On the agenda: Front Royal Planning Commission Meeting — data center (Jan 10)

At a regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the County of Warren held
in the Warren County Government Center Board Room on January 10, 2018:
Present:

Scott Stickley, Chairman; Robert Myers, Vice-Chairman; Lorraine
Smelser; Hugh Henry; Ralph Rinaldi; also present Taryn Logan,
Planning Director; Dan Whitten, County Attorney; Matt Wendling,
Planner; and Cindy Kokernak, Secretary.

Call to Order:
Ms. Logan called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.
Election of Officers:
Ms. Logan asked for nominations for Chairman for the 2018 year.
Mr. Henry nominated Scott Stickley; Mr. Myers and Mr. Rinaldi seconded the
nomination. There were no further nominations and Mr. Stickley was elected as
Chairman by the following vote:
Ayes: Stickley, Myers, Smelser, Henry, and Rinaldi
Ms. Logan asked for nominations for Vice-Chairman for the 2018 year.
Mr. Rinaldi nominated Robert Myers; Ms. Smelser seconded the nomination.
There were no further nominations and Mr. Myers was elected as Vice-Chairman
by the following vote:
Ayes: Stickley, Myers, Smelser, Henry, and Rinaldi
Ms. Logan asked for a nomination for Ms. Cindy Kokernak to serve as Secretary
for the 2018 year.
Ms. Smelser nominated Cindy Kokernak; Mr. Henry seconded the nominations.
There were no further nominations and Ms. Kokernak was elected as Secretary
by the following vote:
Ayes: Stickley, Myers, Smelser, Henry, and Rinaldi
Ms. Logan invited the Planning Commission members to come to the dais and
take their seats.
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Adoption of Agenda:
Chairman Stickley announced the next item on the agenda is to adopt the
agenda. Ms. Smelser moved to adopt the agenda as presented. Mr. Henry
seconded the motion which passed on the following vote:
Ayes: Stickley, Myers, Smelser, Henry, and Rinaldi
Approval of Minutes:
Chairman Stickley stated that the next item is the approval of the work session
minutes and regular meeting minutes of December 13, 2017. On a motion by Ms.
Smelser and seconded by Mr. Myers, the work session minutes and regular
meeting minutes of December 13, 2017 were approved as presented by the
following vote:
Ayes: Stickley, Myers, Smelser, Henry, and Rinaldi
Public Presentations:
Public presentations are limited to issues that are not included on the meeting
agenda. It is intended as an opportunity for the public to give input on relevant
planning issues, and not intended as a question and answer period. Chairman
Stickley asked if anyone wished to come speak at this time. Seeing no one come
forward, the Public Presentation was closed.
Public Hearing:
Z2017-12-01

Michael and Judith Albarelli

Chairman Stickley introduced a request to amend Chapter 180 of the Warren
County Code (Zoning Ordinance) to add a definition of “agricultural event
center”; to add “agricultural event center” as a use allowed by conditional use
permit in the Agricultural (A) zoning district; and to add supplementary
regulations for agricultural event centers.
Ms. Logan shared that Mr. and Mrs. Albarelli are requesting to amend the
Warren County Zoning Ordinance to add “agricultural events center” as a use
allowed by conditional use permit. Staff has written a definition for this use and
proposed supplemental regulations for this use. Mr. and Mrs. Albarelli

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submitted an application to the Planning Department for this use. The applicants
own property at 309 Broad Run Road in Browntown. They would like to begin
hosting gatherings which include company picnics and recreational gatherings,
family reunions, retirement parties, fundraising galas, reception dinners, small
weddings, educational retreat seminars and workshops. They have stated that
ideally they would like to hold 20-30 events per year. The proposed text
amendment would allow agricultural events centers in the Agricultural (A)
zoning district by issuance of a conditional use permit. For the supplemental
regulations, Staff researched other surrounding localities and pulled from their
ordinances for input on the proposed ordinance. This is similar to our Rural
Residential (RR) zoning district which allows rural event facilities. We did make
the minimum acreage requirement fifty (50) acres. Any additional conditions
would be added as part of the conditional use permit process for that particular
property at the time of anyone applying for the use. The Planning Commission is
familiar with our current Agricultural (A) zoning district ordinance and the uses
that we allow by conditional use permit, so this would be added in that. And
there are supplemental regulations as well. Ms. Logan offered to answer any
questions and Mr. and Mrs. Albarelli are here as well.
Someone from the audience asked about a question and answer period.
Ms. Logan clarified that during the Public Hearing questions can be asked. Part
of the Public Hearing process is for Staff not to answer until after everyone is
done speaking. After the Chairman closes the Public Hearing, then Staff and the
Commission will try to address the questions.
Chairman Stickley asked if there were any questions; there were none.
Chairman Stickley opened the Public Hearing. He shared that on this item they
have seventeen people that have signed up to speak. The rules for the Public
Hearing were provided next to the Agenda on the table where you walked in.
Basically, what we are looking at is a three minute time limit for anyone that has
anything to say. To help speed the process along a little bit further, if a previous
speaker has mentioned things that you agree with, then we would just simply
ask that you concur with the previous speaker rather than re-hashing the same
information. If you have additional information to add, then by all means we ask
that you please provide that to us so that we can make our decision from there.
There is a 3-minute time limit for those that are speaking. Ms. Cindy will be
keeping track of the time for us. Chairman Stickley called the first name, Gary
Kushner. Chairman Stickley advised the audience that they should state their
name and address for the record when you come up to speak.

