MORGANTOWN – The planned development of 104 three-bedroom townhomes at the corner of Hartman Run Road and Everlasting Lane near the Morgantown Municipal Airport has cleared its second regulatory hurdle.
The Morgantown Planning Commission on Thursday provided approvals for the project’s development of significant impact site plan as well as a major subdivision (preliminary plat) request to create 104 parcels from the tract of land accessed from Everlasting Lane.
The property, three parcels totaling just under 13 acres, was rezoned from I-1 (industrial) to B-2 (service business) by Morgantown City Council in November. Townhomes are permitted by right in a B-2 district.
As presented, the townhomes will be situated along a single loop road with one access. Each unit will have a one-car garage as well as a one-car driveway space. There will be a total of 31 visitor parking spaces.
The project will include widening a portion of Everlasting Lane to 22 feet and the construction of a sidewalk from the development to Hartman Run Road, where a bus shelter will be located.
As has been the case since the project was initially proposed, the impact of airport noise on potential buyers was a significant talking point for the commission.
In this instance, it’s not runway noise – takeoffs and landings – that’s of concern.
Scott Copen, of Cheat Road Engineering, has explained previous noise studies conducted by Michael Baker International indicated the nearest townhomes would sit well beyond the line that represents the federally recognized threshold of concern in terms of the runway.
That threshold, 65 decibels DNL, is not a measurement of singular sound events, but a complex formula that measures the impact of airport noise over time factoring a number of metrics, including the time-of-day noise is occurring.
In terms of this project, the more impactful sound will be generated in and around the airport’s nearby maintenance hangars.
Copen said Michael Baker International is currently working on a report capturing hangar noise.
“We have asked them to look at a real event in the contours where somebody puts a plane there and cranks the engine up. What is that instantaneous actual decibel level – not this DNL magic? That way we can look at a one-time, or acute issue, of potentially causing hearing loss or something like that,” he said. “They’ve said that it won’t be an issue. We asked them to go ahead and provide that information just so you guys would have it so that it’s not a concern.”
Copen said initial findings indicate that 11 of the 104 units will hit the 65 decibel mark if someone were standing outside the unit.
He expanded on what that means.
“What that really is is an FAA guidance tool. They have learned over the years that if you’re under 65 decibels, people tend not to complain very much. If you’re over 65 decibels, people tend to have more heartburn. It’s not a health and safety issue. It’s an annoyance issue is what it boils down to,” Copen said. “There are airports around the country, take O’Hare, for instance. I know we’re not O’Hare, but just so you know, they have residents that live within the 85 decibel DNL level. There’s no long-term damage from that.”
He said everyone buying into the development will sign acknowledgements that they are purchasing next to an airport. He further noted there will be no liability to the city should a buyer lodge complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration.
“There’s no mechanism where the FAA could come back and say, alright city, you own the airport, now you have to buy their property. That doesn’t happen at these [sound] levels,” Copen said.
The applicant behind the project is ARJ LLC, one of the corporations under the Biafora family of development interests. The property upon which it will sit is currently owned by the Monongalia County Development Authority.
According to Morgantown Area Partnership President and CEO Russ Rogerson, the MCDA has the property under a sales contract with ARJ subject to the developer receiving the needed approvals from the city.
To that end, the project will be back in Morgantown City Hall’s meeting chamber next week seeking variance relief from the Morgantown Board of Zoning Appeals for standards tied to lot frontage, lot size provisions, lot depth, driveway layout and design, and setback provisions.
