Adaptive Planning for Flooding and Coastal Change in Virginia: Next Steps for the Commonwealth

Virginia Coastal Policy Clinic:

“The Conversation Continues...

Described as a ‘game-changer’ for Virginia, last year the Virginia Coastal Policy Clinic hosted a forum for state and local government officials as well as coastal stakeholders to discuss the legal and policy challenges presented by coastal flooding.

Since this precedential gathering, much has happened across the Commonwealth:  

• The Virginia Secure Commonwealth Panel established a Sub-Panel on Recurrent Flooding.
• The Virginia General Assembly convened by joint resolution a study committee on recurrent flooding.
• Governor McAuliffe created the Governor’s Climate Change and Resiliency Update Commission.

 Join us at Adaptive Planning for Flooding and Coastal Change in Virginia: Next Steps for the Commonwealth, where the dialogue will move forward by sharing the resolutions made to date by Virginia’s decision makers; by providing discourse with and among national, state and local experts on barriers to future action; and by identifying the priorities for next steps as suggested by conference participants.

Looking forward to seeing you there,”

~ Virginia Coastal Policy Clinic

The Event is scheduled for December 5^th

Grayson passes zoning revisions

Grayson County:

“The Grayson County Board of Supervisors put its zoning ordinance concerns to rest last Thursday evening when they unanimously approved the Grayson Planning Commission’s revisions to the document. The commission, tasked by the supervisors with making the 75-page document more ‘user-friendly’ in February, met eight times in the last three months to dissect the ordinance and compose a ‘complete rewrite of the document from start to finish,’ according to Zoning Administrator Elaine Holeton.

Grayson County supervisors have approved the Planning Commission’s changes to the zoning ordinance, just a couple of months after directing the commission to end zoning in the county. Holeton said the revision focused on six areas of concern: improving the readability of the document, the addition of allowable uses in all zone districts, the analysis and adjustment of street setback and yard setback requirements for structures, general requirements for all zone districts, the exemption of agricultural buildings for zoning permit and an adjustment to the administration section to clarify the zoning process.

Holeton pointed out that the board would also be reviewing Grayson County’s subdivision ordinance. ‘This was included with your review because there was one section on planned unit developments which was moved by the zoning ordinance to the subdivision ordinance,’ explained Holeton.”

~Writes Patrick Smith of the Galax Gazette

Click here to read this column

Sign of the (digital) times: Arlington zoning ordinance to dump outdated business uses

Arlington County:

“Time to face facts: Fotomat is gone for good and just isn’t coming back. And the Arlington zoning ordinance is about to be updated to reflect the changing world. ‘Film processing kiosk’ is among the zoning classifications that are being removed from the zoning ordinance because they represent ‘archaic’ uses, a county official told members of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce’s government affairs and economic development committee at a recent meeting.

Other uses being phased out include ‘tourist homes’ and ‘draying.’… Update of the county’s zoning ordinance is being undertaken in phases.”

~Writes InsideNova

Click here to learn more

Visit www.arlingtonva.us to learn more about the zoning changes

Gloucester supervisors mull repealing highway development guide

Gloucester County:

“The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously 5-0 Tuesday night — board members Phil Bazzani and Chris Hutson were not in attendance — to authorize the Planning Commission to hold a public hearing on repealing a county ordinance that guides development along the Route 17 corridor. The request by Supervisor John Meyer to repeal the Highway Corridor Overlay District stems from a consistent theme by members of the board since January to roll back local government regulation.

Meyer has targeted the Highway Corridor Overlay District because he says it is costly to developers and has slowed business growth. The district, approved by the Board of Supervisors in 1998, is designed to impose certain aesthetic conditions and has primarily been used along Route 17 from Gloucester Point to the Court House. Meyer said there are several compelling reasons to repeal the district. ‘We desire to minimize regulatory constraints on business,’ he said.”

~Writes Matt Sabo of the Daily-Press

Click here to learn more

Opinions mixed on new subdivision ordinance

Carroll County:

“One Carroll County supervisor had concerns about road standards for a new kind of subdivision and a citizen made several objections at the April 14 board meeting, but all other speakers and county officials addressing proposed changes to the subdivision ordinance supported the new ideas.

Carroll supervisors dealt with several subdivision ordinance modifications at the March meeting, but put on hold decisions involving the creation of a class C subdivision and flag lots. A class C subdivision designation, as proposed, places limits a development to five lots on a minimum 1.5 acres each, accessed by a minimum 18-foot-wide street. Flag lots involve a way of getting access to a tract of land that does not have public road frontage.

When the time came for the April joint public hearing with the planning commission, most of the speakers said that these standards would help with development in Carroll. But citizen Janet Tate launched into her concerns even before the public hearing, during citizens’ comment time, by bringing up statistics about narrow and winding roads that serve housing developments.”

~Writes Christopher Brooke of the Galax Gazette

Click here to read this column

Board OKs tower amendment, nixes scenic protection language

Nelson County:

“After months of deliberation and a lengthy discussion March 11, the Nelson County Board of Supervisors narrowly approved an amendment to the county’s communication tower ordinance. The board approved a repeal of almost all sections of the previous ordinance, Article 20 in the zoning code, and replaced them with new language that will reduce the requirements for a tower’s minimum setback from Virginia Scenic Byways and the Blue Ridge Parkway and serve as a comprehensive overhaul of previous tower classifications.

But the ordinance does not include proposed requirements that Nelson County Planning & Zoning Director Tim Padalino argued would help protect undeveloped mountain scenery in the county.”

~Writes Katherine Lacaze of Nelson County Times

Click here to learn more

Hearing set on massive zoning overhaul for Northampton

Northampton County:

“Northampton County’s Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission will hear what the public thinks about its proposed massive overhaul of the zoning ordinance at a joint hearing scheduled for March 11 at 7 p.m. at Northampton High School. Economic Development Director Charles McSwain received marching orders from the Board of Supervisors shortly after being hired just over a year ago to streamline zoning requirements as a way to promote business development. ‘The Board (of Supervisors) wanted a new code that is more enabling,’ McSwain said last October.

One provision garnering significant public interest is a modification that would effectively cut in half the area regulated under the Chesapeake Bay/Atlantic Preservation district, which applies Chesapeake Bay Act requirements to the entire county. McSwain, who also oversees the county’s planning department, noted the shoreline would still be protected on the sea side by 100-foot-wide ribbon of conservation zoning along the shore, except ‘where there are existing, developed, water-dependent communities,’ such as Willis Wharf and Oyster.

The proposal would no longer regulate properties east of U.S. Route 13, unless they drain into the Chesapeake Bay. The proposal would also delete the district as an zoning overlay district, and place it in a separate section of the land use code with a different name: Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area.”

~Writes Connie Morrison of Delmarva Now

Click here to learn more