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Mr. Gary Kushner of 1106 Fetchett Road in Browntown said that he didn’t
understand that when you sign up to speak you need to sign up for two different
events, so his testimony here is really on both. The proposed zoning amendment
would specify an agricultural events center as an allowed use; however, the
proposed activities have nothing to do with agriculture. The activities would
include but not be limited to: meetings, weddings, dinners, conferences (as Ms.
Logan mentioned), but not limited to. Agriculture is defined as the practice of
cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock. The proposed
activities do not remotely have anything to do with agriculture. Honestly, these
activities are better termed recreational. Just because the recreation activities
would be held in an outdoor setting does not make them agricultural. Thus, the
zoning is really being adjusted to permit recreational event centers, not
agricultural event centers. Because the “list of activities are not limited to…”
virtually any recreational activity could be permitted under the amendment
change. The amendment also states that the recreational events would typically
be held on a single day, but multi-day events are not excluded. That means that
there really is no limitation on duration. The only real limitation of the zoning
amendment is that fifty or more acres are required and that the recreational
event has to be by invitation or reservation. Since there are many 50-acre parcels
in the County, and certainly the terms invitation or reservation could have
multiple interpretations by different people, it actually opens up the Ag zoning
to possibly any recreational activity. The truth here is that expanding the
activities permitted in the Ag zone would be a monumental mistake. The
amendment language is more porous than restrictive and I cannot envision
modifications that would make it acceptable, because the entire premise of
adding this use in this location is just plain inappropriate. Plus, it is inconsistent
with the Comprehensive Plan. Also, the concept of unintended consequences
should not be ignored. Browntown’s residents came to live here because of its
special natural setting, without pass-thru traffic and commercial activities. Each
knew of the zoning restrictions associated with our property, and Walnut Hill,
LLC, should be required to abide by the existing limitations. Having up to one
hundred participants or more in recreational activities, virtually every weekend,
from May through November, will only diminish the quality of life for those now
calling Browntown “home.” What good is a zoning ordinance if it is easily
changed any time a property owner wants to do something not previously
allowed? Providing a benefit to one at the expense of many couldn’t be more
unjust. I visited the Walnut Hill, LLC, property (SECRETARY: TIME) and it is
impressive. The fact is though that the tens of thousands of dollars have already
been spent to fully develop the site even though zoning approval and conditional
use permit actions had not been previously completed. Also, the proposed
facility has been marketed for many months on a website and on Facebook. Such
investments and actions suggest that the applicants were certain the proposal
would be approved, regardless of the opinions of the people in the community
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and their government representatives, and I find this troubling. (SECRETARY:
TIME HAS BEEN CALLED.)
Chairman Stickley asked Mr. Kushner if he was close to finishing.
Mr. Kushner continued saying that he would finish by asking two simple
questions: Does this proposal provide significant benefit to the neighbors, the
community and Warren County? And, would you support it if you lived in
Browntown? Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Kushner and announced that the next person to
speak is Bonlyn Hawley. Chairman Stickley asked the speaker to please state
their name and address for the record.
Ms. Bonlyn Hawley of 938 Fetchett Road in Browntown stated that she had
nothing more to add to what Mr. Kushner has already stated. She completely
and fully agrees with his statements. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Hawley and announced that the next person to
speak is Brian Wilkinson.
Mr. Brian Wilkinson of 4838 Gooney Manor Loop in Browntown said he lives
about a half mile from this location, but not that far away. He knows the area
very well and has been in the area about just over twenty years. He came here for
the same reason that Mr. Kushner mentioned, which is it’s a very beautiful area
within Warren County and one of the most beautiful parts around the actual
National Park. I think we have a responsibility to take care of that area. That’s the
perspective that he brings in looking at this particular application. He was kind
of pleased when he first heard that there was going to be an agricultural events
center because I like the idea that we can do something agricultural and really
diversify the kind of environment that’s available to us. We need our villages; we
need our rural areas to grow and thrive. But they need to grow and thrive in the
right way. There is nothing agricultural about this occupation I’m afraid. That’s
really my main objection to it. The related objection is that it is written so broadly
that it permits almost any kind of development that you like. You just add the
label to it and then that allows you to do an enormous range of things because it
has words like “but not limited to” and it talks about typically there would be a
1-day event but it’s not limited to a 1-day event. So that’s my main concern here.
The way that this is framed at the moment, I think it opens up to all kinds of
possibilities. This is a beautiful property. I’ve visited as well and I like the people
who own it. I admire what they are doing and I know their intentions are not
simply to make money, but I think we have to think more broadly than that. We
have to think about the implications and what happens when the next person
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comes along and labels their application an agricultural events center, and you’re
sitting up there struggling to figure out “Well, how that actually fit the
definition”…and then you remember and you say, “Oh, yeah. We did allow that
definition to go through, so how then do we prevent this taking place.” I’m
afraid there are other people that might apply for this kind of use who would not
necessarily have the best benefits of the people who live in the areas of
Browntown and support what they need. So, I respectfully request that you turn
down this request. It is difficult for me to figure out a way that you could amend
this that would make it permissible unless you narrow it down in such a way
and find a way to make it agricultural. This is not agricultural. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Wilkinson and announced that the next person to
speak is Crystal Morris.
Ms. Crystal Morris, owner of 136 Broad Run Road, said that she was actually
going to speak on the second item, and she agrees with everything that has been
said here.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Morris and announced that the next person to
speak is Michele Kushner. Chairman Stickley asked her to please state her name
and address for the record.
Ms. Michele Kushner of 1106 Fetchett Road said that first she agrees with all of
her husband’s prior comments. She would like to speak specifically about the
traffic impact in Browntown. The applicant asserts that the effect on the traffic
will be nominal because of the small size events planned and the rural nature of
the road. The venue site supposedly has a designated parking area for forty (40)
vehicles. That would generate eighty (80) vehicle trips per event; add to that,
additional trips for commercial vehicles, caterers, flowers and other support
elements and you’re looking at one hundred vehicles or so per event. The
outdoor events would likely happen from May to November when weather is
more reasonable, and it probably would happen on the weekends. Since many of
the Browntown residents work during the week, they are home to relax and
enjoy their property exactly when most of the events would happen. Part of
enjoying Browntown by its residents is the lack of traffic. Since event traffic
would be concentrated at a start and stop time, there would be literally too many
rush hours…one for the arrival and one for the other departures. There are
twenty-two residents on Fetchett, and if every trip out and back for each one
would generate about forty-four vehicle trips. As such, event traffic would more
than double the traffic that exists during the period. Many residents myself
included now walk and bike on Browntown roads for exercise and to enjoy the
pretty views. Having more vehicles in the community will require residents to be
more cautious, especially since the additional traffic will be people that are not
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familiar with our windy-curvy roads. Event participants would use Browntown
Road, the Gooney Loop and Fetchett Road. All are country roads without
adequate shoulders and lighting. Even the Browntown residents need to
maintain focus to drive safely there. Adding event participants who are
unfamiliar with the roads will surely result in more accidents with property
damage and injuries. Considering that some of the events will be held after dark
and may involve alcohol consumption, it would surely compound this problem.
The bottom line is that adding event traffic to the roads will have a negative
impact on Browntown residents. The community and its residents should not
have to accept that a business can operate in an agricultural area, and I ask you
that you oppose the amendment and the conditional use permit. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Kushner and announced that the next person to
speak is Douglas Hawley. Mr. Hawley stated (from the audience) that he has
nothing to add to the previous speakers and will pass. Chairman Stickley then
said the next speaker is Dean… Chairman Stickley apologized and said he had a
hard time making out the last name. The gentleman approached the podium and
Chairman Stickley asked him to please state his name and address for the record.
Mr. Dean Wieck of 1094 Fetchett Road said he was born and raised in the
country. He spent twenty years in the Tidewater area with the Navy, had enough
of the city and wanted to get back to the country. When he goes out on his porch
right now and has a cup of coffee at night, he can look up and see stars, the
moon…even on a cloudy night it is beautiful. What he hears are owls, coyotes,
bobcats. That’s why he moved to that area…that’s country living. He doesn’t
want the skyline washed out by parking lot lights. He doesn’t want to be kept up
at night when he’s trying to sleep with his window open so he can hear the creek
and not a band playing, people talking, kids yelling. The traffic has already been
mentioned. We’re roughly about the same distance from 340…it’s about nine
miles of road. My wife and I got extremely bored one day going home and
counted…its ninety-three curves in nine miles of road. Again, with the partying,
the drinking, the night, the curves, somebody’s going to die. If you move from
the city out to the country and you assimilate into that country, the community
gains. We pick up another resident that’s going to help out with the work. But
when you move to the country from the city and you want to bring the city with
you, go ahead and stay in the city. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Wieck and announced that the next person to
speak is Michael Albarelli.
Mr. Michael Albarelli of 309 Broad Run Road spoke next. He has been a resident
there since 1986. He commuted back and forth and they also maintained a house
in the city while their kids were growing up and they were working in the city.
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He is separating out the two actions that are going on here for a very good
reason. The whole idea of land owners, regardless of whether they are in a
designated Agricultural (A) district or whether they are in a Rural Residential
(RR) or whether they are trying to maintain a forest, the whole idea of them
having an opportunity to maintain that land and keep it open through ways
other than subdividing, timbering and other typical detrimental activities that
are going on is something I think the Planning Commission should be looking
seriously at, independent of their application. If you look around the state, you
will find that any number of counties and localities have taken action to permit
farms to go ahead and have events going on that will help supplement the
income of those particular farms. And if you look at the number of venues that
exist just in Page County, you’ll find that a whole host of them have to do with
the use of barns and the use of rustic fields and the like for weddings and
receptions and so forth because that’s what people are looking for. How it’s
maintained, how it’s managed, how it’s policed/patrolled, what kinds of
contracts exist to insure that there is no detrimental effects to the community…
that’s something that needs to be addressed. That is something that the
supplemental regulations should insure. In Warren County, I am told by Ms.
Logan that sixty percent (60%) of the land is designated Agricultural (A) district.
Now, what I’ve heard is that anything that goes on in those areas should be
agricultural in nature, but you know that of that 60% of land that’s designated
Agricultural (A) probably only twenty percent (20%) of it or less, according to the
conversation I had with the Planning Staff, is actually being used for agriculture.
So the question I would pose is what’s happening to that land? Is it just sitting
there waiting for developers to gobble it up…(SECRETARY: TIME)…so that’s
why I’m supportive of the text amendment and whatever additional research we
have to do to modify that to make it acceptable to address the broader issues.
Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Albarelli and announced that the next person to
speak is Patricia Comstock.
Ms. Patricia Comstock of 5986 Gooney Manor Loop agrees with all of the points
that have been made but wishes to speak on a more personal impact that this
would have. She is a city girl and always has been all of her life. Her dream was
to someday live in the country. They moved to Browntown four years ago from
Warrenton. Our home in Warrenton was our “dream house”…but due to the
noise from traffic, the machines and the motors from our neighbors with their
lawn equipment, it never really felt like home. We moved to Browntown at a
personal sacrifice because we have a 100-mile round trip to work, but it’s worth
it to come home and to have leisure to be where we are now. I finally live in the
country and I am begging, do not take that away. My husband has a 90-minute
commute each way and it’s worth it because of where we are now. We never
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would have moved here if there had been a business at the end of Gooney Loop.
So, please consider this carefully and deny the petition. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Comstock and announced that the next person to
speak is Fay Moore.
Ms. Fay Moore of Williamsport, Maryland, stated that she is the owner of the
property directly across from the Albarellis. She lives in Maryland, but her
family and now she have been the owners of this property for sixty plus years.
She agrees with the statements that have been made regarding the definition of
agriculture vs. the use that is intended or proposed for this property. There are a
couple of other things that she would like to mention and that is, I don’t know
I’m assuming you’ve been out and looked at the property. The road, as you
know, that would be used for access is a single-lane road. Once you hit the
bottom of that last hill there is one vehicle at a time. There is nothing in this
definition that addresses commercial road access or entrances to accommodate
the kind of traffic that you’re talking about. That’s the potential at full
development for this property or for this kind of event center. One of the things I
had called in and asked about was, “What is an events center? What is an
agricultural events center?” My concern at the time is if we’re talking about
having folks come out with their horse trailers and do fox hunting, if we’re
having people come with their beagles and do beagling events. That’s what
crossed my mind as an agricultural event, not commercial events, which is what
this is. If you’re bringing in picnics, parties, conferences, that kind of
thing…that’s a whole different animal. The other thing I think too is I don’t know
what the tax implications are of this, but if you’re putting in an agricultural event
center, even though it’s got that little agricultural tag on it, what’s happening
there is a commercial activity and the tax structure should match the activity as
defined. Right now, there is a lot of property there with an agricultural tax rate
that might become very burdensome to the owners of that property if in carrying
on a commercial enterprise they now had to pay a commercial tax rate.
Particularly like other commercial enterprises, if they became responsible for
upgrading the road, the entrances to put in the kind of entrances that are
required, to put in lighting that might be required, all that paving that might be
required because this road is going to deteriorate very quickly if you have a lot of
traffic over it. So, there are a lot of (SECRETARY: TIME) economic
considerations. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Moore and announced that the next person to
speak is Jeff Parsons.
Mr. Jeff Parsons of 4859 Bentonville Road in Browntown thanked the Chairman
and Planning Commission members for allowing him to have a few minutes to
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speak tonight. He specifically thanked Ralph (Mr. Rinaldi) for giving him a call
after receiving his email and responding to his email as well. He and his wife
who is sitting behind him spent twenty-six and a half years with the United
States Air Force. He retired as an Air Force officer in 2003 and came in as a Senior
Executive with the U.S. Army for about eight years. A number of years ago, after
having lived all around the country, they decided they wanted to find a place to
retire. They like Northern Virginia and had spent most of their career in
Northern Virginia. They searched quite a few of the rural areas, including
Fauquier County and also Rappahannock County. They looked at different
zonings associated with the areas that they looked at, and the thing that struck
them about Warren County, specifically Browntown, was the rural nature. The
zoning was such that it was agricultural; there were not any commercial
activities around. Personally, my wife and I wanted to retire in a place like
Browntown, a tranquil setting, not a lot of traffic, not a lot of commercial activity;
we wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. So, we strongly
object to this for many of the reasons that you already heard. I enjoy bike riding,
I like to jog, I like to walk. The roads in Browntown for the most part are pretty
safe during the day time, but they are narrow and dangerous. I think if you take
a look at the history of Browntown Road, the number of accidents that are on
there and the fatalities are not insignificant. We are constantly in the newsletter
telling people to slow down and be careful. That’s my biggest concern is the
traffic increase that will happen with something like this events center. More
importantly, I have witnessed this in other places that I have lived in, once an
exception is made it sets a precedent. Then the next question is who’s the next
one that’s going to come in and ask for a zoning exception; and then, also
permission to hold these types of commercial events. So, I would just ask that the
commission take that into consideration. There are a lot of folks like me that
decided to live in Browntown to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city,
and this is going against what we were looking for. Thank you for your time.
Chairman Stickley then announced the next speaker is Archie Haines.
Mr. Archie Haines of 720 Fetchett Road wanted to briefly say that he is opposed
to amending the zoning ordinance and completely agrees with what his
neighbors have said. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Haines and announced that the next person to
speak is Edwin Wright.
Mr. Edwin Wright of 4151 Gooney Manor Loop said that the County Planning
Office has previously told other local landowners that the County would not
allow event centers of this kind on Agricultural (A) land or by conditional use
permit or zoning change. Reversing that position now would open the doors for
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other venues not related to agriculture on other properties nearby. And while in
truth that could potentially benefit me and my family as landowners, it would
pave the way for an approached style and scale of development of Browntown
that he does not think the County or the community really wants at this time. In
general, he feels that having other agri-tourism in Warren County like vineyards,
breweries, trail rides and rental cabins would be a great thing for our community
and the preservation of our lifestyle in the long run. But even as somebody who
could benefit from it, he strongly opposes this ordinance change at this time
because it waters down the spirit of agricultural zoning and agri-tourism and
allows a short-cut to by-pass having any agricultural or community value in
order to participate in this industry. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Wright and announced that the next person to
speak is Mozella Wallenfelsz.
Ms. Mozella Wallenfelsz of 7078 Browntown said she has nothing to add.
Chairman Stickley announced that the next person to speak is Mark Thomas.
Mr. Mark Thomas of 4551 Bentonville Road stated that he is a relatively new
resident to the Browntown area and absolutely loves it. He felt at home as soon
as they moved in. After spending thirty-some years in Northern Virginia, he
echoes a lot of the sentiments that have been said here. His wife regular walks
their dog and they both take walks and ride bikes, so that is of concern to him
that people that are not familiar with the road, so they oppose this change to the
ordinance. He thanked the people who have eloquently stated their opposition as
well.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Thomas and announced that the last person who
signed up is Mary McLaughlin.
Ms. Mary McLaughlin of 802 Lands Run Road agrees with what has previously
been said in opposition to the agricultural event center. It needs to have a lot
more restrictions and narrowed down a lot. Thank you.
Mindy Barnhart lives in Browntown near the Community Center. She thanked
the Chairman for allowing her to speak. She, first of all, wholeheartedly agrees
with all of the cases that were stated before her in opposition to this. She moved
here about 16-17 years ago. She had lived in Northern Virginia and spent 90
minutes to over 2-hour commutes one way many times, so it is an invaluable
haven to come home to where it’s really quiet. She also can say that she was a
volunteer EMT with Warren County for about six years and they do have a fire
station back there (in Browntown) but it is not very regularly staffed, and she can
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tell you that the response time back to that area on Gooney Loop is one of the
most remote areas in Browntown. It was most recently tar and chipped and it is a
very, very narrow road, so just in terms of the safety aspect with that many
people coming in there, the response times are extremely long to get back there.
She can also say that once you let this in it opens the door. If you bend a
definition, then again it opens the door for more development. Since that is tar
and chip/gravel, who is going to be paying for the tax burden of potentially
increasing the infrastructure, widening the roads which then will bring even
more people? My first year that I lived here I hit three deer and that was at dusk
and in broad daylight. Now that I know how to drive back there, I know that
when you see one there’s usually three more right behind it…I just think it’s
incredibly dangerous. Another thing about this valley is just the sound really
echoes. I can hear people down from Browntown Community Center and even
further, so an event with that many people, we’re certainly going to hear the
sound. It’s going to considerably degrade the peace and the quiet and the quality
of life that we all enjoy there, which is primarily why I live there, which is like
my husband and all these other people. I’d also like to speak to the intangible
and unquantifiable aspect of the beautiful natural resource that we have there. I
started my professional career as a Park Ranger. That area is directly below
Shenandoah National Park. I mean I don’t know how close it is to the boundary
but again that’s one of the…if we want to hike up to the Park, we either go Fire
Road one way or Fire Road that way back where that one is. So, again, if we
allow a business such as this to come in and increase the traffic, it’s going to
degrade the unquantifiable natural resource that we have back there. For this
reason, I ask that you please oppose this. Thank you.
Mr. Robert W. Colton of 468 Lands Run Road in Browntown said that he has
listened to all of the speakers this evening and he agrees with some of it and he
disagrees with some of it. His main concern is the traffic that will be imposed
upon the Browntown Road which is a hellacious road as it is. The zoning, I’ve
got to tell you that I’m not the brightest star in the sky. I’ve got 110 acres in
Browntown; my friend that’s over there behind me has over 300 and some acres
all adjoining the acres that this lady wants to rezone. Weddings and things like
that, what the heck, you know. If you’re going to have a couple hundred people
up there for a wedding it’s fine. If you’re going to have a bluegrass festival it’s
just like having the trout season at Gooney Creek when they used to have
accidents all up and down Browntown Road. I don’t like that. It’s a small
community. I’m looking at you all. I’ve been up there for forty years and I just
wanted to say my piece. You know I’m not a young man anymore and I’d like to
keep Browntown like it is. I’m not opposed to what Mrs. Albarelli wants to do as
long as it doesn’t turn the damn place into a city.

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Mr. Wes Bell of 103 Smith Run Road said he was born and raised in Browntown,
and born and raised right above their (the Albarellis) place. There is no place he
dearly loves more than that mountain. But they (the Albarellis) could easily
(speaking to anybody that’s opposing this) take the money that they’ve already
sunk into it and build a road and put 15-20 lots up there with 15-20 houses, so
you should be thankful that all they want to do is an event center. I know
everybody that said something about they love coming to Browntown, how
many of you live in a brand new house that you just built. I know that you don’t
(pointing to one person) and I know that you don’t (pointing to another
person)… I know where you live. I know you. You’re talking about keeping it
rural…
Chairman Stickley advised Mr. Bell to address his comments forward so they
could be captured for the record.
Mr. Bell continued and stated that he does not oppose the event center. He thinks
it would be a great thing as far as if you can figure out how it’s going to be
agricultural. If you can get that to where there is some ag involved in it, and it
doesn’t have to be crop farming, livestock farming…there’s forestry programs
and hell, there’s even wildlife programs now, so if you can figure out, that’s fine.
For them to do something instead of building 20 houses on 300 acres, that suits
me just fine. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Bell and asked if anyone else wished to speak.
A woman said that she is here on behalf of her father, Herbert Jones, and
Dorothy Jones of 259 Fetchett Road. Her parents moved here almost thirty years
ago. They just lost her father; he just died and he loved it. He used to say that
Browntown, the community, it wasn’t just a community…it’s a way of life. And
you’re bringing this in and you want to change people’s way of life. This is
something that’s beautiful. I have an autistic sister and that’s why they brought
her here. She worked for twenty-five years at the Blue Ridge Opportunities and
now she’s retired and she lives there. Autism, you don’t understand with the
traffic and everything. She’s afraid of a lot of dogs. But they came there for the
peace and the serenity. And I don’t think that anyone should make a decision to
change people’s lives when you have people that are standing up here telling
you how much they love it, we’re willing to do whatever it takes. We were
willing to make sure that Wal-Mart didn’t build up on Strasburg Road and we
won that. So hopefully the people of Browntown will prevail. Like I said, I did
this for my father, Herbert Jones. He was ex-Navy and Army and he was a
wonderful man.

