizes "will match the existing fabric of the Round Hill community."

In addition to the open space easement requirement, other issues from the RHAMP that are not addressed in the proposal include specific details on how transportation and pedestrian access would be achieved, how the additional demands on utilities would be met, and how this development would serve as a transition area between the 1/2 acre lots in Town and the 1/4 acre lots of the Villages.

At the end of the meeting, consensus was reached that the application does not comply with the Round Hill Area Management Plan due to the discrepancies and inaccuracies contained therein. The council and commission members present also agreed that if the Town were to consider a bump to a higher density, the applicant must first meet the conditions of the RHAMP and address the issues of permanent open space easements, affordable housing, transportation, town character and transition.

Citizens who wish to further comment on this proposal are encouraged to contact any members of the town council and/or planning commission. They can be emailed as a group using council@roundhillva.org and pc@roundhillva.org, respectively. For individual contact information, see http://www.roundhillva.org/government/council/index.html and http://www.roundhillva.org/government/pc/index.html.