On February 15, 2023, Suffolk City Council, will reconsider a previously approved rezoning, RZN2022-004(Conditional). In order to rezone and amend the official zoning map of the City of Suffolk in order to amend the previously approved proffered conditions, for Bennett’s Creek Quarter Development, Zoning Map 12, Parcels 32*1,32*2,32*3,32*4, and 32*CH*1. This rezoning request is asking City Council to approve an additional 186 town homes BEFORE completion of the intersection at Shoulders Hill Road and Bridge Road, and additional road work on Shoulders Hill Road within the following timeline; an additional 56 units in 2023, an additional 48 units in 2024, and an additional 82 units in 2025. The original approved rezoning only allowed for 111 town homes “by right” until the completion of the roadwork at the intersection of Shoulders Hill Road and Bridge Road.
If City Council approves this they will have approved 261 additional units for this development before work on the Shoulders Hill Road and Bridge Road intersection has been completed as agreed to by both parties per the rezoning approval of March 21, 2018. The above noted breakdown of additional requested units was only presented during the Developers presentation at the January 18, 2023 City Council meeting. I spoke in opposition of this new information being included for consideration because it had not been made publicly available before this meeting. Council agreed and tabled reconsideration of RZN2022-004 till the February 15,2023 meeting. This new information and a brief history of this project was made available by City Planning on February 9, 2023.
I am in opposition of this reconsideration because it is in clear violation of the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance and Suffolk’s United Development Ordinance (UDO), Section 31-601(2), “To ensure that Public Facilities needed to support new development meet or exceed the Level of Service (LOS) standards established by the COMPREHENSIVE PLAN and this section”. Following is a brief history of the Bennett’s Creek Quarter Development and why I am in opposition to this reconsideration.
On March 21, 2018, City Council originally approved the rezoning of the noted property located at the North End of Shoulders Hill Road approximately 1500 feet from Bridge Road, from RR (Residential Rural) to RU ( Residential Urban). This permitted to developer, John Napolitano, the ability to ultimately build 417 town homes at this location. That approval is still in place and is not in question or dispute at the February 15, 2023 Council meeting. The original rezoning approval only allowed the developer to construct the 111 “by right” units until the COMPLETION of the upgraded intersection at Shoulders Hill Road and Bridge Road which is currently in development. This restriction is due the Department of Public Works, Traffic Engineering Division, determined at that time and reaffirmed this week, that the intersection of Shoulders Hill Road/Bridge Road/Knotts Neck Road did not and does not achieve an acceptable and necessary LOS C as required by Section 31-691, Adequate Public Facilities, of the United Development Ordinance. The additional capacity needed to maintain LOS C or better will not be available until significant COMPLETION of that City Project occurs. The project is fully funded and is currently in progress with an estimated completion date of late 2024 or later.
In addition, turn lanes on Shoulders Hill Road at the intersection of Laylock Lane that will serve the site are not in place but will be constructed as part of the City’s intersection project. The lack of turn lanes at this intersection poses a safety concern as vehicles slow to make turns onto Laylock Lane, especially for drivers approaching from the south, as they are required to wait for a break in southbound traffic before making a left hand turn into the site. To date, there have been no crashes at this location; however the risk of crashes increases with continued growth in site-generated traffic until needed safety improvements can be completed.
As of February 9, 2023, Traffic Engineering recommends that the current proffer limiting development of the property remains intact until the additional capacity needed to support the traffic generated by the project is available through substantial COMPLETION of the City’s capital project.
On June 1, 2022, City Council approved amendments to the original proffers of RZN2022-004 which had limited the number of Certificates of Occupancy to the 111 “by right” units until there was adequate capacity at the intersection of Shoulders Hill Road and Bridge Road. This amendment eliminated the requirement and replaced it with language that allowed for 75 additional units for a total of 186 units prior to the completion of the Bridge Road and Shoulders Hill Road improvements. Kevin Wyne, Director of Community Planning and Development, spoke at this meeting and clearly stated that City Planning DID NOT RECOMMEND APPROVAL of this request for increased units as it did not align with the Adequate Public Facilities section of the UDO. This approval by City Council was in clear violation of the City’s Adequate Public Facilities ordinance of the UDO and should never have been approved by City Council at that time. Robert Lewis, Director of Public Works, also spoke at that meeting and noted that staff had reviewed the TIA (Traffic Impact Analysis) which was submitted by the developer, and did not concur with its recommendations and findings and therefore recommend DENIAL of the request. He continued to note that he personally experienced that this was a very challenging intersection. Councilman Fawcett spoke at length regarding his opposition to this request with extreme details including the fact that the developer had previously stated in writing that he would not come back to Council to request additional units (above the 111 “by right”) at any time until the construction of the noted intersection improvements were completed. City Council approved the request 7-1, with Roger Fawcett being the lone dissenting vote. Before the vote Mayor Duman stated in regards to approving any future requests by the developer for additional units, “and you can put this on record, from my standpoint, I can’t see doing any more units until that thing is done, DONE, DONE!”, referring to the completion of the noted intersection work.