Page 13 of 51

Chairman Stickley thanked the speaker and asked if anyone else wished to
speak.
Ms. Crystal Bell of 103 Smith Run Road in Browntown said that she is not
originally from Browntown. She was a Bentonville girl…close enough. She
married a “Browntownian.” She has gotten to know a lot of people in
Browntown. And she actually goes by the Albarellis’ place a million times
because her mother-in-law lives above them. I don’t know if I can speak for her
because she also wanted me to let the Board know that her name is Jackie Bell,
and she lives on Broad Run Road, and she is fine with this. She wanted me to
stand up and speak for her tonight. But also, she understands what everyone in
opposition is saying about wanting to be in the country. She’s not a city girl,
she’s a country girl. She lives on a very small scale farm because she can’t afford
to run hundreds of head of cattle. Because of that, I think if you own land there
should be something you can do with your land that can fall under agriculture.
That doesn’t mean that you have to run cows and you have to grow crops. I
believe that because eventually I might want something at my house. It might
not be that big as what the Albarellis are trying to do, but you need extra money
for your land or what you’re trying to do sometimes. I have to say I appreciate
the Albarellis for one, for not building houses on their property. Because if you
say you want to move to the country and you want to live in the country, you
should have the bigger problem with houses coming in, because houses bring
traffic also. The Community Center…I’ve been a part of the Community Center.
It’s great for the community, but we have events there quite often that brings in a
lot of traffic but we don’t say anything about that because it’s for the community.
But I just think you can’t complain about one thing and not look at the other
things that are bringing up the same topics that everyone is fussing about. If they
want to make land use out of their property for events, and we’re not talking
about something that’s going to happen every day...I mean, if this was going to
happen every day, I’d probably say no that I don’t want to deal with this traffic
every day. But this is just special events, it’s not every day. I don’t see what the
difference is between houses going in or someone wanting to make use out of
their land, and keep their land, and keep houses off of their land. That’s all I have
to say.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Bell and recognized a gentleman in the back that
wished to speak.
Mr. Mark Koszyk of 327 Turtle Lane said that when he and his wife first came to
Browntown, they came to the Browntown Community Center. They just looked
around amazed…the mountains, the peace, the quiet…and that’s why we moved
here. We’ve heard all the arguments and a lot of good points. My wife and I are
opposed to this change to the zoning law. The interesting thing is quality of life is
Page 14 of 51

why we moved here. We enjoy the peace and quiet, no ambient light at night.
You can look up at the sky. We enjoy our neighbors, and as you have seen we are
a small community and we are a strong community. We pull together and we do
a lot of things to help each other. Whether you like your neighbor or not, if
you’re in trouble they are there for you; they will pull you out of a ditch. We look
at this added traffic, we’ve talked about that, but we didn’t talk about the
pollution to our water and air. A hundred cars going back and forth generates a
lot of emissions and affects people that walk and bike and ride on the roads. We
enjoy a lot of things about Browntown and we want to keep it that way. And I
have one final question, are the emails that were sent in going to be read at this
meeting, for people that couldn’t speak.
Ms. Logan answered that all of the emails that were received in our department
were provided to all of the Planning Commission members, and they are a part
of the record.
Mr. Koszyk asked if there is a count on those.
Ms. Logan said she will count them and say the number at the end.
Mr. Koszyk ended by saying thank you very much.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Koszyk and recognized a lady in the front of the
room that wished to speak.
Ms. Powel Harding of 2152 Gooney Manor Loop in Bentonville asked if we are
comparing events to twenty houses being built there. I mean if somebody
wanted to build twenty houses there, it would be a whole other ball of wax. You
know, we’d have to be talking to you about something else. So, we shouldn’t be
comparing these two things. I object to the way this was done. So we worry
about the fact that they have already put in forty spaces for parking and
prepared their whole property for this before they even got permission from the
Planning Commission, and just assumed that they were going to be able to
change the rules to suit them. I object to that. I object to the fact that all of the
traffic on Browntown Road which is going to be really, really scary. I object to the
fact that the EMTs can’t get up there if something happens. There is no control
about alcohol consumption. We haven’t even talked about that. You talk about
the things that happened at the Browntown Community Center. Well there is no
alcohol involved there and everything is over at 9 o’clock in the evening, not
11:30 or 12 o’clock midnight or whenever they decide to leave. Is a wedding an
agricultural event? No. I mean I don’t think the events that we’re talking about
here have anything to do with agriculture, which has already been said. So, that’s
all I want to say.
Page 15 of 51

Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Harding and recognized a gentleman to speak.
Mr. Brian Barnhart of 105 Renner Road said he just wanted to reiterate the fact
that this is kind of more of a commercial issue that we’re talking about. I don’t
oppose houses being built there. I agree with people are going to move here. It’s
a beautiful place. But when we open this gate to commercialism, that’s the real
issue I think here. Sure there are going to be some people moving in, new
residents and new neighbors. I’m not opposed to that. The Community Center is
a beautiful place. A lot of people come into there for events. All of these things
are in the equation already. But when we want to add to that commercialism and
bringing that into the community, we’re just doubling down on the
infrastructure that we have for our use. The amount of people that come for the
Redbud Festival and the other activities and stuff, like I said, it’s already in the
equation. And we are adding to it and doubling down…it’s just snow-balling the
effect of too many bad things happening. And it is just going to open the gates
for more of things. Thank you for your time.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Barnhart and recognized another gentleman to
speak.
Mr. Bob Post on William Vincent Road in Browntown said he just had one quick
comment. The whole Browntown area is kind of like an amphitheater. There are
mountains all around. The people that live there, you’d be surprised how far
sound carries. So it’s not just going to be people on Gooney Manor Loop or
Fetchett Road. It’s going to be a wide number of people in Browntown, and with
a town of that size, they’ll hear it…not like you’re next door but you will hear it.
So you will be on a nice evening and you will have this backdrop of the parties
or events being heard. That’s going to change things. That’s my comment.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Post and recognized another gentleman to speak.
Mr. Justin Goldsborough said he lives in the town of Front Royal but has lived in
Front Royal for about fifteen years now. His fiancé was actually born here in
Front Royal and grew up on Poorhouse Road. She lived just minutes from
Browntown. His fiancé and he met Judy and her husband, Mike, a few months
ago as they were looking for a place in Warren County to get married. Upon
meeting Judy and Mike, our first impression of them was that they were very
professional, respectful and responsible people. Both Lindsey and I agree that
Judy and Mike were very down-to-earth and we felt a very special heart-felt vibe
or positive energy that was genuine. It seems as if we have known them for quite
a while. In regards to their property that they would like to share with others, I
believe that it is a wonderful idea. It is a beautiful setting for those that want to
Page 16 of 51

make their special day a memorable one. In fact, Walnut Hills stands above the
rest of the wedding venues in and around Warren County. Judy and Mike want
to share what they have put their heart and soul into by making memorable
moments and dreams come true for other couples such as Lindsey and me. Judy
and Mike do not want to entertain the idea of an unorganized, adolescent block
party with drunk people spread out across the Browntown and Broad Run Road
area. However, Judy and Mike do want to share what they believe to be the
perfect serene setting for joining couples together. We believe that opening
Walnut Hill to the public is in fact an exceptional benefit to the Browntown and
Warren County area. We’ve heard quite a few oppositions as far as the drinking
and driving, and quite frankly that could happen anywhere, not just Browntown
and Browntown Road. As far as them having done work to the property in lieu
of this being granted, I don’t believe that was the case. I believe it was originally
built or worked on for their family matters and things like that; this happened to
come up. I agree with it. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Goldsborough and asked if anyone else wished
to speak for or against.
Mr. Don Dusenberry of 591 William Vincent Road said that he lives technically
lives in Browntown although the Post Office is Bentonville. He hadn’t planned to
speak this evening either, but he just thinks it’s important that you all
understand the depth of opposition. And not just because it’s people like us who
escaped twenty-five years of traffic and taxes in Fairfax County to move out here.
It’s the opposition because of the logic of what we’re hearing this evening about
the traffic. Browntown Road is a nightmare of curves, a narrow two-lane road.
Get one hay truck in front of you and it’s going to take you thirty minutes to get
into town. I can’t imagine adding a couple hundred vehicles to it. And Broad
Run is not much wider than this podium that I’m standing at…full of ruts and
potholes. I don’t know what they’re going to do with that, and also the noise
pollution and the light pollution. I’m not against growth, but to add this
commercial element out in a beautiful, bucolic site like Browntown just makes no
sense. So I strongly support the comments of other people who have asked you
to vote against this amendment. It makes no sense logically, administratively or
legally, not to mention the civic community that would be severely impacted if it
were approved. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Dusenberry and asked if anyone else wished to
speak.
Mr. Allan Brockway of 99 Gooney Run Lane said that he is the Fire Chief for the
South Warren Fire Department. He keeps hearing a lot of things about traffic. I
can tell you we’re averaging one accident a week on Browntown Road. If there’s
Page 17 of 51

bad weather we run Browntown Road a lot. The traffic they’re talking about,
right now just go up that road today, we won’t get our firetrucks or ambulance
up that road if there’s a lot of traffic. And the delay…I’m the one volunteer in
Browntown and Bentonville has two paid staff, but that’s a good 12-minute drive
for them. The next is Front Royal and that’s a half-an-hour. So right now, with
the traffic increase, we’re going to be very busy and someone is going to be
seriously hurt or killed. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Brockway and asked if anyone else wished to
speak for or against this application.
Mr. Greg Hume of 115 Broad Run Road said he lives directly next to Mike
Albarelli. His field butts up to my field. We’ve talked regularly. I’ve been to his
daughter’s party and it was a nice party. It did end at 10 o’clock, the noise. I
don’t believe there will be bands every weekend. And the lights I can see from
my barn of the pavilion, and I don’t have a problem with the lights. As for the
traffic, it may bring in more traffic but it’s called progress and development. The
same with building houses, it’s going to bring more cars also. I am for it. I don’t
see any problem with it. I live directly next door to Mike and Judy. They took me
under their wing twenty-two years ago and made me feel at home when actually
I had a hard time when I moved out here with the neighborhood. I am pretty
happy with the Albarellis and their decision to do this. I don’t have a problem
with it. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Hume and asked if anyone else wished to speak
for or against. No come came forward so Chairman Stickley closed the public
hearing. Now it’s up to the Commission on what you want to do.
Mr. Myers said that with everything he has heard tonight, he thinks that our
items on the agenda kind of got co-mingled. The first one is an ordinance for the
whole County to allow this, but most of everyone I heard come up was going
specifically for the Albarellis like this ordinance has already passed.
Mr. Henry said that was his feeling too. Just a clarification on what we’re voting
on, this is an ordinance that may work somewhere else in another part of the
County. This is not the approval of his special use permit. Let’s just say for an
example of traffic with the support that he wanted, you drive two miles out of
town on 340 where it’s still 4-lane road, that’s Agricultural (A). Then there are
dozens of agriculture applications. In fact, you living in a residential home on a
2-acre lot that is zoned Agricultural (A) is not agricultural use; it’s residential
use. It may be a short-fall in the way the County is zoned. So when you use the
term “agriculture,” “cluster subdivision” or “residual lot”…there are very little
working farms in Warren County. Partially because of its steepness in nature, it’s
Page 18 of 51

just not a very good farm county. There’s still a little bit of cattle. Most of your
better grazing land is actually on the north end. So, I’m just saying this is just a
blanket ordinance. Not saying if it will or won’t work for the Albarellis, it may
work somewhere else, and we do not have a designation similar to this?
Ms. Logan answered in the Rural Residential (RR) district, yes.
Mr. Henry said in the Rural Residential (RR) we do but not in the Ag.
Ms. Logan answered not in the Ag.
Mr. Henry asked if it was known how many designations like this are already in
the Ag for different things, for CUPs…is it like two or ten, a bunch or…
Ms. Logan answered not for this specific use.
Mr. Henry clarified that he meant for other uses.
Ms. Logan said they have uses that you can apply for conditional use permits for
such as commercial outdoor recreation operation, that would be like we have
golf courses. There are a variety of things, bed and breakfasts, the short-term
tourist rentals, brew pubs…I can’t go through them all.
Mr. Henry just wanted to say this is not the only…
Mr. Whitten interrupted and said there are forty-one uses.
Mr. Henry continued that the term “agriculture” for our County is such a broad
term because it overlaps into residential and some of the other things. And I like
the way that this is written and I think it would work in some places. Whether it
works for the Albarellis or not…
Ms. Smelser said she thinks that there are some things that need to be done to
this, she really does. For instance, when you’re saying that it has to be on a statemaintained road, I think we should specify what level of road. If you’re going to
have something that is an events center, it needs to be on a road that is accessible
to a hundred people.
Mr. Henry asked her what if you restrict it to twenty. In other words, this is
general, but when you actually get to the conditional use permit, it would be tied
to the CUP.
Chairman Stickley said it would be tied to the CUP for that particular use.
Page 19 of 51

