Planning Department

• Department Overview
• New Subdivision Ordinance Adopted
• Placement of Directional Real Estate Signs
• Temporary Expedited Review Process (Extended Through 2011!)
• Community Meeting Guidelines
• Hanover's Customer Service Initiative

Department Overview

The Planning Department provides staff support to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, including reviewing and providing recommendations on all land use matters presented to the Commission and Board. The Department also provides staff support to the County's Architectural Review Board, Board of Zoning Appeals, and Historical Commission. The Department reviews plans of development for compliance with various County ordinances and is responsible for enforcement of the County's Subdivision and Zoning Ordinances.
 
David Maloney is the Acting Director of Planning. John Bender is the Deputy Director of Planning. Planning Department personnel can be reached by calling (804) 365-6171.

New Subdivision Ordinance Adopted

As part of its FY2011 Initiatives, the Board of Supervisors directed Planning Staff to undertake a comprehensive review of the Subdivision Ordinance. As outlined by the Board, this review was to be a technical update of the Ordinance, focusing on clarifying procedures and making necessary revisions to bring the Ordinance into compliance with provisions of State Code. Possible changes that would modify current policies were not part of the review process, but these items were identified for consideration at a future date.

Major revisions to the Ordinance include a comprehensive reorganization to make the process more transparent and regulations easier to find, updates to the bonding process to be more responsive to current financial practices and the lending environment, and clarifications to the preliminary plat, construction plan, and final plat processes. As part of the update, changes to the RS, Single Family Residential, RM, Multi-Family Residential, and MX, Mixed Use Districts were adopted in order to move certain landscaping and bonding provisions into the Zoning Ordinance.

The Board of Supervisors adopted Ordinance 11-09 on September 14, 2011 and it replaced the previous Subdivision Ordinance as of that date. A copy of the newly adopted Ordinance can be found at New Subdivision Ordinance. The Municipal Code web site, which maintains on-line ordinances for the County, will be updated in the future.

Placement of Directional Real Estate Signs

The County has adopted requirements for the placement of directional real estate signs that are used to promote the sale of homes. These new requirements allow for temporary non-illuminated signs, not more than six square feet in area, located on a property at an intersection, directing the public to houses for sale, provided that:

• Such signs may only be placed with the written permission of the owner of the property, if the owner of the sign is not also the owner of the property on which the sign is being placed, and such writing shall be presented to the County immediately upon request;
• Such signs may not be placed in the right-of-way or within the sight distance triangle at each road intersection;
• Only one such sign is permitted for each street frontage; and
• Such signs may be placed no earlier than 3:30pm on Friday afternoon and removed no later than 7:00pm on the immediately following Sunday evening.

Please be advised that placement within the VDOT right-of-way is prohibited and will result in a fine of no less than $100 per sign. In addition, no signage can be attached to utility poles, trees, street signs, or any other unapproved structure. If you have any questions please contact Tim Wilson, Code Compliance Officer for the Hanover County Planning Department at (804) 365-6171.

Temporary Expediting Option for Preliminary Site Plan Review to be Extended Through December 2011

In early April 2010, Hanover County implemented a temporary optional expedited review process for site plan review to assist developers, businesses and their plans preparers during this economic downturn. This is to announce that the program is being extended to the end of 2011. While the review workload is at a continued reduced level, it is practical for the County to apply its resources to help our partners in the business community accelerate the initial stage of the review process. As most of you know, the regular process has built-in features to expedite resubmittals, based on the quality of the first submittal and the resolution of initial deficiencies prior to the second submittal. The initial segment of the process allows approximately three weeks for reviewers to complete their plan review and send out their comments. There is then approximately two and a half to three weeks before the staff/developer meeting, which is intended to provide the design engineer, architect, landscape architect or surveyor enough time to make changes in response to the comments before the meeting, if they wish to do so. Applicants can then receive feedback from the review staff either at, or even before, the meeting.

The regular schedule is still available for engineers who see a benefit in using the time available to work out problems in advance of the site plan meeting. However, for some plans (especially simpler ones), engineers may wish to reduce the review and response time prior to the site plan meeting, particularly while their workloads may be lighter because of the economy. This expedited review program would shorten the review/comment period by staff by one week on the first submittal, and the staff/developer meeting would be moved up approximately 2 weeks.

At the time of site plan submittal, you will be asked by the Planner checking in your application and plans, if you wish to choose the expedited review schedule. If you are delivering your plans by courier or some other second party and wish to have the review expedited, you may simply provide a transmittal slip or letter stating such with your name and contact information so that we may verify your request. If you have questions as to whether the expedited process may be best for your project, please feel free to discuss this with Mary Pennock, the Project Manager in the Planning Department, as well as Mike Nannery and/or Randy Hardman, the Engineering Managers in Public Utilities and Public Works, respectively. The pre-application meeting, which the majority of applicants utilize, is also an excellent time to discuss this option and whether to choose this program at the time of formal submittal.

Attached is the new schedule for the temporary expedited review program as well as the regular schedule. The expedited process option is tentatively scheduled to run through the December 27, 2011 site plan application deadline, but could be adjusted depending on workload at that time. If you have any questions, please contact the Planning Department at 365-6171 and ask to speak to a Development Review Planner.

Community Meeting Guidelines

It is often recommended that applicants who file a zoning application for rezonings, Conditional Use Permits, or Special Exception Permits arrange a community meeting with surrounding property owners. These meetings are particularly necessary for complex rezoning applications or cases with significant community interest. Hence, the Board of Supervisors has adopted Community Meeting Guidelines intended to assist applicants in organizing and hosting community meetings.

Hanover's Customer Service Initiative

Hanover County’s Development Review team is implementing its new customer service initiative. Our team will help you get through the process, deal with the regulations, find solutions to your problems and meet your timelines. You will have case managers who will help you from beginning to end and we have added a new Project Manager who will seek to resolve all of your problems. Tell us where you need to be, and we will help you get there.

Our team will place more focus on customer service by clearly communicating the process and greater use of the County's web page. Check out the Plan of Development Review web page for site plan, subdivision, and erosion & sediment control review proess flowcharts, revised Plan of Development Review Schedules, and site/construction plan acceptance criteria. We are also expanding our use of internal automated permit information systems for departments that are involved in development review process.

All projects will be reviewed within 30-45 days. If needed, a meeting will be set up about two weeks after the initial comments have been given. This will allow you and your engineer to review the comments with individual departments and begin resolving issues immediately. You can waive this meeting if you think that it is not needed.

For projects that require a re-submittal, our team will review and respond within 7-10 working days if the project is smaller or "routine" (see sample schedule) and within 15-20 working days if the project is larger or more "complex" (see sample schedule). We will respond to any subsequent re-submittals within 7-10 days. Some minor revisions to plans will be reviewed within two business days.

Gretchen Biernot at the Planning Office (365-6171) can help you schedule a pre-application meeting when you are ready. Mary Pennock is Hanover County’s Project Manager. If you have questions or problems, please call her at 365-6171.