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contrary to restrictions in the county s Zoning Ordinance. Despite warnings and suspension of his permit, DeMent persisted. The building is now up. It can’t be ignored because adjoining landowners have filed suit against both the BZA and DeMent. During Thursday’s private meeting, the BZA members voted unanimously to revoke DeMent’s special use permit. We doubt if this action will have much effect. It’s not likely that DeMent is going to correct the situation voluntarily. He’d have to tear his building down to do it. So it appears that the BZA members are going to have to tap the county’s general fund to hire a lawyer and try to convince a judge to order the building removed.
If interested citizens had been allowed to sit in on the BZA members’ discussion of the DeMent dilemma, someone might have asked why the Board waited so long to take any legal action. Why wasn’t an injunction obtained when it first became obvious that DeMent was ignoring the conditions of his special use permit?
The Zoning Administrator insists that there are precedents in Virginia’s strong property rights court system for action that the BZA hopes a judge will take. Houses have been ordered taken down before. We don t doubt that he s right. But it still appears to be a last minute, finger-in-the-dike solution.
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