Mr. Henry continued that if you are on 340 on a 4-lane road, this might be fine. If
you’re on the end of a dirt road, it might not be fine and you would fix it at the
actual CUP with the conditions.
Ms. Smelser said that it is pretty general and normally they are and you do you
fix it with your CUP, but she really can’t support amending the zoning to allow
this use. I think we have a lot of other uses that are pretty close, pretty close to
this same kind of thing. So, I can’t support it.
Chairman Stickley asked if anyone else had any further comments.
Mr. Rinaldi said that he agrees that there are two separate applications here, in
fact on the Agenda one is “A: and one is “B.” He thinks A is separate from B and
if we did pass this, it could be used for an agricultural events center up on 55
some place or off of 340 where the traffic would support that activity. He said
there are two ways to do this. The next one that comes in could basically do “A”
with us again, okay. And then also file for “B” for the conditional use permit. I
think that maybe that would be more appropriate than approving “A” and then
going to “B”. So, these two items, I think, are tied to that property. We’ll have
more control over what does come up if we have the next applicant who might
be up on 522 some place apply with item “A” rather than read the whole thing.
You know what I’m talking about. So I think that perhaps that’s the way to look
at this.
Ms. Smelser agreed with Mr. Rinaldi. To her knowledge, and she’s been on here
for ten years or something, this is only the second time in that period of time that
we’ve had an application similar to this to change the zoning. With that kind of
thing, I can’t see making any kind of text amendment when we’ve had two
people come in during at least ten years. I know I’ve been here ten years and so I
would oppose changing the ordinance just because we like the Albarellis
application. Like I say, this is only the second time in ten years. You normally,
and Taryn (Ms. Logan) can back me up on this, but we don’t normally change an
ordinance unless there is an overwhelming use or something that affects a lot of
people or whatever.
Ms. Logan replied that someone has to apply, just one person, so anyone could
apply. We do get calls about having weddings in barns. Honestly, we do get
those calls. No one has actually come forward except for The Mint House
property and then Mr. Albarelli. The Mint House folks ended up withdrawing
their application.

Page 20 of 51

Ms. Smelser said but we do have a way for people to do that by applying for an
event or…
Ms. Logan shared that we do have a festival permit whereas, that is if you are
charging admission to get in. Ms. Logan asked for clarification from Mr. Whitten.
Mr. Whitten said that is correct; you have to have amplified music and charge
admission.
Ms. Logan continued that we have that for a lot of the festivals around, The golf
courses, they do weddings accessory to their use. We’ve done it both ways.
We’ve had people apply where the ordinance was amended and then they were
the only use, like the brew pub. That’s one I can think of that was specific to her.
I’m not saying that somebody else isn’t going to come in at some point and apply
for a brew pub. So she has seen it both ways. She’s seen ordinance amendments
like short-term tourist rentals. Gosh, how many have we had since we amended
the ordinance for that?
Mr. Henry said somebody’s got to be first.
Mr. Myers agreed.
Ms. Logan said we’ve had both.
Ms. Smelser said that like she said previously this is the second one she’s seen in
ten years so she is opposing it.
Mr. Rinaldi asked the Chairman if we will also have discussion on item “B” as a
separate public hearing.
Chairman Stickley said we will. What we just went through is for “A” which is
the text amendment. “B” for Albarelli is for their particular parcel.
Mr. Rinaldi continued that we’ve heard speakers that, in fact the first speaker
said he was speaking to both, so in our thinking we need to listen to the people
that have spoken as to both issues.
Chairman Stickley looked at the next sign in sheet and the list which is for item
“B” which is for the Albarellis’ particular parcel, and there are eleven folks that
signed up for that and nine of them have already spoken. At least nine have
already spoken if I’m not mis-counting.

Page 21 of 51

Mr. Henry said a high percentage of them were speaking directly to the
Albarellis.
Chairman Stickley said they were counting for both, in a sense, but what we’re
considering right now is the text amendment to the ordinance itself.
Ms. Smelser stated that they are still tied together.
Mr. Henry said if we pass “A” that doesn’t guarantee that “B” will pass.
Chairman Stickley said that if we were to pass “A” then “B” may not pass.
Ms. Smelser asked but what is the point? What is the point in passing an
ordinance if it’s still tied, it’s totally tied. You know it’s tied together.
Mr. Henry said one can’t be without the first one, but the second one is not
guaranteed if we pass the first one.
Ms. Smelser asked but is there a point in passing an ordinance that we have one
application for.
Mr. Henry said that she didn’t get as many applications but she does get some
calls on it and this would be a venue for them to start.
Ms. Smelser said she is like Ralph (Mr. Rinaldi). The next time that somebody
wants to do this, if you’re in favor of approving this, then you should be in favor
of approving the text amendment. If you’re not in favor of approving the events
center, then you shouldn’t approve this is my opinion.
Mr. Henry said they will have to agree to disagree on that one, because he is
strongly in support of “A” but he is very undecided about “B”.
Chairman Stickley said that one item also that was brought up was the number
of emails that have been sent in. Do we have that number?
Ms. Logan replied to the Chairman that we had twelve emails. All of them were
against the application and then she had Ms. Bell who called and wanted Ms.
Logan to state that she was for it.
Chairman Stickley said he had a call this morning from Doug Boyd of Sunlight
Properties who also owns land in the vicinity of the property and overall he’s
opposed to an events center in Browntown but he’s not opposed to the property
owners per se. He understands what they are after but at the same time he’s
Page 22 of 51

saying that Browntown may not be the venue for it. To me that speaks a little bit
more to item “B” which is the next public hearing vs. item “A”.
A lady began speaking to the Chairman from the audience regarding a Q & A…
Chairman Stickley advised her that the public hearing is closed and there is no
more discussion.
Ms. Logan said there wasn’t a question and answer period during the public
hearing but the Commission can respond to anything they wrote down or
remember as far as the questions.
Ms. Smelser said she didn’t hear any questions per se.
Mr. Henry said there were a few questions that were traffic related, like if you
lived there would you give your support of that kind of thing. I think they (the
questions) are more tied to “B” than they are “A”.
Chairman Stickley asked if there was any further discussion.
Mr. Henry asked if the Chairman would entertain a motion.
Chairman Stickley said we can either approve it, disapprove it or table it.
Mr. Rinaldi said that in all reality, tabling may be the way to go in his opinion.
He is throwing this out for other opinions too…if we table it, then another
applicant that comes in, would they be able to make this same amendment for
item “A”…I kind of feel that an agricultural events center, just the name needs to
be worked on a little bit, I think that in certain parts of Warren County that might
be a great place for a wedding venue or some sort of a business meeting and
things like that. So, I’m not totally opposed to that but the last couple of words in
this supplementary regulation for agricultural events centers, which would be
plural, and that would open it up for us to be looking at conditional use permits
for like item “B” from Michael and Judith for other properties somewhere else.
So I’m not quite sure what to do with “A”…whether to make a motion or let it
fail for lack of a motion…I really don’t know.
Mr. Whitten addressed the Chairman and clarified that it should actually be a
motion to postpone rather than a motion to table if you do decide to go that
route.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Whitten and said that is fine.

Page 23 of 51

Ms. Logan said if you postpone, then Planning Staff could revisit the ordinance
and modify it more agriculturally. It’s tough because what the Albarellis have
asked for is events. This is kind of tied to what they have asked for and they have
requested the ordinance. They are tied in that sense except that this would be for
the whole Agricultural (A) district. Planning Staff is happy to take another look
at it and revise it however you’d like. We can come back with another version.
Since Mr. Albarelli applied for it, it would still have to encompass what he had
asked for.
Mr. Rinaldi asked how that would affect, by tabling it (postponing it), how does
that affect item “B”.
Ms. Logan said item “B” could be postponed as well.
Mr. Rinaldi said he’s not sure that’s the right way to go.
Mr. Whitten advised the Chairman that you would still need to hold the public
hearing tonight and then you could postpone the application or make a
recommendation, it would be your call. You still need to have the public hearing
tonight. You cannot postpone the public hearing.
Mr. Rinaldi said so we probably need a motion.
Chairman Stickley said they can postpone if you want and have Staff re-look at
this.
Mr. Henry said he would be glad to do a motion.
Mr. Rinaldi said he thinks so because if they delay it puts them in a state of limbo
for a little while; that’s not fair either.
Mr. Henry said that finding that the proposed zoning ordinance amendments are
appropriate for public necessity, convenience and general welfare, and are good
zoning practice, he moves that the Planning Commission forward this proposed
amendment to the Board of Supervisors with the recommendation for approval.
Mr. Rinaldi seconded the motion.
Chairman Stickley asked all those in favor to signify by saying, “Aye”…
Mr. Henry and Mr. Myers both said “Aye.”
Chairman Stickley asked for those opposed…
Page 24 of 51

Ms. Smelser, Mr. Rinaldi and Chairman Stickley said “No.”
We had two in favor and three against so the motion has been denied on a 3-2
vote.
Ms. Smelser said that finding the proposed zoning ordinance amendments are
not appropriate for public necessity, convenience and general welfare, and are
not good zoning practice, she moves that the Planning Commission forward the
proposed amendment to the Board of Supervisors with the recommendation of
denial.
Mr. Rinaldi seconded the motion.
Chairman Stickley asked all those in favor to signify by saying, “Aye”…
Ms. Smelser, Mr. Rinaldi and Chairman Stickley said “Aye.”
Chairman Stickley asked for those opposed…
Mr. Myers and Mr. Henry said “No.”
The motion to recommend denial was passed by a 3-2 vote.
Chairman Stickley said that rolls us into the next item and told Mr. Whitten that
the Commission may need his help on this one.
2017-12-01

Michael and Judith Albarelli

Chairman Stickley introduced a request for a conditional use permit for an
agricultural event center. The property is zoned Agricultural (A) and identified
on tax map 44, as parcels 39 and 39F. The property is located at 309 Broad Run
Road in Browntown.
Chairman Stickley asked Mr. Whitten since the previous motion on that public
hearing has been now denied for the text amendment so what do we do with
this?
Mr. Whitten said the motion was for a recommendation of denial to the Board of
Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors can still say that they want to have the use
so that’s why you need to proceed with the public hearing.

Page 25 of 51

Chairman Stickley said that was the clarification he was looking for and turned
this item over to Ms. Logan for introduction.
Ms. Logan shared that Mr. and Mrs. Albarelli are requesting a conditional use
permit for an agricultural event center. Their property is located on tax map 44 as
parcels 39 and 39F. They submitted a Statement of Justification to our
Department. As they explain, to host small gatherings and events up to 100
people. They have asked to host between 20-30 events per year. Her staff report
goes into more detail regarding the type of events. The type of events they have
asked to host in their letter included company picnics and recreational
gatherings, family reunions, retirement parties, fundraising galas, reception
dinners, small weddings and educational retreats and workshops. They state that
they plan for their events to typically last between 4-6 hours with the evening
gatherings ending at 11:00 pm. The request was sent to the Health Department,
Building Inspections, County Fire Marshal and VDOT. The applicant also
proposed to amend the zoning ordinance because we did not have a specific use
for this. The Planning Staff recommended that the following conditions be placed
on the permit if the approval is recommended by the Planning Commission:
1. The applicant shall comply with all Warren County Health Department,
Virginia Department of Transportation, Warren County Building
Inspections, and Warren County Fire and Rescue regulations and
requirements.
2. All events shall occur within the hours of 9:00am and 11:00pm.
3. No additional buildings shall be constructed for the events facility.
4. All parking spaces, tents and portable toilets shall be setback 250 feet from
all property lines.
5. The maximum number of guests at any one event shall not exceed 100
people.
6. Bonfires and the use of fireworks shall be prohibited on the property.
Ms. Logan offered to answer any questions and the applicants are here as well.
Chairman Stickley asked if there were any questions prior to opening the public
hearing.
Ms. Logan shared that typically on conditional use permits the way the rules are
read is that the applicant could speak first.

