The Agenda for City Council this Tuesday night includes the Wycliffe Church property, whereby the church is requesting to remove it's Conditional Use Permit to operate as a church on property that is no longer an asset to them.  Inseparably tied to the application is the contract for Bishard Homes to fill in the lake on the property to enable a new subdivision with 12 homes (as pictured). The ONLY opportunity the community is guaranteed to speak in opposition to this development is before City Council when the aforementioned hearing actually takes place. Unless the builder requests a variance, the removal of CUP would reinstitute the previous Residential Zoning. The builder has requested a third deferral while he re-evaluates a lower number of homes around the lake. 

The fault at stake is that the city staff recommendation is to approve this application. The application is not separated from the contract for purchase, as evident again in the deferral request made by the attorney. His letter reads "The Contract Purchaser of the Church's excess land has asked for the additional time..." The staff recommendation on the Agenda reads:

The Comprehensive Plan identifies this site as being located within the Suburban Area. The general planning principles for the Suburban Area focus on creating and maintaining great neighborhoods through stability and sustainability; protecting and enhancing open spaces and places of cultural significance; and creating and maintaining a transportation system tha provides connectivity and mobility. Achieving these goals requires that all land use activities either maintain or enhance the existing neighborhood through compatibility with surroundings, quality and attractiveness of site and buildings, improved mobility, environmental responsibility, livability, and effective buffering with respect to type, size, intensity, and relationship to the surrounding uses. The proposal to subdivide the parcel would not create any conflicts with the Comprehensive Plan. 

While all of the above would be true if the application was truly just the removal of the Religious Use...AND if the development plan was not provided to the city all the way back to April 2020.

But the city has been fully aware of the proposed development and in fact recommended a pipe could substitute for the water that is contained on this property. Further, there was an attempt made to shift money from a program that was funded by the state and federal government to improve water quality in the lake to a private-public sharing fund just one year ago.

To revisit the Comp Plan for the Suburban Area, with the knowledge of the new subdivision plans, anyone would easily reject the recommendation. The proposed development will NOT: 

• create a great neighborhood through stability or sustainabililty
• protect and enhance open spaces (it removes land that the neighborhood has always used as open space since it was never provided a park).
• protect and enhance places of cultural and historical significance (destroys these important structures).
• create and maintain a transportation system that provides connectivity and mobility (it adds to existing safety issues on Great Neck Road and eliminates an existing public access within the neighborhood and to nearby businesses.

The proposed development will NOT:

• maintain or enhance the existing neighborhood through compatibility with surroundings, quality and attractiveness of site and buildings
• improve mobility 
• improve environmental responsibility
• improve livability
• provide effective buffering with respect to type, size, intensity, and relationhip to the surrounding uses.

The proposal to subdivide and then develop the parcel undeniably creates a conflict with the Comprehensive Plan for Suburban Areas. Please share your feelings with City Council at CityCouncil@vbgov.com. Currently 7 of the 10 decisionmakers have personally visited the site.