Planners cancel February meeting due to lack of in-person quorum

The Rappahannock County Planning Comission’s February meeting last Wednesday was canceled since a majority of the body’s members were unable to attend in-person.

Wakefield District member Brian Schulen, Board of Zoning Appeals representative Stephanie Ridder and Hampton District member Alvin Henry were not able to attend, according to county Zoning Administrator Michelle Somers.

Schulen had a personal matter to attend to and Ridder was out of town, according to Chair Keir Whitson. Henry said in an interview that he had medical matters to address and had family in town. Whitson was only available to attend via Zoom since he’s also out of town.

The other members of the commission who would have been able to attend are Gary Light, Mary Katherine Ishee and Rick Kohler, according to Somers.

The items on the February agenda will be carried over to the March 16 meeting, according to Whitson. Those include a public hearing on a golf driving range amendment and a discussion under old business of draft language for a sign ordinance amendment.

Whitson said he expects a special meeting of the body scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Rappahannock County Courthouse to be held as scheduled where they’re planned to meet with consultants from the Berkley Group, which will soon begin a review of the county zoning and subdivision regulations.

The consultants will identify code of Virginia mandates to be incorporated into the ordinances, recommend planning best practices, recommend alignment with the comprehensive plan and address ordinance strengths, weaknesses, and observations from staff and planning commission, according to the scope of work outlined by the organization.