Page 26 of 51

Chairman Stickley acknowledged Mr. Albarelli and asked if he would like to
speak before he opens the public hearing. Chairman Stickley said that this
hearing is specific to Mr. Albarelli’s property; the previous hearing was for the
text amendment.
Mr. Michael Albarelli said he understood and had separated the two when he
spoke because he supports that as an activity that he thinks it’s something the
Planning Commission should look into. At least do the research and speak with
Page County and other communities in relation to what their experience has
been. More specifically, what the benefits have been to landowners, farmers and
the like. It is something that I think they really need to look at. But addressing
our specific proposal, our proposal has been severely misrepresented. That’s
why you have the numbers of people that you have here. The situation is such
that we didn’t have an opportunity…I guess there was a meeting in Browntown
addressing this and there were pamphlets that were put out and so forth. We
never had an opportunity to see these. There was a little bit of character
assassination in that I think they represented me as an absentee-landowner with
a “get rich quick” scheme, which I can assure you, is not the case. We love
Browntown and we love the land as much as anybody, perhaps more so. We did
not build the house, we bought an existing house that was owned by one of the
early founders of Browntown, Thomas Rudacille, and later by Edward Smelser
who farmed the land and grew corn on about 300 acres. We own 300 acres. We
originally bought the 87-acre parcel. That 87-acre parcel is what’s being attached
to this, but it’s only a small part of the 20 acres that our residence is on and
where we built a pavilion and a carriage house for our own purposes. It didn’t
have to do with this; we didn’t anticipate your approval. The rest of the land, the
300 acres is all designated forest management. Now when I go to events in the
area, specifically Culpeper and places near Virginia Tech where they have
seminars and workshops and so forth that deal with issues concerning forest
management, natural resource management and so forth, I hear what they have
to say and then I’m told in order to go find or go tour a model program I need to
go to Augusta County; I need to go to Buckingham County; I need to go to
Emporia; I need to go to Blacksburg, and so forth; never, never is anyone saying
you just need to look in Warren County. You need to go talk to the
Superintendent of the Shenandoah Park. You need to look to specific projects
that exist in relation to wildlife and the like. There are things that are going on in
this County, but nobody has held them out and said here is a model program for
landowners that border the park that they can look at and copy and undertake.
And in Virginia, because the majority of our forest land open space is owned by
private individuals, they’ve undertaken to develop and they’ve established a
landowner educational department that sponsors all of these things. Our
ultimate dream is to undertake the kinds of educational seminars which we
reference in the application, and which he spoke to Ms. Logan about, and tours
Page 27 of 51

on our property that would support this kind of activity. Now, part of what we
are proposing is that and when the representatives that spoke here today came to
our place yesterday I described that to them. I was asked, “Why didn’t you tell
us that?” We thought it was a commercial, not a not-for-profit undertaking. And
as a commercial undertaking we are concerned that what you will be doing is
undertaking all kinds of development and activities that would generate lots of
traffic and so forth. Our application speaks in terms of 40-75 people. That’s the
size of a tour group. That’s the size we could support in relation to the small
facility that we hope to use for this. Yes, we built a parking lot because I was told
you can’t even get out of the starting gate without a parking lot. So, we said we
could use that for the tours any way. These are not-for-profit activities that are
not prohibited at this point under Agricultural (A) districts. For instance, in
November…I haven’t heard anybody come forward and complain that the traffic
was bad or there was littering or drunken drivers in November when we held
the wedding. And when we held two (2) workshops for a world-famous
photographer and we let them come to the property. The wedding that we held
was for a friend of a friend, not a commercial activity. There were about 35-40
people there and it was an intimate kind of setting. That’s what we’re looking
forward to doing. Now, the reason that we’re hoping to do activities that
generate funds is because the cost of doing the forest management, undertaking
that and the wildlife preservation and management activities is daunting when
you’re talking 300 acres. So yes, we want to make it a model. I’ve got the time but
I sure don’t have the funds to be able to do that. So our hope was to establish a
center…by the way this event center business is not something we came up with.
That’s not our label, that’s the County’s label. I didn’t know it would have such
an impact. Semantics obviously are involved here. I’d call it an event and
educational center. Does it have to do with agriculture, no…but it has to do with
forest management and natural resources. And I think that’s a hell of a lot more
important in a County where agriculture is on the way out and open space and
so forth is being threatened. That’s why I came forward and said look at these
things that are going on in other communities like this event center activity
because it’s a positive, creative opportunity for people to generate income to
support whether its forest management or agriculture, or just maintaining the
land that they have or the homestead that they inherited without having to
parcel it out. Nobody wants…I don’t want to build 20 houses on the land. We
spent a fortune assembling this land. We came in; we looked for a house in 1986,
an existing house. We didn’t want to build high up on the hill. We wanted to
look at the existing housing stock. Is it more expensive to rehab the existing
housing stock? Hell yes, it’s a lot more expensive. We could have torn it down
and re-built and had something like what belongs in Vail, Colorado, you know.
And it would have been a whole lot cheaper. But that’s not in the community’s
interest. And so we spent money rehabbing the house. We spent money on the
surrounding area. And then, when the opportunity arose that additional land
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became available that borders the park, we said, “Aha! Here’s our opportunity to
reassemble the original Rudacille tract, going back to way beyond the turn of the
century, of 300 acres.” That tract originally was all corn land, farmland. But since
then there’s no more agricultural activities. What’s happened is it’s been taken
over by the forest. Shenandoah Valley, world-wide…and if you research this
you’ll find this out…is the best example throughout the world of nature
reclaiming an area that’s been clear cut and used only for agricultural purposes.
So, we’re on the cusp of that. Now we’re being threatened by things like the
ashmore, gypsy moth, the fungus that’s affecting the dogwoods…and we’re
always finding out at the tail end of this that these invasive species are coming
in. Right now it’s stilt grass. Anybody that’s doing timbering has got to look out
for that because that’s going to crush the area and nothing else is going to come
up. The problem is nobody’s out there talking about these. There’s no seminars;
at the Community Center, there’s no workshops going on about this. That’s what
we’re proposing to do. That in a nutshell is it. And I’m sorry that it’s been so misrepresented. It’s almost like the well has been poisoned and there’s not much you
can do at this point in terms of changing people’s minds. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley asked if there were any questions before he opens the public
hearing. There were none so Chairman Stickley opened the public hearing. He
shared that there are eleven people, including Mr. Albarelli; if we subtract him
now, that would be ten…but out of that at least eight have already spoken. So if
you’d like, I will go through the names. If you want to come back up, if you’re
still here and want to come up and say something else, please do so. Again, there
is a 3-minute time limit. If someone that has spoken previously has statements
that you agree with, we just ask that you would simply say that you concur with
the previous speaker and what was said previously, and we can keep this
moving forward. The first name is Justin Goldsborough.
Mr. Justin Goldsborough of 1513 Mallard Place had already left the meeting.
Chairman Stickley announced the next name, Brian Wilkinson.
Mr. Brian Wilkinson of 6838 Gooney Manor Loop said he loves Mr. Albarelli’s
passion. There is no question that his values and my values are very close in
what he wants to actually accomplish. I love that and I appreciated it when I
visited the property yesterday to hear that. My problem is reconciling that
passion with the actual proposal. This proposal is too broad. It allows for a range
of activities but it doesn’t limit it to those activities. It talks about typically having
them on one day, but it doesn’t limit them to one day. This is an open invitation
to do pretty much what you like, so we are trusting Mr. Albarelli here. The
trouble is once you correct the precedent, the next person comes along for a
similar level of trust and that person has dissimilar aims, if you like, and what do
Page 29 of 51

you do in that situation. I’m not sure that his claim that his ideas have been misrepresented is fair. He talks about a model program bordering the park. I would
suggest that what he’s proposing is not a model program bordering the park.
And we’ve heard arguments to suggest in fact, it would run counter to that in
many, many different kinds of ways. I understand he’s also into educational
seminars and those kinds of things, but that’s not what he’s proposing. This is a
means towards that end he says. Now again, I trust him; but can this be built on
trust alone, I think not. The distinction being between commercial vs. not-forprofit, I’m not sure that’s a very meaningful one. As you all know, not-for-profit
is used to justify all kinds of things these days. I think the designation that
people use that said this is essentially a commercial activity…and I think he said
that. Now, this is designed to raise money. Then those monies are going to be
used for other purposes. But its purpose is commercial. It’s to raise money. And
it’s difficult for me to reconcile the statement that what he’s built there at the
moment was not done with a mind to actually do this, because having seen the
property it seems to be built specifically for this purpose to do this, which is a
commercial activity, whether or not it’s designated as not-for-profit, I don’t
know. He talks about 40-75 people. There are several websites that talk about
numbers up to 250. We’ve been talking today primarily on 100 or 150. So again
we go back to the arguments which we’ve heard previously about the volume.
The fact that people did not object to one wedding, I think that reflects
Browntown. We like unique people. We like unique events. We like to try things.
I don’t think we like to repeat that on a continual basis right throughout the
summer period. I’m not sure that argument holds water for me. The cost of
wildlife management and making it happen, I hope he can make it happen
because he has a beautiful property. But I hope he can find a different way to do
it because I don’t think this is the right way to do it. Even if we re-name this an
event and educational center, it still wouldn’t make it any different. It would still
open up all kinds of possibilities… (SECRETARY: TIME)…so I don’t think it’s a
question of definition. It’s the proposal itself which I cannot support. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley announced the next name on the list is Jeff Parsons. Mr.
Parsons declined to speak as there was no change from his previous comments.
Chairman Stickley said next on the list is Fay Moore.
Ms. Fay Moore of Williamsport, MD, said she owns the property directly across
the street from the Albarellis. She wants to just speak very quickly. She thinks
there is a flaw in the ordinance change which we talked about in “A”. She thinks
an events center is what the Albarellis are looking for; she thinks an ag
education, which is what Mr. Albarelli just spoke about, is another animal all
together. However, I object to this “B”. I object to this permit because of the
issues raised with fire and police. Nothing has been said about how that is being
addressed. Access…I’m going to hammer that one. That road is a single-lane
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road one-way. Somebody coming and starting up that hill, you meet two people,
someone’s got to back up. Access is an issue if you’re going to have events. I
think if you’re having small seminars, that kind of thing might be fine. I
suggested to Mr. Albarelli to start over and re-work this. Come back and talk to
people and with some of the things you’re proposing, I don’t think there’s going
to be an objection. Again, I think the idea of an event center here and an ag event
center, which is something completely different, both are needed in this County.
I think it would be awesome. I think Browntown would love it if there were
places to go where we could learn how to grow a backyard vineyard, where we
could learn how to organically combat pests or that kind of thing, and Mr.
Albarelli’s place might be a great place to offer something like that. I don’t think
you’re going to get the backlash. But that’s true agriculture and that‘s true
community need. If you talked about how do we re-introduce pheasants and
quail; you know that kind of thing meets a local community need and could be
done on a small scale, a community scale, limiting numbers. The way that thing
was written, you have to reword it to address a small community environment, a
rural environment, a poor-access environment vs. 522. I think the ideas are great.
I think the mechanics right this second on both, the actual (SECRETARY: TIME)
ordinance and application were poor and need re-marked.
Chairman Stickley said next we have Crystal Morris.
Ms. Crystal Morris of 3519 Remount Road said she owns property on Broad Run
Road. She was just wondering that it was mentioned about VDOT. Has there
been a VDOT study for the one-lane road because she owns property right there
going to it. Would they want to take any of my property for the roads? Can we
answer that?
Chairman Stickley said that can’t be answered directly during the public hearing
but they may discuss it as they have some comments from VDOT included in
their packets.
Ms. Morris continued that she was just interested in what their study was.
Chairman Stickley said next is Edwin Wright.
Mr. Edwin Wright of 4151 Gooney Manor Loop said that like Mr. Wilkinson he
admires Mr. Albarelli’s passion and have a positive impression of his land
management goals. He is still opposed to this conditional use application
because of inconsistencies associated with the information this application is
based on. One thing that has concerned a number of residents in Browntown is
the question of the acreage of the parcel. This particular parcel does not meet the
requirements of part “A” previously discussed of having 50 acres. It has been
Page 31 of 51

described by both Mr. Albarelli here and in publications as an 86-acre parcel. It
actually is a 29-acre parcel and they own eight additional lots that add up to
more than 300 acres that are adjacent to that original parcel, but the parcel itself
does not meet the requirements for the conditional use application. Some of the
seminars and group meetings are sponsored by the State Cooperative Extension
are already available in our community and would not require this particular
conditional use application in order to be hosted on an agricultural lot. My
understanding is that if you have a forest management plan in place you can
host, through the Cooperative Extension, visits and educational seminars as well
as participate in their ongoing educational programs throughout the community.
The conditional use permit as described here would only be required for their
for-profit and commercial enterprise, not for some of the other educational and
forest management programs they have described. And if that is the case, I
would like
to
see
the
landowners…they,
myself
and others
included…participating in land management educational community and
programs before getting a special permit for for-profit events to demonstrate that
is the goal. Those are my comments on that. Thank you very much.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Wright and said next we have Mozella
Wallenfelsz. Ms. Wallenfelsz was not in the room so Chairman Stickley called the
next name on the list, Mark Thomas. Mr. Thomas said he had nothing further.
Chairman Stickley called the next name on the list which just said Jones. A
female voice responded that she had nothing too. Chairman Stickley then called
the last name Barnhart.
Ms. Mindy Barnhart of 105 Renner Court said she lives right behind the
Community Center in Browntown, Virginia. What she first wants to say is what
other people here have voiced is that to her, just from what she’s heard, it sounds
like there is a contradiction between what is being proposed and what was just
said. And again, I am highly uncomfortable with a proposition going through
that says something entirely different than what’s being seen. Again, to me, it
sounded based on what I heard read it was very commercial. Secondly, as a
former National Park Ranger, I know a whole lot about this type of thing. Based
on the way it is written and based on the way it is being proposed, you do not
conserve an area by degrading the area that you’re trying to conserve. Up to 250
people, I mean this is a gem stone spot based near a flagship national park. I
don’t agree with the fact that nobody is talking about conservation because there
is Shenandoah National Park right there. There is the Shenandoah State River
Park. I also attend talks frequently at the Smithsonian Conservation Center, so
we have this. People are very, very aware of this. I think I would feel…I don’t
know if the National Park Service has even been brought in on this, but I mean
there is plenty of this going on and so the idea of again bringing in all of this
traffic and a commercial area to try to save it just doesn’t quite sit well with me.
Page 32 of 51

