At tonight’s meeting of the
Albemarle County Planning Commission
, the Biscuit Run public hearing previously scheduled for February 27th, was postponed one month to Tuesday, March 27th. Steve Blaine, the attorney representing Forest Lodge LLC, asked for and received a unanimous deferral to the new date with the expectation that it would allow more time for the Planning Commission to review numerous important issues before their vote on the rezoning request.
Planning Commissioner
William Edgerton
distributed a memo
to his colleagues outlining twelve specific issues that he wanted to see addressed before he could offer a “reasoned recommendation” to the Board of Supervisors on whether to proceed with the rezoning. Mr. Blaine agreed that these points should be assessed. On at least one of those items, the adequacy of sewer connections, the Commissioners were told that the issue could not be resolved until Fall 2007. The staff report reviewed this evening indicated that, in a January 24, 2007 letter, the Albemarle County Service Authority (ACSA) had determined that the Biscuit Run Interceptor “doesn’t have sufficient capacity for the proposed rezoning.”
Mr. Blaine indicated he was looking for a reasonable schedule of review and that he did not intend to bypass the Planning Commission to have the request reviewed immediately by the Board of Supervisors (i.e. if it was appealed on a rejection). The County’s Director of Planning, Wayne Cilimberg, suggested a compromise where the Commission would essentially review the plan submitted in December 2006 with references to new documents provided by the applicant addressing the matters reviewed and negotiated over the past couple of months, Mr. Blaine was eager to not have to resubmit an entirely new proposal after each round of feedback from the work sessions. That compromise was agreeable to the Commission and Mr. Blaine.
On the evening of February 27th, the County Planning Commission will have another work session, but without public feedback. The public will have an opportunity to provide input at the public hearing on March 27th. The development will still have to be reviewed by the Board of Supervisors.
Brian Wheeler
