Supervisors ready zoning plan
for community's comments
Haphazard development in Rockbridge County may soon end.
On May 1, the public will hear a zoning ordinance proposal by the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors that would revise area growth patterns. The ordinance could take effect as early as June.
The Board of Supervisors met with the Planning Commission and the Public Service Authority March 13 to discuss the zoning plan and make final changes before showing it to the public.
The zoning plan defines separate agricultural, residential and commercial zones. By clustering houses and businesses around existing infrastructure — roads, sewers, water and electricity —space and resources would be used more efficiently, supervisors say.
The other concern is keeping unsightly developments away from farmland. The zoning plan calls for a "sliding scale," which would limit the number of houses that could be built on a given piece of land — the bigger the piece, the fewer houses would be allowed per acre. Currently, the minimum lot size is two acres, but there is no restriction on how many houses can be built next to each other.
Rockbridge County Planning Director Sam Crickenberger said that growth management is more important now than ever before.
"In the last number of years we’ve been under a lot more pressures than we have been in a long, long time for development," he said.
In the past decade, the county has grown by an average of 150 new subdivision lots per year, Crickenberger said. From 2005 to 2007 that number increased to 300 lots, but building tapered off at the end of 2007 because of the slowing economy.
Crickenberger said more and more people are moving to the area to live a quiet, rural life. Unfortunately, if new development is not managed, Rockbridge County could be subject to unchecked sprawl, Crickenberger said.
County Supervisor Hunt Riegel of the Natural Bridge District wants to protect one of Rockbridge County’s greatest resources: its farmland.
"It has been relatively unchecked development," he said. "That tears at the nature of the county, which characteristically has been agricultural."
Yet Riegel expects some resistance to the zoning from landowners who wish to retain the ability to develop their land at the two-acre minimum.
"A lot of people consider the land their 401k," Riegel said. "It’s their retirement plan."
Riegel expects most of his constituents to favor the plan, especially those who are interested in developing the area. New commercial and residential zones would bring in a sewer system and give Natural Bridge a needed economic boost, he said.
Riegel and two other county supervisors, Buster Lewis and Rusty Ford, all say that their commitment to adopting a new zoning plan helped them win last November’s election. Riegel ousted an incumbent of more than 30 years, Maynard Reynolds, who abstained from voting last spring, resulting in a tie on the Board of Supervisors. That sent the zoning plan back to the Planning Commission for revisions.
Now the new Board of Supervisors will have the chance to present the zoning plan to the public, one year after the former supervisors deadlocked on it. If the plan receives support at the public hearing, it will likely go into effect in June.
Crickenberger encouraged residents to "come to the public hearing and let your views be known" on May 1. The place, yet to be determined, will be advertised in local newspapers.
Produced by
Washington and Lee
journalism students.
Lead Supervisors:
Prof. Brian
Richardson
Prof. Phylissa
Mitchell
Editing supervisor:
Prof. Pamela Lucke
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd