Countryside Community Planning Sessions
June 21 update: The Countryside Master Plan was adopted unanimously by City Council on June 20.
May 20 Update: The Planning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the plan to City Council. The plan is scheduled to be considered by City Council at its public hearing session on June 20, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber. Before approving the plan, the Commission made the following amendments:
1. Add sentence on p. 26 to consider adding trail connections from the dead ends of Dansbury Road and Fairhope Road to the greenway.
2. Added a topographic and drainage pattern map (p. 29 in the amended version of the plan)
3. Added a sentence on p. 20 to note that the recreation area should include both neighborhood and community park areas.
Click here [PDF] to view the current version of the plan
May 12 Update: The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on Thursday, May 19, 1:30 p.m., to consider adoption of the Countryside Master Plan.
Changes from the April 14 version relate to the discussion about the green strips extending between Countryside Road and the natural area (p. 16). The corresponding map was also updated.
April 14 Update: On April 14 an updated version of the draft plan was posted.
March 11 Update: The first draft of the Countryside Master Plan is now available for review. The Planning Commission will consider the plan as its preliminary recommendation on Thursday, March 17, at 1:30 p.m., in the Council Chamber, Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building.
On Monday, March 21, 2011, at 7 p.m., staff will brief City Council on the Master Plan. If there is consensus among City Council members to do so, Council will return the plan to the Planning Commission to initiate the process to adopt the plan as an component of the Roanoke's comprehensive plan. The adoption process involves public hearings by both the Planning Commission and City Council.
March 1 update: Countryside Master Plan Open House for Development and Real Estate Professionals
March 10, 2010
EOC Room 159, Municipal Building
4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The City Planning Commission and Planning Staff have been working on development of a master plan for the City-owned Countryside property. We invite you as a development or real estate professional to review and comment on the draft master plan at this drop-in forum.
Following an intensive public involvement process during summer 2010, City Council authorized planning staff and the commission to begin a master planning process and provide a recommended plan by March 2010.
February 28 update: The Planning Commission has completed its regularly-scheduled work sessions and nearing completion of a master plan. The Commission will discuss the current version of the plan (below) at its regular work session at noon on Friday March 4 and recommend the plan in either its current form or with modifications.
Planning highlights:
- The area between Ranch Road and Mattaponi Drive has now been designated as a natural area. The idea of an agricultural use such as a fruit tree orchard was put forward as a possibility and received support from adjacent residents. This decision was made based on a variety factors, but mainly due to the airport noise impact. Development of this land may be reconsidered in the future, but it should remain undeveloped for residential uses at least until the noise impacts are lessened (as they are projected to).
- The Central area has a gridded street system adapted to the existing street system. The system features short block lengths of about 400-600 feet. A direct connection between Ferncliff and Lewiston is shown. Such a street will have to be carefully designed to promote neighborhood-friendly traffic speeds.
- The option of reusing the tennis building is possible under the current draft of the plan. If the tennis building is retained, the planning commission noted that its appearance will need considerable improvement beyond regular maintenance.
- Recreational area is shown in the vicinity of the tennis building and could feature athletic fields. Athletic fields in the Portland/Lewiston area have now been eliminated from consideration.
- The neighborhood commercial area was reduced in size to about a single block length (both sides of the street).
- The area near Tuckawanna Circle and Trane is designated for commercial development. This development could be a offices, a research park, and light industrial uses.
- The two parcels near Laurel Ridge Road continue to be designated for either single-family or townhouse development.
- There is consensus that the former barn and silo should be adaptively reused.
View the current draft master plan (1.2 MB PDF)
View a topography and hydrologic feature map (1.5 MB PDF)
February 9 update: Northwest Recreation Club has approached the City about possible reuse of existing buildings on the Countryside property and submitted this concept plan for the central area. This plan, which was available at the January open house, showed these athletic facilities:
- Reuse of the tennis building for tennis and development of new outdoor courts.
- Reuse of the former clubhouse for meeting space.
- Development of a new athletic building with 4-6 multipurpose courts
- Reuse of the existing parking lot and development of a new athletic field.
February 3, 2011 Update: The January 27 open house was well attended by residents, staff, planning commissioners, and other interested people. According to the registration sheets, over 60 people attended throughout the course of the night.
