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The Rappahannock Planners have scheduled a public hearing on an application for rezoning 70 acres outside Flint Hill from agriculture to residential, the first step in subdivision approval process. The proposed fiveacre, 14 lot development has stirred up county residents concerned with the loss of agricultural land to subdivision uses. An advertisement printed in this week’s News appeals to “all concerned citizens” to show up for the hearing and attempt to “stop subdivisions” and “stop the destruction of farmland.”
It will be a welcome change if people do turn out to participate in decisions made by the county’s governing bodies. Perhaps, if enough voices are raised, the steady loss of farmland can be slowed or even stopped.
There’s definite cause for worry over the future of agriculture in Rappahannock. Half of the county’s land is now employed in “non-farm uses” and total acreage of cropland is decreasing here at a faster rate than in adjoining jurisdictions. An examination of * county records made last March found 1,078 lots and 49 subdivisions already platted, further evidence of the deterioration of the county’s rural character.
But clocking C. L. Goode’s proposed development doesn’t appear to be the best—and safest—starting point in efforts to reverse current trends.
Mountain Slopes Subdivision involves approximately 70 acres of marginal agricultural land—land that has not been actively farmed for years. In addition, the tract is located on the
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