Planning commission reviews Brickworks Lot 1 site plan, applicants seek multiple setback and encroachment modifications

Developers of the Brickworks Lot 1 parcel returned to the Frederick City Planning Commission with a revised preliminary plat and final site plan that would place about 91 townhomes at the northwest corner of the larger Brickworks master plan and request several zoning modifications. The applicants described changes meant to increase on-site forest conservation, reconfigure townhome groupings and circulation, and request reductions to several yard setbacks in order to provide more contiguous open space.

The applicant team — Mike Wiley of Wormhole Companies and project architect Robert Sponseller (with partner Jennifer Chin present) — told the commission the plan now provides about 0.94 acres of on-site parkland against a 1.04-acre requirement and increases on-site forest planting so that 1.54 acres of planting credits will be applied toward a 1.7-acre forest conservation obligation; staff and the applicants said the remaining 0.16 acres would be satisfied by a fee in lieu payment (reported in the hearing as roughly $2,000, based on a stated rate of $0.30 per square foot). "We are providing very close to the 1.04 required acres on-site. We're at 0.94 acres," Sponseller said during the presentation.

The applicants asked for a set of modifications from the Land Management Code including: - Reduce minimum private rear yard depth from 20 feet to 7 feet, while relying on a 30-foot public alley and other right-of-way to provide total building-to-building width of about 44 feet; permit 5-foot projecting decks to encroach within the reduced rear yard (applicant…