The open house format provided participants with the opportunity to view the five development concepts and discuss the proposals with staff, planning commissioners, and with each other. The studies for each part of the property were displayed. These studies were adapted into the master plan concepts. A concept submitted by the NW Recreation Club showed reuse of some the existing clubhouse and tennis buildings as well as development of a new athletic field and building. Participants were invited to write comments on post-it notes and put them on the plans. Click here (pdf) to view the notes.
- Urban agriculture with a small farmers market seemed to be a favored use of the land near Portland and Lewiston.
- There were concerns about housing along the former 12th fairway because of its location within the 65 DNL contour. We received comments that 4-5 housing lots should be divided along the existing frontage of Mattaponi outside of the 65 DNL.
- There were concerns about the viability of neighborhood commercial along Lewiston.
- Participants seemed evenly divided about the ball fields near Tuckawanna as shown in Concepts 1 and 2. Some thought the ball fields were a better option than housing, while others expressed concern about noise and traffic impacts they may bring.
- Greenways and trails were well supported.
- Development shown near Laurel Ridge okay, but may need to modify the layouts slightly and address potential traffic impacts.
- Support for retention and reuse of the barn and silo.
Click here to view a map showing aircraft DNL noise contours at Countryside.
January 26 update: Planning staff is preparing for the Countryside development open house on Thursday, January 27, at William Fleming 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Five variations of the master plan will be available for review and comment. The bottom of each page contains information about the amount of housing and commercial development proposed. Click here to review the concepts.
December 10 update: The planning commission reviewed sketches for the Portland, Frontage, and Central planning areas. View the sketches here (PDF).
November 29 update: The Planning Commission began review of layouts for the land located between Ranch Road and Countryside Road. View the materials here (2.8 MB pdf) The Commission will continue to review concepts for other properties at its next meeting on December 9, 4:00 p.m. in Room 159, Municipal Building.
Planning Process: In September 2010, staff briefed City Council on the public participation process for the Countryside property and recommended that a master plan for the property be developed by March 2011.
Since then, staff developed a planning process that involves the Council-appointed Planning Commission as the steering committee to lead development of the plan. The composition of the Commission is diverse, with representation from the real estate, engineering, architecture, nonprofit development, and business communities.
Stakeholders such as nearby residents, airport staff, Realtors, and other professionals will continue to be involved through meetings and updates.
The planning process will take place through a series of workshops beginning Thursday, October 28 and concluding in late February 2011. The Commission will meet once or twice per month throughout the process. The schedule includes an open-house style public meeting in January so adjoining property owners can review progress on the plan.
The process will involve development of specific layouts for various land uses. Each layout will be evaluated based on feasibility and conformance with general design principles.
Planning Commission Meeting Schedule
October 28 - Tour of property
November 11, 4 p.m., EOC Conference Room, Municipal Building (click here (pdf) for notes)
November 23, 4 p.m., EOC Conference Room, Municipal Building
December 9, 4 p.m., EOC Conference Room, Municipal Building
January 13, 4 p.m., EOC Conference Room, Municipal Building
January 27, 4 p.m. - 7 p.m., William Fleming High School Cafeteria
February 10, 4 p.m., EOC Conference Room, Municipal Building
February 24, 4 p.m., EOC Conference Room, Municipal Building
October 14 update: Planning staff concluded the initial phase of planning with a briefing to City Council on September 20, 2010 (a link to the presentation is available below). Planners recommended a six-month master planning process led by the Planning Commission that continues to involve other stakeholders and professionals. A process and schedule for Commission workshops is currently under development. All workshops will be open to public attendance and reports on progress will be available following each workshop. An open house near the neighborhood (at William Fleming) will be included in the schedule.
Countryside Property Development City Council Briefing - September 20, 2010
The Planning Division sponsored stakeholder meetings during July and August to identify alternatives for the Countryside property. Comments from all the meetings were recorded and are posted below. Five meetings involved residents of areas surrounding the golf course. Additional focus groups were held with home builders, Realtors, economic development professionals, and parks and recreation staff and advisory board. The planning commission had a planning workshop on August 19 immediately following its regular 1:30 p.m. meeting. The final meeting in the process was an open house on Tuesday, August 31 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at William Fleming High School (Cafeteria). Rather than a formal presentation, the session was a drop-in meeting where people reviewed the alternatives and had discussion with planning staff.
Click below to read comments gathered at all the public meetings.
Countryside Meeting Notebook
Residents gathered at New Covenant Christian Church on July 26, 2010 to discuss the future of the Countryside property. Thanks to Mr. Dan Hale and the Miller Court Neighborhood Alliance for hosting the meeting.