1. Re-Zoning Proposal/Illegal Spot Zoning: The plan involves carving out a portion on the interior of Great Neck Estates to create a New Business Zone (O-1), not visible from Great Neck Road, with a business sign adjacent to and across from homes and at the neighborhood elementary school bus stop. Considering the entire Office parcel is surrounded by R-10 zoning, this is considered illegal spot zoning since it is a change of zoning that serves the interests of two private entities over the public's welfare.

2. No Hardship Proven by Developer: The developer offered $1.2M to Wycliffe Church to buy the Residential Property. The developer planned to fill in Lake Conrad 2 in order to build 12 homes. When the public objected to this plan, the developer first offered the property to the city for $2.4M, and when rejected, redesigned a plan to upzone in order to maximize his profit. The community was then criticized for objecting. Replacing one bad design with another bad design does not obligate a neighborhood to approve or remove their responsibility to advocate for their best interests. Doing so does not make them NIMBYs or archaic.

3. A-Frame Building: The Office District application summary states that they will retain the 3200 sqft building, but the proffers state 3300 sqft and then in Section 2, page 2, they state the building is 3522 sqft. They have requested that that the A-frame building be allowed to be expanded by 500 feet, which would be over 4000 sqft. It is concerning that the City Staff accepts an applicants word when their statements keep changing. The Planning Department has been advised.

4. Office Zoning: What is allowed in O-1 zoning? Offices of real estate, advertising, insurance, commercial, or industrial establishments, business or vocational schools, childcare in connection with schools or religious uses, communication towers, day care centers, finacial institutions or banks, government centers, medical, optical, or dental offices and clinics, architectural or legal offices, auditing or accounting service, offices where goods and merchandise are not commercially created, stored, or exchanged, consumer credit reporting agencies, and business consulting services, non-profit organizations.There are several other uses allowed with a Conditional Use Permit including eating & drinking establishments or for the sale of convenience goods or personal services, funeral homes, hair care, and fiber optic transmission centers.

5. Proffered Office Zoning: The proffers being offered restrict the property to offices of real estate, advertising, insurance, medical, optical, dental, legal, engineering, architectural, accounting, auditing, bookkeeping, consumer credit services, business consulting, non profit, or religious use with a maximum floor area of 3300 square feet. The developer stressed to the community that they are very limited by the property on what kind of tenants will be able to use it. Therefore, we are concerned that they will return to the City Council with a "hardship letter" and request a "Proffer Change" at the detriment of the community.

6. Current Zoning: The current zoning is Residential (R-10) with a permit to operate for religious use. R-10 zoning also allows child care centers in conjunction with a school, colleges, columbarium, or public parks/recreational areas. Day care, elder care, art galleries or museums, community centers are also allowed in this zoning with a conditional use permit. Therefore the developer does not need to rezone this property to operate any of those uses.

7. Devaluation of Properties: When a neighborhood is up-zoned to include businesses, it becomes less attractive to potential buyers. With the removal of the parklike setting, with the neighborhood cutoff from the path that has connected Millwood and Poplar Point, with transient visitors daily, and the increased traffic, the homes will be less marketable. 

8. Misleading Statements: The application falsely claims that the property has been used as an office for decades, whereas it was previously used for therapy services by the health department, which is a vast difference in the volulme of traffic. A business is operated for profit. The therapy was initially an outreach by the church that evolved into a service provided by volunteers at no profit to the church or the city. The program had a very minimal impact on traffic, with a very small number of cars using the service.The Planning Department has been advised.

9. Stormwater Management: Contrary to the claim that the lake/stormwater management facility won’t be disturbed, the uplands will be destroyed for impervious surfaces, increasing runoff to the lake without proper control measures. A private road will run alongside the head of the lake with only a 12' buffer. The State of Virginia's minimum recommended vegetative buffer for wetponds is 25'. Therefore this design provides less than half what is recommended by the state. The city's standards are LOWER than the state's. The Planning Department has been advised.

