Mason Avenue Development Concessions Sought

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

April 7, 2014

The Cape Charles Board of Zoning Appeals meets today (Monday) at 4 p.m. at Town Hall to hear public comment and make a determination on variances requested by local developer Patrick Hand.

Hand proposes to demolish the former Be-Lo grocery store on Mason Avenue and build a commercial and residential building on the property. He is requesting reductions in setback requirements, permission to provide less than the required number of parking spaces, and a reduction in the amount of green space required by Town Code.

According to a background report from Town Planner Robert Testerman, the development would open the Strawberry Street viewshed to the harbor. But that might only happen if the town buys a portion of the property from Hand for an extension to Strawberry Street. Hand told Town Council March 27 that if the town did not purchase the property soon, he might sell it to someone else.

While the grocery store has been shuttered for many years, the property owner has allowed lots on either side of the building to be used for public parking. Hand had offered to sell part of one of the parking lots to the Town for public parking, but Town Council and Hand were unable to agree on a price.

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Councilman Frank Wendell has urged Town Council to use Hand’s request for special treatment as an opportunity to negotiate further for parking for town businesses. But at its March 27 meeting, Council granted Hand’s request for deferred payment of water and sewer connection charges without requiring any concessions from him in return.

Council voted to delay payment of connection fees until certificates of occupancy are approved, despite the Town Code requirement that such charges “shall be paid . . .  prior to the initiation of connection related construction activities.” Overriding Town Code requires a public hearing and passage of a special ordinance, neither of which Town Council is doing.

Wendell told the Wave that the Board of Zoning Appeals hearing offers another opportunity for the Town to consider the consequences of allowing parking to be removed from public use. “What will happen when more businesses open on Front Street [Mason Avenue], and there is no parking for those who want to patronize them,” Wendell asked. “Parking may not be a problem now, but we have to think about five, ten or twenty years from now.”

Hand has asked the Board of Zoning Appeals

— to reduce the setback requirement to 4 feet at ground level;

— to allow the upper floor balconies to extend to the property line, as is allowed across the street in the C-1 district;

— to reduce by half the number of parking spaces required for retail uses; and

—  that the 25 percent minimum open space requirement be reduced to 15 percent.

According to Virginia state law, “No variance shall be authorized by the Board of Zoning Appeals unless it finds:

a. That the strict application of the ordinance would produce undue hardship relating to the property;

b. That the hardship is not shared generally by other properties in the same zoning district and the same vicinity; and

c. That the authorization of the variance will not be of substantial detriment to adjacent property and that the character of the district will not be changed by the granting of the variance.”