Judge: Supervisors were ‘unreasonable’ in denying permit for contractor’s yard
A Rappahannock County Circuit Court judge ruled on Monday that the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors made an “arbitrary and capricious” decision in denying John Cappiali a special exception permit to operate a contractor’s yard on property he’s leasing.
The civil case was brought by plainti John Cappiali, an Amissville contractor, in an appeal on the
Board of Supervisors’ March 2020 decision to deny Cappiali a special exception permit to operate a contractor’s yard. Joseph Long, who was represented in court on Monday, is leasing the property to Cappiali and is a part of the appeal.
Cappiali applied for a special exception permit in 2019 to turn the Lee Highway property into a contractor’s yard so he could legally keep construction equipment on the lot. Under local zoning laws, the primary use of the property must be for agricultural purposes.
Members of the body, including Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson, argued that granting the permit would create tra c issues and ruin the viewshed from the road and surrounding properties.
Winchester-based Attorney Robert Mitchell, representing the Board of Supervisors, argued in court in October 2021 that because Cappiali is not operating a business on the property where he would be using that equipment to provide a service, there is no “logical basis” for granting the special exception permit.
Rappahannock County Circuit Court Judge Jeanette Irby said in her ruling that she didn’t nd any evidence that the contractor’s yard will impact surrounding properties or tra c, and said the property in question is more than 100 feet from the road and cannot be seen. She also said that Cappiali will still be hay farming on the property, and there is no evidence of that operation being reduced.
Irby said that Whitson, who testi ed during a May 2021 hearing on the case, did not provide su - cient evidence to reject the application and that she could not nd anything in the Board of Supervisors’ case that met a “debatable standard,” noting that their case was “nothing but unsubstantiated comments.”
“Judge Irby's decision is surprising and disappointing,” Whitson wrote in a statement. “The Board of Supervisors analyzed the application thoroughly and I believe we reached the correct decision to deny this permit. I look forward to reading the court's decision and working with our outside legal counsel to determine next steps.”
The Planning Commission, which had heard the application in November of 2019, recommended denial of the permit “based on the economic impact, changes to the residential rural/ agricultural area and the impact on tourism with the location at the scenic entry to the county,” County Zoning Administrator Michelle Somers wrote at the time. “This was unanimous.”
The Board of Supervisors also unanimously denied the application, arguing that Cappiali’s yard failed to comply with certain standards in county law and the comprehensive plan, which maintains that Rappahannock should “promote only economic growth that assists in maintaining our existing balance and is compatible with the environmental quality and rural character, and does not adversely a ect active farm operations, forestry operations, residential neighborhoods, the tourist industry, and the county’s scal stability.”
While the body held public hearings on the application, Irby said they did have any “further deliberation or data collection” on their claims about potential tra c issues and obstruction of the viewshed.
Irby said she analyzed meeting minutes from past relevant Board of Supervisor meetings, saying that while those documents are not exact transcripts, the county-approved meeting minutes are the legal records for the meetings.
Cappiali and Long have been cited with three notices of violation from the county since 2016 requesting they remove the “scrap heaps… parking of not more than one commercial vehicle per occupant/operator… inoperable vehicles … [and] outside storage (contractors yard).” Irby said all criminal complaints and other violations have been remedied by Cappiali, and he’s shown over the last year that he’s willing to “diligently work with county administration.”
William Ashwell, representing both Cappiali and Long, has argued that the county’s decision to deny the permit in March 2020 was “arbitrary and capricious.” Ashwell also argued in court that Jack Atkins, a county building o cial and Cappiali’s neighbor, was harassing Cappiali. Atkins was represented in court by local attorney David Konick.
A er the ruling on Monday, Ashwell said there were “no surprises” in the judge’s decision, and that Irby’s ruling “exactly matched” Ashwell’s perception of the case.