10. Infrastructure Changes: The private access road from Millwood will be widened to 26 feet, and a lighted monument-style business sign will be installed on Millwood Road. Residents have written the Planning Commission and City Council to complain about this concern inside their neighborhood. One half of the Planning Commission felt this was an acceptable change to the community. One half stood up for the community's concerns about this new land use.

11. Covenants, Conditions, and Restriction Violation: The proposed use violates the Covenants, Conditions, & Restrictions (CC&R) of Great Neck Estates, which restricts the front lot to residential or church purposes and prohibits commercial signs or fences. Lot 1 in Great Neck Estates was transfered to the Church Trustees on Nov 18, 1977 with deed restrictions prohibiting any use other than residential or church. The restrictions run with the land and are renewed every 10 years unless a majority of other identified lot owners agree to the change. The Planning Department has been advised.

12. Residential Section: Comprising 5 homes, a private road (12’ along the lake), a mailbox cluster, and a private dumpster. There is currently no location outlined for where this dumpster will be placed, but next to the lake is highly likely when you look at the below site plan.These homes will be operated by a mandatory Homeowners Association (HOA). There will be a 6' privacy fence surrounding the community on Millwood and Great Neck Road and from the Church, but not from the Lake, which is likely a safety concern for the business that will operate from there. There is no mitigation for the ground water storage that will be lost when this parcel of land becomes impervious.Planning Staff said the lake is separated in this design, so there is no responsibility that this housing development has for holding water that will go into another parcel.  

13. Removal of Open Space: The developer has offered to pay the city a fee instead of providing the mandatory 8% open space, which is required of new subdivisions. They have accepted this credit in lieu of open space. With the rezoning of the business parcel, neither neighborhood will have any designated open space, making BOTH neighborhoods less marketable. Not even a place for a single community swingset, place to walk the dogs, or a bench to sit down on. The Planning Department has been advised.

14. Not Part of Great Neck Estates: These homes won’t be part of Great Neck Estates. There is no plan for them to have a sign announcing their neighborhood or what their neighborhood name will be.A 6’ privacy fence and a 10’ landscaped buffer will be established, funded through HOA fees. The homes will have a contemporary style, which is not compatible with the mid-century style of Great Neck Estates. This does not fit with the commitments outlined in our city's Comprehensive Plan for Suburban Areas.

15. Yard Setbacks: Front yards face the lake and the new business zone, with backyards allowed to use a setback due to the private road. On Great Neck Road, front yard setbacks of 30’ are permissible per the Planning Staff. What kind of creativity will be used to cram homes into your neighborhood next?

16. No Traffic Study is Required: At the Planning Commission informal session, the Virginia Beach traffic engineer understated the impact this rezoning will have on traffic when he told the Commission it will be five houses at 10 trips a day or 50 trips per day total. He said nothing about the impact the business would have. It was included in the Staff Report, but when a Commissioner asks to "expand on the traffic impact" and they are given half the story, it impacts the decision they make publicly. With 22 parking spaces and a 4000+sqft building, that range would be well over 100 new trips per day. A doctors office could mean groups rotating every 20-30 minutes all day long, potentially late for their appointments and missing the entrance driveway, which would then require u-turns in driveways, speeding down Millwood, and interactions with the school bus stop right at the corner of Millwood and Selden. The record to the Planning Commission should be corrected. The Planning Department has been advised.

17. Potential Impact: The Planning Commission was advised by their attorney that they can't vote on what the POTENTIAL impact might be but only what is being requested today. We assume the attorney for the City Council will follow suit. The only opportunity that a community has is to protect itself from harm before a zoning change is approved. That time is now. We need your voices!

18. Concerns addressed by Planning Commissioners: The Planning Department said they will address additional questions during site plan approval. We believe they should be addressed prior to the change of zoning, so that the City Council and the community have a complete picture of the proposed change as opposed to apologizing later, as we have experienced with Ashville Park.