If that were truly the case, again, I think the proposal would need to very
specifically state that, be very, very restrictive, and also have all types of
protections in place that there would not be the increased traffic and all the fears
that the Browntown community is worried about. That it would not degrade the
environment. One thing that I did not say before is that I regularly run and bike
back there. Browntown Loop is one of my favorites. I always see black bear. I
always see deer. It is a very, very…I’m losing my train of thought here for a
second…it is a very pristine area. So, again, I mean…bringing in a bunch of
people like that, the animals will leave. If there is more traffic like that it’s going
to defeat the purpose that he is stating that he is claiming to try to do. So, again, I
would love to see a proposal that reflects exactly what he is saying, so for that
reason I oppose what is currently being proposed. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Barnhart and said that is everyone we had on the
list. He asked if anyone else that wishes to speak and recognized a woman from
the audience.
Ms. Judith Albarelli of 309 Broad Run Road said that just for the record the
website that she made does use the number 250, but the reference is that they
had 250 people at their daughter’s wedding. There is no other number on there.
They have had many, many people already try to book with us and we’ve told
them everything is pending permit. Many of them were people that wanted 250
or 300 and we said no way, not interested. Secondly, there is a total
mischaracterization of why we made our carriage house. We have a large family.
We have many grandchildren. When you went upstairs, any of you that visited,
saw that there is a dorm-style bedroom there. That is for our grandchildren. I
think we know why we built our carriage house. I will say that yesterday when
all of the neighbors came to meet and greet us, we met a lot of lovely people and
it should have happened before all this, not after, because they had no idea what
we wanted to do and we had no idea of what was going on behind our back until
many of our nice neighbors emailed us copies of what was being put on
everyone’s door. Now, slightly off the subject, something that I think is far more
important is that our son just sent me a quick email which said that our trailer
park is for sale in Browntown. What are we going to do for all those people who
can afford to live in a trailer park? And I’ll just leave it at that. That’s a much
bigger matter in my mind.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Albarelli and asked if anyone else wishes to
speak for or against and recognized another woman from the audience.
Ms. Joann Koszyk of 327 Turtle Lane said they have only been in Browntown for
about a year and a half. They are not long-time residents of Browntown, but this
their home. It was their home from the minute they stepped foot into
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Browntown. Her husband and she moved from Long Island, New York. They
know what can happen when things get out of hand. We know what can happen.
We’ve seen potato farms and vineyards turned into a parking lot. I know this has
nothing to do with this permit and I understand that. I sat on the Pine Baron’s
Commission and I was the head of the open-space stewardship program at
Brookhaven National Labs. I know what preserving open space is. This is not
preserving open space. This is desecrating open space. We do have a program in
Browntown. We do have many programs that will teach you educationally what
to do with the environment over at the Isaac Walton League of Warren County of
which I am a proud member. We also have programs here at the County Center,
the Tree Steward Program, which my husband has taken part in. There are
educational programs here that people can take part in. I feel that the traffic, the
safety issue is my biggest concern. I walk with a number of my friends in
Browntown all the time, and up near Broad Run if six (6) of us are walking on the
road we have to walk on either side if a car goes by. That’s how tight it is and
what you have think about. I’m not saying that this type of a venue doesn’t
belong in Warren County; it just doesn’t belong in Browntown. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Koszyk and recognized another woman from the
audience to speak.
Ms. Mary McGlocklin of 802 Lance Run Road said that one thing that hasn’t been
mentioned is we also have a lot of people riding horses up in that area because
they do access the park from different ones of those dead-end roads. I don’t
know if they specifically use Broad Run or not. Not only are there bikers,
children and adults who jog, and bicyclists, but there are equestrians. In
particular, that is a one-lane road (Broad Run). You have to cross a bridge that
has no curves either. If you don’t know that, you think, “Oh, I’m going to bump
the curb before I go over…” That’s not going to happen. There is a really
dangerous bridge there that the bottom also drops out occasionally. I was
concerned about the possibility of light pollution and that’s why I went up and
checked out what they had going on in their parking lot and I was happy with
the downward facing LEDs. I appreciate that on their part. But, the sound will
echo in that valley. If they are concerned about the money they spent, they can
get a conservation easement. I believe those things are still available through the
Federal government. The Community Center is available for workshops and they
can get the word out through our Browntown newsletter Along the Gooney.
Again, Browntown Road is so dangerous. I was a professional driver with the
post office for twenty-eight years. I’ve totaled three SUVs on Browntown Road.
Thank you.

Page 34 of 51

Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. McGlocklin and asked if anyone else wished to
speak for or against. Chairman Stickley acknowledged a gentleman from the
audience.
Mr. Brian Barnhart of 105 Renner Road said that just to pound this forward as
well, he’d like to thank Brian (Wilkinson) for what he was saying. He concurs
with him 100%. He is not against what Mr. Albarelli is proposing to do. I don’t
speak as eloquently as my wife, but just to give myself some credibility, I’m a
nineteen year active-duty United States military. When we have something in
writing, it comes down to the details. And, this proposal seems like it has a lot of
contradictory information that’s not written down or it’s so vague that we’re
misinterpreting some of the things that Mr. Albarelli is saying and what the
proposal is saying. I strongly am against this proposal because it doesn’t have the
details that we need to have in place. I think the reins needs to be tightened on
the writing of what he’s proposing and work out exactly the numbers that are
coming in personnel wise. I know that we call it a 44-pack in the Army. That’s
one bus. A commercial bus can carry 44 people. If you have more than 44 people,
that gives the rein of having two commercial buses, and so on and so on. That
just demonstrates the detail that we have to have in place, I think, for this
proposal for both sides. I think he would get more of what he wants and
Browntown would get more of what they want in the respect of what’s going on
with the proposal. So, I’m against the proposal as how it is written at this point. I
think we need to go back to the drawing board. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Barnhart and recognized another gentleman to
speak.
Mr. Gary Kushner of 1106 Fetchett Road said he spoke earlier and he won’t reread any of that but he did want to say that he has spoken to Michael and Judy
Albarelli and they seem to be nice people. I support their stated goal of wanting
to maintain and protect the natural surroundings; however, conducting the
proposed recreational events business is not an appropriate means to those ends.
I think it would diminish the community. I mirror what Brian said. We agree
with what he wants to do but this isn’t the vehicle to get that done. As for having
20 more residences up there instead of an events center, I’d be okay with that.
That’s his right and those people would be neighbors. They would live in the
community. They would maintain the community rather than an events center
that would have visitors from D.C., and Arlington, and everywhere else. I will
conclude by saying regarding the prior vote, the majority of us speakers that you
heard, we’re not rubes. We understood that amendment would apply to all the
County and not just Browntown. My comments were to oppose the amendment
on the whole County. The events that we are talking about are currently allowed

Page 35 of 51

in the Rural Residential (RR) zones on 20 acres, and we should keep it there.
Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Kushner and asked if anyone else wished to
speak for or against and he recognized another gentleman to come forward.
Person from 115 Broad Run Road (name could not be understood on the tape as
did not speak at the podium) said that Mr. Albarelli had three events in the last
six months. I didn’t know about them, didn’t see them, didn’t hear it, didn’t
notice the traffic; didn’t notice the preacher or the wedding couple and I didn’t
even notice that anything was going on. I wasn’t invited though. But the stupid
question here is if he brought cows to the events would that make it agriculture?
He knows where to get cows. But still I have first-hand notice of his events
center, and it’s not an events center. It’s a small area. I can see first-hand what’s
going on; I’m the closest one to him and I haven’t noticed anything going on in
the last six months. Thank you.
Chairman Stickley thanked the speaker and asked if anyone else wished to speak
for or against. He acknowledged a woman from the audience.
Ms. Renee O’Connell of 5865 Gooney Manor Loop said that she has known the
Albarellis for quite a few years actually. She is one of the historians of
Browntown and she has gone up to their property, asked permission to take a
look at the historical cemetery that they have lovingly maintained since they
have been here. They have always been very accommodating. I’ve always
respected what they are doing to their property. They planted an orchard. They
truly love their property. They truly love Browntown. They truly respect the
history. And, I don’t think they would do anything that would really be
detrimental to our community. We have moved here from the city too. And we
love the peace and quiet. I’m a jogger and I do around the roads with my dog.
And I also want to keep the roads quiet as much as possible. But I don’t really
think what they’re proposing is going to be much of a change to our roads or to
our way of living and quality of life. So, I’m for it.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. O’Connell and asked if there was anyone else
that wished to speak. No one spoke up so Chairman Stickley closed the public
hearing and opened the discussion up for the Commission.
Ms. Logan said she can address the VDOT comment real quick. VDOT had
concerns about an event of 100 people. They said that would generate
approximately 45 vehicles. Right now they said that the road is carrying an
average of 30 weekday trips per day. They thought that adding the 45 vehicles

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for an event could negatively affect the riding surface and the passing. That’s
about all they said.
Mr. Henry asked if VDOT gave an acceptable number.
Ms. Logan said they did not and she did not know what plans there are for the
road. It’s a 30-foot prescriptive easement, probably similar to Gooney Manor
Loop.
Chairman Stickley added that they requested a 25-foot dedication from the
center of the road on their property.
Ms. Logan said that this just came in so she hasn’t talked to anyone. She doesn’t
know what good that would do because it’s just for that section.
Mr. Henry suggested it might be for some room at the entrance maybe.
Mr. Myers asked if VDOT would require the Albarellis to pay for the
improvement to the road.
Ms. Logan said there are no improvements proposed.
Mr. Myers added that he was thinking to just get up to what they would
recommend.
Ms. Logan said she can ask VDOT about their future plans, if it’s on any kind of
plan. It’s not on any kind of 6-year plan that she knows of. It’s not on anything
proposed for a road improvement. Will it come up at some point; maybe. It
doesn’t have a lot of trips right now.
Ms. Smelser said that Mr. Albarelli’s application and his own words say the
event activities will include company picnics, recreational gatherings, family
reunions, retirement parties, fundraising galas, reception dinners, small
weddings, educational retreats, seminars and workshops. It goes on to say how
many events they expect to have a year. So, what we had done in our proposed
change was based on what he asked for. What I just heard a while ago seemed
totally different, so I can understand because this is what was asked for.
Weddings definitely would take an events kind-of amendment to our current
regulations. I’m a little confused.
Mr. Henry said that just for his own education, zoned Agriculture (A) without
any issued permits, something that is allowed would be farming. So if he’d want
to put the 300 acres back in corn he could with no restriction. He could also put
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chicken houses in with no restrictions. He could also, By-Right, subdivide so
many lots and build on that with no restrictions, no meeting, no anything. That it
why I wanted to support the first part of it, but I think it could have been fixed
here. I think this too open-ended. I think it needs to be limited because of the
road and not the property. He’s got the facility but the road doesn’t support it. So
I think the limitation is not so much on the number of people but on the number
of vehicles, if that’s allowed. I’m not sure if that it is, whether it’s got to be done
with people but I’d rather see the limitation on the number of vehicles. And then
I would also like, before I could support this, it would have to be no music
because of the surrounding neighbors and the topography with the amphitheater
style. So I don’t think this is a good venue for a bluegrass festival. I wouldn’t
want any amplified music and I’d only want them to be 1-day events. I probably
would want everybody out of there by 10:00 pm before I could support this. As it
is, I can’t support it as is. But if they could fix the other one before it gets to the
Board and gets an approval there, I don’t know if we should just vote this down
“as is” or maybe postpone it so as it could be properly amended to a much less
number of vehicles, an only 1-day permit, it needs to be shut down by a certain
time. I think if you put those restrictions in to match more of what he was asking
for, I don’t think it would hurt the community.
Ms. Smelser said it’s not what he asked for, in his own words.
Mr. Henry said he knows he’s got some words in there…
Ms. Logan said she doesn’t know what else to call this. Weddings are events.
Mr. Henry continued saying that if you’ve got a piece of property, you’ve got a
right to do something to get some income out of it. The man pays taxes on it, it’s
his piece of property; he has some By-Right activities that they (the community)
would not be happy with. So I would have rather him got something restrictive
to where he could get income to preserve that piece of property. As it is, if it gets
any worse or he has any kind of financial turn, he may have do part of it in a
cluster subdivision and sell a lot off every other year to maintain. So that’s why I
support the previous ordinance. That’s why I also support this but not as written.
It’s not nearly as restrictive enough for that particular location.
Mr. Myers said he was expanding on what Mr. Henry was talking about, he can
remember in the 80’s when a Christmas tree farm was a viable operation beside
Rudacille’s store. He could open up a Christmas tree farm on his place with the
road “as is” being Agricultural (A) with no restrictions whatsoever, and with all
that traffic from Thanksgiving and Christmas. At the same time, I do see some
restrictions here that could be tuned up a little bit. I personally, especially, with
the vote to recommend denial that’s going before the Board of Supervisors, I
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personally wouldn’t have a problem with tabling this issue and seeing what they
say and then maybe cleaning up some of the words. (SECRETARY: Postpone not
table.)
Mr. Rinaldi said he thinks that they all agree that Mr. and Mrs. Albarelli are very
professional, squared-away people. He has that feeling. And from judging from
some of the comments that were made, he feels a lot of you have the same
opinion of them. He is in agreement with Mr. Henry and Mr. Myers about
perhaps this should be tabled and re-done to suit the needs that he spoke to
tonight. And I think that might be a way to go. At the same time, Mr. Myers
brought up a good point, that property could be logged and other agricultural
activities By-Right could be done up in there. I’m all for property owners rights
as long as it fits into the safety and welfare of the people in that area. I think his
facility the way it is is great! I went there the other day. It is very impressive,
first-class work. Okay…no question. It’s too bad it’s not up on 55 or 522 a half a
mile off the road because then it would be a great addition to Warren County.
There were some people that made some great comments here. Fay Moore lives
near them and she’s concerned about the poor roads. Many people spoke about
the poor roads. But there was one that was pretty interesting here…give me a
chance to find it…I should have been more organized and put a star next to their
name or something. John said there was no logic in a bad road, and I think that a
lot of the people that spoke and what I saw when I drove down that road is that
road is pretty treacherous. So, I would agree with that. But in order to speed
things up here, I would recommend that this be tabled and give them an
opportunity to re-group and come back, make another presentation because I
think what he wants to do and what was stated might be two different things.
That would be my recommendation.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Rinaldi and asked if there was any further
discussion.
Ms. Smelser said she had a question from a legal standpoint, can this be tabled
and resubmitted or how would tabling affect this application. The application
before me is the one I’m looking at.
Mr. Whitten said you could postpone this to wait and hear for the Board of
Supervisors to consider the text amendment. If the Board of Supervisors
approves the text amendment, then you can consider this at that point or you
could postpone it and enable the conditional use permit to have the conditions
changed around; we could work with the applicant.

