Draft of the Downtown Plan
A draft of the Herndon Downtown Plan was read to the Planning Commission Monday from its most recent work session. The commission has been working on the draft for the last few months, and seeks input from all those interested in the short- and long-term future of the downtown. As a part of the plan, the commission created a vision statement and six goals they would like to see used when dealing with issues of land use, density, design characteristics, historic structures and infrastructure capacity.
Neighborhood Conservation
The Planning Commission unanimously voted Monday to approve Comprehensive Plan Amendment No. 04-01, which would change the land use at Monroe Street, Young Avenue, Folly Lick Branch and Herndon Parkway from Community Facilities to Neighborhood Conservation. The property is owned by the town and currently undeveloped. The commission changed the land use to encourage appropriate development with one added alternative that will recommend to the Town Council that a minimum wooded buffer be retained through the easements reserved from the sale of the land. The extra buffer along the Herndon Parkway is allotted to be a minimum of 50 feet and could be increased to 80 feet in width if the commission desires and will not be incorporated into the lot size.
Temporary Trailers Approved
The Planning Commission passed unanimously that the Al Faith Academy, located at 730 Jackson St., could install temporary classroom trailers for a period of two years and create a temporary turn-around area on the existing property to help access the trailers. The applicant, Afeefa Syeed, said they hope the trailers will be there less than two years, but that they are necessary while they work to expand the growing school.
Required Fence Height Modified
The Planning Commission voted unanimously to allow a deviation of fence height to permit higher fences in rear and side yards. The original zoning ordinance said fences or walls could not exceed 7 feet. But because the land is not flat fences can sometimes exceed the 7-foot rule, making it hard to make a fence level. The commission amended the ordinance, now allowing fences or walls to have average deviation of 5 percent, with fence height not exceeding 7 feet 4 inches.
Changes for Land Use Map
The Planning Commission recommended unanimously to forward the Comprehensive Plan Amendment to Town Council for approval. The Comprehensive Plan Amendment No. 04-2, recommends changing the land use plan map of the adopted Herndon 2010 Comprehensive Plan. The proposal is to reclassify the land use for 10 areas, seven land areas are proposed to change from Adaptive Areas to Neighborhood Conservation and the other three from Adaptive Areas to Services and Industries.
Madison Street Extension Denied
The Planning Commission found unanimously that the proposed actions to vacate the temporary turn-around easement on the property of C.R. and C.A. Walk, the trail easement, a portion of Madison Street and the permanent turn-around were all in accordance with the town's adopted 1990 Comprehensive Plan. The 1990 Comprehensive Plan stated that Madison Street would be terminated where it currently stops, instead of continuing it through the former Ishee Property to the Herndon Parkway. The commission's approval that the proposed vacation meets the town's 1990 Comprehensive Plan provides the permanent right of way for the turn-around at the end of Madison Street.