Recap of MH Community Meeting January 11, 2005

MH HoA President Brian Sutton asked me to write a brief recap of our Community Meeting at Capital College, Tuesday,
January 11.

At that meeting, Berman Enterprises presented their current thinking and began the process of soliciting input from the Montpelier Hills community coordinated by the MH Board, about what kinds of homes the Bermans should build on the remaining undeveloped parcels of land they still own along Muirkirk and Hermosa within the Montpelier Hills Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) which defines our community in the county zoning process.  

BACKGROUND:
The original MH CDP was approved for a total of up to 1000 units, including initially 243 Town Houses. There are now 365 Town Homes in our community.  In any case, the total number of units that can be built in our MH CDP is no more than 1000  (including existing units). But quite possibly far fewer than 1000 total units will end up being built overall in Montpelier Hills. Since 1985, county zoning law has changed just enough to require revisions to our MH CDP before new construction plans are approved by the County Council.

BERMAN PRESENTATION:
The Bermans presented preliminary graphic diagrams of the parcels to be developed, initially showing two possibilities: All Townhouse or all Mid-rise multi-family homes. The graphics were only notional, not specific plans, so as not to prejudge input from our community about alternatives at this early stage.

Townhouse Notional Plan Diagram: http://www.geocities.com/garolds/mh/dev/TownHousePlanSnap.doc

About 267 townhouses could fit on the parcels. A higher number of mid-rise units could be built in fewer buildings leaving more open/green space. Bermans said the Town Homes would be priced at $300,000 or higher. Bermans suggested that this would raise the value of our town homes, particularly after all the new units were sold.  There was no estimate given for the price of mid-rise units. Bermans suggested that we might want to consult our own real estate experts to estimate any possible price affects for our homes in the short term.

COMMENTS BY MONTPELIER HILLS' ATTORNEY, SUSAN GRAY:
Ms. Gray gave a brief overview of the county development planning process. There are three levels of plans, each requiring county approval. 1) The Master Plan where zoning is determined for the kinds and density of homes or business permitted in each major region of the county. 2) Comprehensive Design Plans (CDP) -- a general plan for each cohesive community like Montpelier Hills 3) Specific Design Plans (SPD) - that show the exact location and design of each unit and associated facilities, etc. in a CDP). There is an approved CDP for Montpelier Hills, but there is not yet an SPD for the undeveloped parcels.  Ms. Gray said she believed there are two options for deciding what gets built on our undeveloped parcels. 1) A "text amendment" to be approved by the County Council to existing zoning law to allow an SPD that our community supports, but that does not conform to the existing, outdated CDP. 2) Zoning changes in the County Master Plan, since the Master Plan in our Sub-Region 1 is about to undergo a comprehensive review starting in April. Working out what we want with the Bermans will serve us well in either or both of those two county approval processes.

DISCUSSION:
The discussion covered many details yet to be decided with input from Montpelier Hills residents, starting with a basic plan: Town Homes or Mid-Rises, or a mix, with or without single family homes. There are pros and cons for each possibility which need to be discovered and explored.

Residents raised many points summarized here in Q&A format. For each question, an initial answer was given by the Bermans, as the Bermans still remain open to further input from us:

Q. Would buffers and set-backs between existing homes and the new units, as well as open/green space, be honored as specified in the original MH CDP?
A. Although the MH CDP needs to be revised in order to build, its provisions and county law regarding open/green space would be respected. More detailed plans will be shown to the community to ensure good solutions are incorporated.

Q. Would the Bermans consider building single family homes, or a mix including single family homes.
A. Single family homes would be least profitable, and so in practical terms not very desirable from Bermans' perspective, but nothing is off the table at this early stage while all community input is being solicited.

Q. What benefits would our community get from this construction -- what amenities, etc.
A. As plans become more detailed, the county calculates the minimum amenities required according to the number and type of homes. The community negotiates with the builder for any additional amenities.

Q. Would the mid-rise units be owned or rented/leased.
A. The Bermans have not decided. They said that often developers offer a mix of owned and rented/eased units in the same development.

Q. Will the homes be all brick, vice siding.
A. Very probably. Details of house designs will be discussed as plans become more detailed, once a decision is reached about the kind of housing to build.

Q. Would the Bermans consider a 55+ Independent Senior Living Community mid-rise?
A. They would consider it, if the market would support it .. but a number of such Senior Communities have already been built locally, reducing that market currently.

Q. Would the new homes be part of the Montpelier Hills Homeowners Association and Recreation Association.
A. The Bermans answered that as they understood it, according to the current MH CDP and MH HoA and Rec Documents, units built on the undeveloped parcels would become members of the MH HoA and Rec Association.  [GS: This may not be entirely accurate … and will be studied further to understand which association options there may be.]

Q. Is there a timeline for making these decisions.
A. The Bermans are eager to begin planning, but they do not want to rush the community's consideration of the basic decision to be made about what kind of housing to build (Town Home, Mid-Rise, a mix of housing types, etc), from which all further, more detailed planning will follow, still in coordination with our community. A timeline should start to become clear soon.

I'm sure there were other questions I missed.