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Ms. Logan said the applicant could submit another Statement of Justification. She
can’t call weddings and galas anything else but events. We can re-do that and do
it as an educational seminars…more to that.
Mr. Henry said it’s the traffic that’s the problem.
Ms. Smelser said that it’s the road. The facility is beautiful.
Ms. Logan said the request would have to be re-done to change the language that
would now reflect the new proposal.
Chairman Stickley asked Mr. Whitten if this matter was postponed, is there a
time limit?
Mr. Whitten responded that you just need to say when you’re postponing it to;
what meeting. If you want to say 60 days or 90 days you can. There is no limit
under our County code.
Chairman Stickley asked if it is a matter of when the Board of Supervisors makes
a determination on the previous amendment, because they may table it. Do you
see what I’m saying?
Mr. Whitten said the Board of Supervisors would have the public hearing. The
way it’s scheduled now they would have it in February. They could likely send it
back to the Planning Commission to have a work session to further discuss it.
Chairman Stickley said Mr. Henry just mentioned can we postpone it again a
second time if we had to. I just want to make sure we’re not getting ourselves in
a bind by time frame.
Mr. Whitten said you can postpone it again; it’s not like a rezoning where you
have under the State code so many days.
Chairman Stickley asked if there was any further discussion or questions or
motions.
Mr. Rinaldi moved that the Planning Commission postpone this issue for 90
days.
Chairman Stickley clarified that the motion is to postpone this matter for 90 days.
Mr. Henry seconded the motion.

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The motion was unanimously approved by the following vote:
Ayes: Stickley, Myers, Smelser, Henry and Rinaldi
Chairman Stickley thanked everyone for their input, we appreciate it.
Mr. Rinaldi asked if the Chairman would call a 5-minute break/recess while the
room clears.
Chairman Stickley announced there would be a 5-minute recess while the room
clears and then they will pick up at 9:25 pm.
2012-09-02

Wendy E. Tenney

Chairman Stickley announced the next item on the Agenda is also a public
hearing and the last one for tonight, Item C. is 2012-09-02 – Wendy E. Tenney –
Consideration by the Planning Commission regarding the continuance or
revocation of an existing conditional use permit for a commercial (breeding)
kennel. The property is zoned Agricultural (A) and identified on tax map 36, as
parcel 49. The property is located at 63 Limeton Church Road.
Ms. Logan shared that at their November 7, 2017 meeting, the Board of
Supervisors reviewed and discussed the request to revoke the conditional use
permit for a commercial breeding kennel for reasons outlined in the Warren
County Sheriff’s Animal Warden’s and the Planning Department’s reports. They
did motion to send the conditional use permit for the breeding kennel back to the
Planning Commission for review. They discussed the options of complete
revocation or modification of conditions to allow continuing the use and felt that
a review of the permit and a public hearing would allow for the Planning
Commission to provide the Board with a fair recommendation. Ms. Logan said
the Staff Report is in your packets. The Planning Commission did have a site visit
to the property yesterday and were able to look at the temporary building that
Ms. Tenney has now and discuss some things with the applicant. They were able
to look at the property. Ms. Tenney did come in today and purchased eleven (11)
dog tags; we were advised by the Treasurer’s Office. She can correct me if I’m
wrong, but I think she said she had just had a litter. She is breeding. Since her
original application, the Planning Commission, the Board did approve a new
kennel ordinance. The Planning Commission had asked that Staff kind of go
down and look at the old ordinance and what she could comply with of the new
ordinance. She has a few setback issues that may be able to be worked out for a
new structure. We still have the issue that she’s proposed insulation in the metal
building that she has there which seems that it would be good for winter but
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then we still have the question of air conditioning in the summer and her plan
for that. I just want to say for the record, any permit that we have issued for a
kennel, if anything were to happen i.e., health, safety, welfare, which is what we
review and we issue permits on…for any kennel owner we would automatically
review their permit. I know Ms. Tenney has said that she felt like she was being
targeted. It is our responsibility as Planning Staff to bring that to the Board of
Supervisors’ and Planning Commission’s attention for a permit that we are
responsible for reviewing for absolutely anyone. So I just want to point that out.
The Commission has several options. You could recommend the revocation
according to our ordinance, or Planning Staff has recommended fifteen (15)
conditions. One of them would be to allow Planning Staff and the Sheriff’s
Department to inspect the property during scheduled and unscheduled site
visits. We have not been able to do that in the past. I just want to point out that
would be an important condition that we would be allowed to inspect the
property. That’s one. I can go through all of these. Currently, another thing is our
current ordinance says that adult dogs should be limited to ten (10) because she
has about 3.5 acres. I think its 5 acres or less that says ten (10). She has eleven (11)
or she’s going to have eleven (11). That’s what she was approved for in the
beginning, so that’s something the Planning Commission will have to think
about. We’ve recommended the ten (10) according to our ordinance. We’ve
recommended that no breeding should take place until the property and
structures are in compliance with the conditions and our code; relocating the
kennel structure to meet the required setbacks; getting the appropriate building,
electrical, mechanical and zoning permits; the kennel structure should have the
approved concrete pad and air conditioning systems and smoke detectors which
Ms. Tenney had said that the existing metal building she is using has and I think
she intends on doing that; the existing landscape buffers shall remain in place
and additional screening to the north and east between the fenced area and
property line for a sound buffer; the kennel and pens shall be cleaned of animal
waste on a daily basis and shall be hosed down weekly; the exercise areas within
the fence shall be cleaned of animal waste on a weekly basis; all animal waste
relating to the kennel shall be disposed of properly by double-bagging and place
in an approved solid waste container, removed once a week to the County
Transfer Station. None of these are different for kennels; these are all you’ve
heard on our other kennel permits. An approved filtration system shall be
installed in the drainage area; I think what she has might be fine for that. She has
that ditch and it looked to be adequate. Of course, it is very dry right now and
there hasn’t been any concrete that’s she’s been spraying. The applicant shall
allow Staff of the Planning Department and Sheriff’s Department to inspect the
property during scheduled and unscheduled site visits for compliance during
office hours. The applicant shall obtain and maintain a business license for the
breeding operation, and a zoning permit and change of use by the Building
Inspections Department has been completed. Dog licenses shall be issued for
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dogs four (4) months of age or older. Like I said, Ms. Tenney did come in today
and do that. Rabies shots shall be given to all dogs four (4) months of age and
copies of vaccination records shall be provided to the Planning Department staff
or Animal Control; that is in the County Code. The kennel shall meet any
additional requirements of Building Inspections, Health Department, Fire and
Rescue, and the Sheriff’s Department not stated in the above conditions. Most of
these are in the Code. We are just reiterating a lot of them. We did receive an
email from Deputy Gomez because she could not be here tonight. There are some
differences between Mrs. Tenney’s version and Deputy Gomez’s report. You
have Deputy Gomez’s report. Ms. Tenney can speak and her attorney is here.
The public hearing was properly advertised. Ms. Logan offered to answer any
questions. Again, we certainly sympathize with Ms. Tenney. Like I said at the
Board public hearing, we were really devastated by it as well. Our goal as the
Planning Department is to maintain the health, safety and welfare of whatever
property that we have issued a permit.
Chairman Stickley thanked Ms. Logan and asked if there were any questions
prior to opening the public hearing.
Mr. Henry said that when they were at the site, her old permit was for eleven
(11), the new one would be recommended for ten (10) under the current
ordinance. She had mentioned that one of those dogs was not actually part of the
working kennel. It was spayed/neutered due to an injury from the fire. I guess
he could be considered as a pet. As far as the special use permit, is it adult dogs
on the property period, or are the dogs in the kennel operation separate from
maybe a household pet?
Ms. Logan stated we have done it both ways; I think we could specify the one
dog could be just her personal dog. The breeding operation could be ten. The
ordinance doesn’t really specify.
Mr. Wendling said it doesn’t specify. It has been all dogs; that is kind of what we
have gone by. In the original application, I believe that she did request the
additional dog because we had suggested ten (10). I believe the additional was
added by the Board because it was a pet.
Ms. Logan said we could specify that; so ten (10) for the breeding operation and
one (1) personal pet. Then the puppies have to go prior to being six (6) months
old because then they are considered adult dogs.
Mr. Wendling said there is some inconsistency in the zoning code and Code
Section 66 in requiring the dog licensing and identifying what is an adult dog. In
zoning, we identify it as six (6) months, but in Code Section 66 it requires the dog
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tags at four (4) months. There is little inconsistency there, but it would be up to
Staff or the Board as to which one we should go by. We can enforce the zoning
ordinance, but the Sheriff’s Department would enforce the other code section.
Mr. Henry said not that it’s written in a way but it just looks like if the dog was a
permanent resident at four (4) months, you might as well get his tags. If the dog
was for sale why not wait until six (6) months.
Chairman Stickley asked if there were any further questions before he opened
the public hearing.
Mr. Rinaldi asked how we would protect Ms. Tenney from the 4-6 months as far
as the dog tags. It’s ambiguous now; how do we protect her so that 4 years from
now somebody doesn’t go down there and say, well they’re 4 months old and
need to have a license.
Mr. Whitten shared that Animal Control is the one who enforces dog tags, not
Zoning. Basically, at 4 months old, Animal Control can go there and could say
you need rabies shots and dog tags. At 4 months old, they will need their rabies
shots and dog tags.
Mr. Rinaldi wanted to make sure that Ms. Tenney is aware of that. You brought
up a discrepancy. I’d like to get it cleared up for her so that she knows.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Rinaldi and asked if there were any further
questions before opening the public hearing; there were none so Chairman
Stickley opened the public hearing. No one has signed up to speak for or against
this. Chairman Stickley asked if the applicant would like to come up and speak.
Mr. Jay Neal an attorney from Woodstock representing Ms. Tenney, came to
speak. We’re not really adversarial and don’t want to be adversarial. The fire was
horrible and it impacted them horribly just like it would anybody. I was talking
to Ms. Logan today. We’ve got a dog sleeping probably on my pillow right about
now until I get there and push him off, so I can’t imagine losing a number of
dogs like that. It’s tough, anyway. They have an existing permit. There may be
some grandfathering issues, but my purpose is not to come in and sound like a
lawyer and start throwing that around. You want a safe situation; we want a safe
situation. You want to protect the neighborhood; she wants the neighborhood
protected. That’s where we want to work to. There’s never been a question as far
as I know; the animals are always well-kept when you’re breeding animals for
sale. They’ve got to be well-kept so they are taken to the vet and they get their
shots, and they’re treated the way they should be treated. Because if you’re
breeding animals for sale and you’re not taking care of them, you’re not going to
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sell them. So, certainly the animals are always well-cared for. I was a little
concerned and sometimes when you read summaries of events, they get kind-of
compressed and it makes it sound like wow, this was a train wreck waiting to
happen. So, when I read some of the stuff it sounded like you could get the idea
this was a train wreck waiting to happen. I don’t think it was that bad. Mr.
Wendling (I’ve never met him until tonight, he helped me out), he had been
there and I guess left a message in December. This is not to give him a hard time
because the message is actually fine, but I’ve got this. He left a message on
voicemail about 3 months before the fire: “Good Morning, Wendy. This is Matt
Wendling with the Warren County Planning and Zoning Office just calling to let
you know the Treasurer’s Office notified me that you have gotten the tags for
your dogs. I appreciate the prompt action after receiving that letter. We just have
a couple of other items on the checklist there and those regarding the rubber
flooring mats for the concrete runs in the kennel, and also the bark collars.” (I
think you all saw today the alternative to the bark collars.) “What we’ll do is
we’ll schedule an appointment in July time frame and come out and take a look
at things. I won’t pursue any further action on the revocation at this point in time
but will get in touch with you in the June time frame to set up an appointment
with another site visit, okay? Thank you for your cooperation. Have a very
blessed day and we’ll be in touch. Have a great day.” So, that clearly wasn’t a
message that said, “You’ve got a train wreck coming down the tracks. That was 3
months before the fire. It may be a good idea to table for 30 days. We went
through very briefly, and thank you all very much for sending me the proposed
conditions. Unfortunately, with my day I didn’t get a chance to look at them
until 5:00 pm. I got a chance to talk to Wendy (Ms. Tenney) around 5:30 pm, so
we didn’t really have a chance to go into detail. Some of those I think are
perfectly fine. There are things she would probably do anyway. Some we would
certainly like to talk about and “tweak.” Just one example, it’s limited to
Australian Shepherds. I am not a dog breeder so forgive me if I don’t state this
exactly right, but the AKC for example will change definitions of dogs. There is a
dog that is basically a mini Australian Shepherd. They have now changed the
definition so a mini, which is a smaller version of the same dog, is called a Mini
American Shepherd. Things like that happen. If you’re limited to just one specific
breed, it’s pretty restrictive, and I’d hate to have to come back in to get a revised
special use permit. There’s a possibility she might decide to breed some other
type of dog; I don’t know. She home-schools her children and so this is an
occupation that they can enjoy and it brings in some money. Nobody certainly
gets rich breeding 10 dogs. But there are a number of things in there, and I know
you’ve been here a long time tonight, so my suggestion as to those fifteen
conditions would be, if you all agree certainly, would be to give us a chance to
talk to Ms. Logan or Mr. Whitten or whoever, to try and work through some of
those and maybe agree on some terms and conditions. That’s pretty well what
I’ve got. Again, you’ve had a long night. It’s not a perfect setting to go through
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fifteen conditions and talk about the “I’s” and the “T’s” and also talk about
grandfathering. I think there are things we can certainly work with, but we’d like
the opportunity to sit down and go through some of that. Our suggestion would
be if we could table it 30 days, please not 90 days, and then I could meet with
whoever you want me to meet with and we could go through those conditions.
For just one example, the setback; as you saw there was a lot of stuff already set
up. Does it really accomplish a whole lot to move it 20 feet or 30 feet or whatever.
Just to talk about those types of things… I’d be happy to answer questions. Any
dog-related questions will have to come from Ms. Tenney.
Chairman Stickley thanked Mr. Neal and asked if there was anyone else that
wishes to speak for or against this application; seeing no one coming forward,
Chairman Stickley closed the public hearing.
Mr. Rinaldi said he has been thinking about this, Mr. Chairman, and it kind of
coincides with what you’re saying Sir, so I’m thinking that in order for Ms.
Tenney to show good faith and for Warren County through their different
departments help Ms. Tenney out a little bit on relocating her kennel so that
whatever setbacks are required, etc., and that she ends up with a good facility,
I’m thinking that perhaps we give her 60 days or so to come up with a proposal.
It gives her time to talk with and find a contractor to build her new facility,
develop a business plan for that so that we can move forward and she can move
forward in a business-like manner that will benefit her the most. I would like to
look at that a little bit. I am open to whatever else you all want to discuss to.
Ms. Smelser said he (Mr. Neal) has requested 30 days. I think she could probably
come up with a good business plan in 30 days. She’s certainly capable.
Mr. Rinaldi said he is okay with 30-45 days, something like that to give Ms.
Tenney time. He’s not sure she can find a contractor and that sort of thing.
Chairman Stickley suggesting giving her 30 days.
Mr. Henry said that it has to be approved before she can do it…she just needs to
have a plan.
Mr. Rinaldi said he understands that.
Ms. Smelser said it would be nice to have that.
Chairman Stickley suggested giving her 30 days, and if she felt she wasn’t ready
they could request that we extend it to the next meeting.

