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To the editor.
In 1966, Rappahannock County adopted a zoning ordinance of only 38 pages. It covered the subject and, incidentally, designated both churches and schools as permitted by right. Neither the churches nor the schools got out of hand because they were exempted from zoning provisions.
Then the Planners began to worry and fear that our short and simple Rappahannock Ordinance needed more legal teeth and that there were people out there in the county, in the churches, in the schools, and elsewhere, who were going to do something destructive of the “health, safety, and general welfare” unless they were further regulated. And so, we got the 1973 zoning ordinance, expanded to 60 pages of restrictions on structures and the uses made of them, including churches and schools.
Then we got an uproar. Then we got harassment of the Pentacoetal Church with a District Judge dragooned into service to enforce this “good zoning.” All for fear of a “non-standard” church (to quote Dick McNear) and fear of fellow citizens who eryoyed too much personal liberty and were certain, of course, to misuse it. This newspaper was provided headlines for weeks on end, reporting this distasteful business.
But once one begins to fear, there is no end to his fear. Each new fear must be countered by another specific restrictive zoning provision until, at last, some Planner asked, “What county has already addressed our fears with tight zoning restrictions?” The answer was: Fauquier County, right next door!
So the Planners and their consultant, Dick McNear, ran off copies of 210 pages of the Fauquier Ordinance (3Vi times the length of the existing 1973 Rappahannock Ordinance) and
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