february 8, 2012 public hearing applicant: …...2012/02/08 · from the personal situation of the...

VIRGINIA BEACH FINANCIAL SERVICES / HALLORAN Agenda Item 9

9 February 8, 2012 Public Hearing

APPLICANT:

VIRGINIA BEACH FINANCIAL SERVICES

PROPERTY OWNER:

EDWARD HALLORAN

STAFF PLANNER: Stephen J. White REQUEST: Floodplain Variance to Section 5B of the Site Plan Ordinance, subsection 5B.5.b Regulation of flood fringes and approximated floodplain. ADDRESS / DESCRIPTION: 5241 Princess Anne Road

GPIN: 14666819660000

ELECTION DISTRICT: KEMPSVILLE

SITE SIZE:

AICUZ: Less than 65 dB DNL

The applicant is requesting a variance to the floodplain regulations of the Site Plan Ordinance. The Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC) requires all construction located in a flood hazard area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to comply with specific regulations. The most important requirement being that the Finish Floor Elevation (FFE) of the structure is at or above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE), as determined by FEMA maps. FEMA offers flood insurance to owners of property in and out of these designated flood hazard areas. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) determines the rates for this coverage based on measures taken by participating localities to make structures more resistant to possible flood damage. Accordingly, the City of Virginia Beach Site Plan Ordinance, Section 5B Floodplain Regulations requires the finished floor elevation of structures that are constructed in a designated flood hazard area to be one foot (1’) above the Base Flood Elevation in order to receive a reduced rate for properties within special flood zone areas. Compliance with these requirements is verified by an Elevation Certificate, certified by a registered engineer, and submitted prior to the issuance of the final Certificate of Occupancy. However, due to the possibility of extenuating circumstances stemming from characteristics of a site, a variance process was included with the adoption of the ordinance. The applicant is requesting a variance to Section 5B.5.b since the top of the lowest finish floor does not meet the requirement that it be one-foot (1’) above the BFE. The FFE of the structure is 7.51 feet. The

SUMMARY OF REQUEST


BFE is 7.5 feet. Since Section 5B.5.b requires the FFE to be one-foot (1’) above the FFE, the required elevation for the Finish Floor is 8.5 feet. Accordingly, the FFE is 0.99 feet below the required 8.5 feet; therefore, the applicant is requesting this variance. The following background information is important:

This floodplain variance request is the result of the need to preserve an historic structure, which would have otherwise been destroyed as a result of the Princess Anne Road/Kempsville Road/Witchduck Road CIP Project. The historic building was located at 5233 Princess Anne Road, and was directly in the route of the roadway project. The City worked with the applicant and reached an agreement to relocate the structure to the western side of Lord Dunmore Drive to 5241 Princess Anne Road. The structure was being used for a law office and will be used as a law office and a restaurant in the future at its new location.

The actual physical relocation of the structure, however, had to be accomplished sooner than anticipated due to the City potentially losing funding for the CIP project, as there were specific deadlines that the City had to meet by October 31, 2010. Thus, the City worked with the applicant to quickly move the building to its new site on the opposite side of Lord Dunmore Drive. In August 2010, the applicant had submitted a development site plan to the Department of Planning/DSC for approval of the proposed development of the site. Due to the October 31 deadline, the required reviews and permits were issued allowing the relocation of the structure to proceed. The permit process included the granting of a zoning variance by the Board of Zoning Appeals on July 7, 2010 to allow a 5-foot side yard setback from Lord Dunmore Drive instead of 30 feet as required. Lord Dunmore Drive will eventually be closed as part of the overall CIP Project, which will provide a new intersection of Lord Dunmore Drive and the new Princess Anne Road. Due to the continued need for use of the existing Lord Dunmore Drive, the setback variance was needed prior to the structure being relocated to the current site.

Accordingly, on October 12, 2010, the structure was moved to its new site.

Due, however, to the expedited nature involved in moving the historic structure to meet the deadline, the Finish Floor of the structure was built 0.01 feet above the BFE of 7.50 feet rather than 1-foot above the BFE as required. This error was not discovered until November 2011 during site plan review, when data detailing the elevation level of the site topography was provided in response to review comments provided to the applicant’s engineer.

Moreover, inspections by the Planning Department/Permits and Inspections revealed the same error pertaining to the FFE, and no Certificate of Occupancy will be granted by Permits and Inspections until the error is corrected or a Floodplain Variance is granted.

Although the project does not comply with the Section 5B.5.b of the Site Plan Ordinance, it does comply with regulations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with regard to FEMA’s flood insurance program.

