Albemarle ARB forwards revised site-plan recommendations for 72,000-square-foot Northside Drive warehouse

The Albemarle County Architectural Review Board on May 2025 reviewed the initial site plan for ARB 2025‑05, a proposed 72,000‑square‑foot warehouse on the west side of U.S. Route 29 at Northside Drive, and voted to forward staff recommendations with revisions to the site‑review committee.

Staff presentation said the building is proposed as tilt‑up precast concrete panels with a dark base and vertically scored panels. Staff recommended approval of the initial site plan conditioned on revisions to reduce the apparent massing, revise landscaping gaps and species, and update renderings to show the revised architecture and landscaping. "The shift is expected to create long, uninterrupted walls as viewed from the entrance corridor," staff said and recommended earth‑tone paint colors, additional detailing at upper walls and corners, and increased parapet heights as ways to reduce the building's scale.

The applicant, Keith Lancaster of Northside Industrial, said the project team focused on site design and a berm and planting plan to screen the building from the corridor. Lancaster said the building was reduced by about 50 feet in length and increased in depth by 20 feet to lessen the continuous facade along the corridor. "Our goal was to spend all of our effort and money on the landscape, the berm, to mitigate the view," Lancaster said.

Clint Shiflet of the Timmons Group, the applicant's landscape/engineering consultant, said overhead utilities and an existing sewer line limit large‑shade tree planting in places along Northside Drive; the team proposed spacing and species consistent with prior projects in the corridor and coordination with Dominion (electric). Shiflet noted some planting distances drop to about 12 feet in the northern portion of the site near utility conflicts.

Board members generally supported using landscape screening as the primary mitigation for an industrial building type, but several asked for further development of facade articulation and clarified planting choices. "I appreciate the applicant's attention to providing really robust screening," ARB member Dave (surname not specified) said. Members asked the applicant to consider adding evergreen trees so the building is screened in winter and requested renderings that show both the architecture and the landscaping together.

The board amended staff recommendations before forwarding: add consideration of variations in the precast panel plane and texture and an explanation of the design process; revise guidance to "consider revising" building colors toward warmer tones rather than mandating specific earth tones; delete three recommended items the board judged overly prescriptive for an industrially zoned site; and require revised renderings showing landscaping and the architectural changes for ARB review. The board also asked staff to revise the landscape plan to show either large shade trees or, where utilities preclude them, small trees and shrubs in the planting area between Northside Drive and the stormwater facility.

Formal record: a motion to forward the amended staff recommendations to the site review committee was made and seconded; the transcript records the motion and a roll call but does not record individual vote tallies for this item in full. Staff noted they would add a condition to the final submittal requiring evergreen trees in the landscape plan for better screening.

Clarifying details from the file and discussion: the building is proposed at 72,000 square feet; the applicant said the building length was reduced by approximately 50 feet from an earlier scheme (from about 450 linear feet to roughly 400); the applicant moved loading to the side to reduce corridor visibility; certain planting locations are limited by utility easements (tree spacing at some points is about 12 feet); the applicant said the travel speed on Route 29 is about 55 mph, a factor in how visible facade details will appear to drivers.

The ARB requested the applicant return with updated renderings (with and without landscaping) and documentation of material/color samples and clarifications on planter species and spacing. The board moved on to a separate work session item after the vote.

The action affects properties along the Route 29 entrance corridor in Albemarle County and will proceed to the county site‑review committee and subsequent final site‑plan submittal for conditions to be resolved.