19. Removal of the Conditional Use Permit (Agenda Item 1) would clear the path for the developer to fill in Lake Conrad 2, what he sought from day 1 (April 2020). Although City Council said they would ensure the protection of the lake, they have not imposed any mechanism by which it is protected. No impoundment, no deed restriction, no water quality or flow control features.This simply cannot be acceptable today.

20. Zoning Ordinance and Comprehensive Plans of Virginia Beach: The Code of Ordinance for Virginia Beach states that it was enacted to promote and protect the health, safety, and general welfare fo the people of the city. It is the intention of the city council that the provisions of this ordinance will implement the purpose and intent of the comprehensive plan of the city by encouraging the most desirable use of the land for residential, recreational, agricultural, forestry, commercial, industrial, convervation, public service, floodplain, drainage, and other purposes, and the most desirable density of population in the several parts of the city, and by encouraging the most appropriate use and occupancy of buildings, and by protecting and improving the quality of waters within and adjacent to the city, and by promoting good civic design and arrangement. The Comprehensive Plan identifies this site as located within the Suburban Area. The general planning principls for the Suburban Area focus on creating and maintaining great neighborhoods throughout stability and sustainability, protecting and enhancing open spaces and places of cultural and historical significance, and creating and maintaining a transportation system that provides connectivity and mobility. Achieving these goals requires that all land use activities either maintain or enhance existing neighborhoods through compatibility with surroundings, quality and attractiveness of site and buildings, improved mobility, environmental responsibility, livability, and effective buffering with respect to size, type, intensity, and relationship to the surrounding uses. This proposal to rezone this property conflicts with the zoning ordinance and Comp Plan.

The proposed re-zoning plan is attached. It carves out a portion of the Residential Zoning to create a Business zoning, O-1 and request some changes to the upland residential lots.

The Office District application includes "Proffers" that the A-frame building will be retained at 3200 sqft they can expand by 500 feet (the application later says the building is 3500 sqft and therefore can be expanded to 4000 sqft).  The application states the property "has been used as an office, not by Wycliffe, for decades." First, since it was used as a therapy service for children with developmental issues by the health department paying a lease to the church, both premises are untrue. The attorney also described it as an "education center" which is inaccurate and designed to sway the leadership. Further the statement that the lake/stormwater management facility will not be disturbed is incorrect as the uplands will be destroyed for impervious surfaces, increasing runoff to the the lake with no quality or volume control measures proposed. The private access road from Millwood will be widened to 26 feet in width. A lighted monument style business sign will be installed on Millwood Road advertising the business. The 22 parking spaces will not be changed.  This use is a violation of the CC&R of Great Neck Estates which require this front lot (1) to be used for residential or church purposes only and does not permit a commercial sign or the fence around the lot. 

The developer in his meeting with a handful of community members (limited at the developers request), said repeatedly that he would need to monetize the unique and limited property. Therefore it is very reasonable for residents to be concerned that, once converted to Office Zoning, the next owner of the property will request a removal of the proffers based on a hardship. If that is granted, O-1 zoning allows for a 3 story office building.

The residential section would include 5 homes plus a private road that runs just 12' along the top of the lake, a private mailbox cluster, and a private dumpster. They would be operated by a mandatory Home Owners Association. They would not be part of Great Neck Estates. They would not have a neighborhood sign according to the attorney's presentation on March 6th, 2024.  The front yards would face the lake and the new business zone, but they are allowed to use a back yard setback because it is a private road. And in the backyard, which is on Great Neck Road, they are allowed to use the front yard setback of 30' because it is on a public road. There will be a 6' privacy fence and a 10' landscaped buffer, paid for via the HOA fees. The homes will be contemporary in style. 

Many of the questions posed to the Planning Department will be answered later when the site plan is approved. They have recommended this proposal to rezone a business inside of our neighborhood parameters. The Planning Commission, who decides whether to recommend a land use change, was a tie-vote. The comments in support of the plan centered around a community that was afraid of change and a church in need of money and a developer putting a better idea to paper than the one that filled in a lake.  

As a community, we took great offense at the comments that our efforts to protect our neighborhood's best interests. Two bad ideas does not a good idea make.