EXISTING LAND USE: Office building (structure subject to this request) and a second office building that was located on the site prior to the historic structure being moved. SURROUNDING LAND USE AND ZONING:

North: Princess Anne Road

North side of Princess Anne Road, religious use / R-10 Residential District (Historic Kempsville Overlay District)

South: Tributary of Elizabeth River

LAND USE AND PLAN INFORMATION


South side of the tributary, single-family residential / R-10 Residential District

East: Lord Dunmore Drive

East side of Lord Dunmore Drive, office building / B-1A Limited Community Business District (Historic Kempsville Overlay District) [NOTE: site will be combined with subject property upon

future closure of this portion of Lord Dunmore Drive] West: Tributary of Elizabeth River

West side of the tributary, retail commercial / B-2 Community Business District

NATURAL RESOURCE AND CULTURAL FEATURES:

The site has been previously developed; however, due to the new development occurring and planned for the site, a site plan has been submitted to the Development Services Center for review. The review of that plan includes requirements for consistency with the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Ordinance, as the area of the site adjacent to the tributary of the Elizabeth River is within the Resource Protection Area. The site is also located within the area of the 18th century village of Kempes Landing. Objects of historic value discovered during land disturbance on the site are preserved for study to the greatest extent possible.

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN: The Comprehensive Plan designates the Historic Kempsville Area as Suburban Focus Area (SFA) 3. Suburban Focus Areas are designated places within the Suburban Area where there are “opportunities to reinforce or revitalize certain areas by providing compatible land use guidance or recommendations to improve the quality of the land use existing on certain suburban tracts. The purpose of Suburban Focus Areas is to offer guidance to advance these objectives,” (p. 3-4 and 3-5, Policy Document). The guidance for the Historic Kempsville Area is provided in the Historic Kempsville Area Master Plan, adopted by City Council in January 2006, and further adopted by reference as a component of the Comprehensive Plan. The Historic Kempsville Plan outlines the methods needed to implement land use, environmental, transportation, and design improvements to accomplish the desired revitalization of this area. It also provides guidance to leverage public investments to achieve multiple outcomes and create a high quality ‘village’ center. The Plan recommends that the area where the subject site is located be used for mixture of uses within two to three-story structures appropriate to a ‘village’ setting.

IMPACT ON CITY SERVICES

There is no impact on City services related to this request for a variance. Impacts of the development of the site as proposed by the applicant are being addressed through the development site plan process being coordinated by the Planning Department / Development Services Center.

Section 5B.8 of the Site Plan Ordinance states:


Notwithstanding any other provision of this ordinance, the city council may grant such variances from the terms of this section as will not be contrary to the public interest in cases in which the strict application of the provisions of this section would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the use of the subject property; provided, however, that no variance shall be granted unless the city council finds that (1) such variance will not create or result in unacceptable or prohibited increases in flood heights, additional threats to public safety, extraordinary public expense, nuisances, fraud or victimization of the public; (2) the granting of such variance will not be detrimental to other property in the vicinity; (3) the circumstances giving rise to the variance application are not of a general or recurring nature; (4) such circumstances arise from the physical character of the property or from the use or development of adjacent property and not from the personal situation of the applicant; and (5) the granting of such variance will not be in conflict with any ordinance or regulation of the city.

Staff recommends approval of this request with the condition below. Based on events, described in the Summary of Request section of this report, resulting from the need to expedite the permitting process to ensure the preservation of the historic structure, an error was recently discovered pertaining to the Finish Floor Elevation (FFE) of the subject structure. The Finish Floor of the structure was built 0.01 feet above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) of 7.50 feet instead of being 1-foot above the BFE as required, which, in this case, is 8.50 feet. This error was not discovered until November 2011 during site plan review, when data detailing the elevation level of the site topography was provided in response to review comments provided to the applicant’s engineer. Moreover, inspections by the Planning Department/Permits and Inspections revealed the same error pertaining to the FFE, and no Certificate of Occupancy will be granted by Permits and Inspections until the error is corrected or a Floodplain Variance is granted. Staff, upon evaluation of the variance request with regards to the ‘findings’ that City Council must make before granting a variance to the floodplain regulations of the Site Plan Ordinance, recommends approval of this request for a variance to Section 5B.5.b of the Site Plan Ordinance. The request is consistent with the standards provided in Section 5B.8, particularly with regard to 5B.8(c), as the circumstances which ‘gave rise to the variance application’ were necessitated by the need to accommodate the deadlines imposed by a major roadway CIP Project, and thus, are not of a general or recurring nature.

1. This variance is granted for a Finish Floor Elevation (FFE) of 7.51 feet instead of the 8.5 feet as

required by Section 5B.5.b of the City of Virginia Beach Site Plan Ordinance.

EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION

CONDITION


NOTE: Further conditions may be required during the administration of applicable City Ordinances and Standards. Any site plan submitted with this application may require revision during detailed site plan review to meet all applicable City Codes and Standards. All applicable permits required by the City Code, including those administered by the Department of Planning / Development Services Center and Department of Planning / Permits and Inspections Division, and the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, are required before any uses allowed by this Use Permit are valid.

The applicant is encouraged to contact and work with the Crime Prevention Office within the Police Department for crime prevention techniques and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) concepts and strategies as they pertain to this site.


AERIAL OF SITE LOCATION


PROPOSED SITE PLAN


TOP: STRUCTURE ATORIGINAL SITE BOTTOM: STRUCTURE BEING MOVED


TOP: STRUCTURE AFTER MOVE TO NEW LOCATION BOTTOM: STRUCTURE AFTER EXTERIOR FINISHED


DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

february 8, 2012 public hearing applicant: …...2012/02/08 · from the personal situation of the...

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