Flint Hill setback variance request meets resistance from county, stakeholders

A setback variance application was the lone item on the agenda for Wednesday night’s special session of the Rappahannock County Board of Zoning Appeals.

According to its application, Manassas-based Charles R Wood Builders purchased a 0.93-acre L-shaped property off Zachary Taylor Highway (Route 522) near Flint Hill “intending to construct a 2,400 square foot dwelling” on it.

Zoned agricultural, the oddly-shaped plat, found on tax map 1-14G, had been parcelled off from a larger property in 1981 and then had its boundaries adjusted in 1999 and again in 2005. The 2,400 square-foot blueprint Charles R Wood Builders hopes to construct does not fit within the 50foot setback requirement on two of the building’s four sides, so the company requested a variance from the BZA.

At the board’s March meeting, members debated whether or not the lot could be considered “buildable” in the first place, because, at less than an acre, the parcel fails to meet the two-acre minimum lot size requirement stipulated by the county’s agricultural zoning ordinance.

“It should be clear from informal communication that the county does not support development of the parcel in question,” wrote Rappahannock County Administrator Garrey Curry in an email to board members.

“The BZA has a $5,000 budget for ‘legal services’ and if you need legal advice, you should use that,” Curry said. “If the BZA takes a position that is not in keeping with the county's, the county may request a writ of certiorari to review the decision pursuant to Code of Virginia § 15.2-2314.”

Charles R Wood Builders’ attorney, Greg Ashwell, made it clear that he plans to challenge the county in court if its officials determine that the lot is simply not buildable. “You just can’t make a lot that’s approved by the government and then not be able to use it. You don’t need a lot to do farming,” Ashwell said last month.

But the builders must also contend with the fact that not only is the lot too small to accommodate a dwelling under the county’s ordinance, but it also has many small waterways running through it, raising concerns that Rappahannock’s watersheds would be adversely affected if the lot were to be developed.

Claire Catlett, Rappahannock Field Representative for the Piedmont Environmental Council, wrote a letter addressed to Curry and Zoning Administrator Michelle Somers requesting that the county conduct “deeper analysis of habitat and water quality for agricultural and conservation districts, as these values are incredibly important to the protection of Rappahannock County’s natural resources.”

Catlett continued, “Foot of the Mountain Run is a coldwater trout stream that, like Waterfall Branch, begins in the Shenandoah National Park and brings cold, clean water as habitat for brook trout and many other native fish. The property at 1817 Zachary Taylor Highway (Tax Map #1-14G) sits almost entirely within the ‘Zone A’ FEMA floodplain, as shown in the attached map from FEMA’s Map Service Center.

“PEC urges your boards to use the best-science and available technology to evaluate planning and zoning decisions.”

The print edition of the Rappahannock News went to press before the beginning of the meeting, but coverage will be available online later this week.