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Ms. Logan said the next Planning Commission meeting is February 14, 2018.
Mr. Rinaldi said that’s kind of close, isn’t it.
Ms. Smelser said that is close.
Ms. Logan said it is over 30 days.
Ms. Smelser agreed that it is over 30 days.
Ms. Logan suggested that they come back on February 14th.
Chairman Stickley said that would give her attorney time to talk to Staff.
Ms. Logan said she feels that is actually a lot of time.
Mr. Myers said that from there, if everything is falling into place then she can
start pursuing contractors.
Mr. Henry said the other concern that he had was, after meeting with Ms.
Tenney and stuff; she is very knowledgeable with her breed. I think she is very
concerned about her animals. It was a terrible tragedy and I am very sorry for
that, but based on some of what was left to some of the workmanship there and
stuff, I do believe she needs the help of some contractor. Or if not a contractor
and she does it herself she’s going to have to have some oversight. So if you’re
going to do this 30 days, I wouldn’t mind seeing a little drawing of what we’re
actually going to build there, and if you are going to get a contractor to do it he
would have something to bid. If she chooses to do it herself, I’d like to see
Building Inspections follow up on it. I could build the thing, I’m a good builder,
but I can’t raise dogs. You know, everybody’s got their thing. I think she’s very
good at her part. She had made some comments about she didn’t want
electricity. I think her fear because of what had happened that could have been
an electrical fire or potentially sounded like it was going to be…you sleep in a
house with electricity. Electricity is not something to be feared if it’s done right. I
think if a contractor was involved, she could put a few lights for safety and she
could easily have air conditioning. I think it needs water to wash the slabs
properly. If it’s a smooth, sealed slab, there were some concerns somewhere I
read some of the cleaning of something like that. To get that clean, somebody
had to work very hard for a modern facility to be able to print standards. A
better-built facility would be easier to maintain. (Mr. Rinaldi said “Absolutely.”)
It would be easier on her and more beneficial to the animals, but I don’t know
how you put that in conditions. Is the square footage of it sized enough to where
it has to have Building Inspections or does not.
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Ms. Logan said they require permits for over 256 square feet.
Mr. Henry said he doubts it would be that big.
Ms. Logan said that could be added as a condition; it needs inspected. The
electrical being installed needs a permit.
Mr. Henry said it needs to be permitted. Some of the work and stuff was done by
an amateur and consequently, that probably didn’t cause the fire, but just in
general it might not have prevented the fire but you never know. It is not clear
100% what even caused the fire and usually it’s not if it’s something that
completely burns down.
Ms. Logan said that Ms. Tenney definitely does need permits.
Mr. Henry said he would feel better. Obviously, while you’re doing it I think the
building pad actually clears the setback. I think it was just the fencing that was
too close.
Chairman Stickley said it was just the runs and everything.
Mr. Wendling said that the building didn’t meet the setbacks.
Mr. Wendling added that it does not meet the current requirements for 200 feet
on the fence and then from the property lines it didn’t meet the requirements to
the structure of the fence. It was 62 for the structure.
Mr. Henry said that most kennels he has seen are a cleaner looking chain link
fence. And for some reason that one was required to be wood?
Mr. Wendling said that they required one from Ms. Sellers also, and it had to do
with the sound. It had to do with noise. Because of issues with noise we also
required that there was some additional landscaping that they required around
the fence to help buffer the noise from the dogs. She has larger dogs also,
German Rottweilers that she was raising. Those were some concerns from the
adjacent property owners. So, when Ms. Tenney went through they had the solid
fencing and that’s what the ordinance required, whether it be cement or wood.
Mr. Wendling added that what you’ll see is the kennel itself and the runs…the
kennel itself meaning the structure housing is enclosed and covered; and then
you have the runs that have the chain link. Then you have access to that exercise
area which is within the solid wooden fence. It gives the dogs an ample area to
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exercise yet be somewhat restrained from escaping. This property, it is certainly a
good idea to have that because you have 340 on one side. You certainly wouldn’t
want the dogs to get out on that road. In Ms. Seller’s case, another CUP where
she does breeding, that’s exactly what she did. Hers is a very good example of a
structure used to house large dogs with the fencing, with the smooth concrete
that’s very easy to maintain. I believe her husband is a mechanical contractor so
he may have done some of the work for that. We do have some photos, if they
would be helpful; if that’s something that we can move forward with for a
sketch/plan or something like that.
Mr. Henry said he just would like some kind of idea of what was going back into
some kind of spec. Should it be a sealed concrete or something. We’d know what
was being put back…some kind of sketch or something.
Mr. Wendling said the initial call in December of 2016 to the Sheriff’s
Department was for noise with that amount of dogs. It was an adjacent property
owner and that’s why we did follow up on that after the Sheriff’s Department
made their visit. So, I’m not sure if the method that she’s using now to suppress
the barking was working or is working. We’ll have to work with her on that
because that’s typically what we’ll get a call on from adjacent property owners.
Chairman Stickley asked if there were any further questions or comments,
concerns, motions.
Mr. Rinaldi said that in reference to what we’ve all said and the fact that we can
assist Ms. Tenney a little bit in getting re-started, he would like to make a
motion. Mr. Rinaldi moved that the Planning Commission postpone this item
until the March Planning Commission agenda, and before such meeting the
applicant must submit a business plan and site plan to the Commission. That
way, we know what’s on her mind and what her plan is both business and the
site plan which would answer the questions on the distances and things like that.
Mr. Henry asked if we were doing February or March.
Mr. Rinaldi apologized and said he meant February. He originally had March
and he changed it to April and then…so I’ll re-do this. Mr. Rinaldi moved that
the Planning Commission postpone this item until the February Planning
Commission agenda, and before such meeting the applicant must submit a
business plan and site plan to this Commission.
Mr. Henry seconded the motion which unanimously passed by the following
vote:

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Ayes: Stickley, Myers, Smelser, Henry and Rinaldi
Chairman Stickley thanked everyone for their patience this evening. It’s been a
long evening. That’s it for public hearings tonight. The next item is:
Authorization to Advertise:
2018-01-01

Harry H. Heard

Chairman Stickley introduced a request for a conditional use permit for a farm
stand/garden center. The property is located at 885 Stonewall Jackson Highway,
is zoned Agricultural (A), and identified on tax map 41, as parcel 12.
Ms. Logan shared that Dr. Heard is applying for a conditional use permit for a
farms stand and small garden center. He would like to sell locally sourced
produce, fruits, and plants. He would like to build a structure in which people
could enter, so it would be more than our definition for a wayside stand, which
only allows a temporary structure with no space for customers. He would like to
operate seasonally during daytime hours. The property is located on tax map 41,
as parcel 12, at 885 Stonewall Jackson Highway. Dr. Heard does live several
properties away at 929 Stonewall Jackson Highway. He rents the dwelling on
this property. Planning Staff and the Commission did a site visit to the property
yesterday. As one of the conditions, Ms. Logan had recommended that the
applicant submit a plan to the Planning Department showing the parking area,
proposed structures, and ingress and egress. She will ask him for that prior to the
public hearing. Dr. Heard has told us but it would be good for him to show it on
a sketch. Other than that, I will wait to go over everything at the public hearing.
Ms. Logan offered to answer any questions.
Chairman Stickley asked if anyone had any questions at this time.
Ms. Smelser moved that the Planning Commission authorize the proposed
conditional use permit request for advertisement for a public hearing.
Mr. Henry seconded the motion which unanimously passed by the following
vote:
Ayes: Stickley, Myers, Smelser, Henry and Rinaldi

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Commission Matters:
Mr. Rinaldi had nothing to share.
Mr. Myers said that a week ago he was at a trade breakfast where some members
of the General Assembly were showing up and the question came up about the
proffer law and they said their feeling was seeing that it had only been in for
about a year and really not had an effect yet.
Mr. Whitten said that’s what he has heard. Loudoun County is working on
trying to amend the proffer law. Prince William is working on amending it. They
have actual people on staff that go down to the General Assembly to lobby. I
haven’t gone through all the bills yet, but I spoke to the Prince William Attorney
and their lobbyist at a conference and they said they were going to push to
amend the proffer bill because in the past two years they have only had one
rezoning; everything else has just been data centers. So basically in Loudoun
County, unless it’s along the metro line that’s the only place that you can do
proffers. I’m keeping track of the proposed bills. We go down to Richmond in
February to meet with our delegates and Senators. I think there definitely is
room for the proffer law being amended.
Chairman Stickley asked Mr. Myers if that’s all he had; Mr. Myers responded
that it was.
Mr. Henry and Ms. Smelser had nothing to share.
Mr. Whitten had nothing further to share.
Ms. Logan said that next month they will have the CIP. First of all, she would
like to introduce Joe Petty. He is our new Zoning Officer. This was a great way to
initiate him into the department. He and Cindy have been working on the CIP,
and Cindy has been working on the Annual Report. Both will be on the February
Planning Commission agenda. Building permits were up 25% this year for new
homes. Everyone commented positively; that was good.
Chairman Stickley advised that Planning Staff has nothing.
Ms. Smelser moved that we adjourn; Mr. Myers seconded the motion which was
unanimously passed at 10:03 pm.
___________________________________
Chairman
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