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By JANE BANGLEY
»■»>!> ml W«w. Staff WrtUr
The Board of Zoning Appeals approved two special use permits applied for by Patricia Saltonstall of Flint Hill during its meeting on Thursday, December 20. The decision was made after approximately three hours of public hearing and deliberation on the applications.
The special use permit applications involved two lots that Saltonstall owns in the Lindgren “Whaley Tract” located off of Route 729. The application for Lot F of the tract asked for the maintenance of a house built on the lot that the BZA found on September 26 to be in violation of the zoning ordinance. The BZA found that the house is a duplex built in a conservation district, and the board had denied a special use permit application for the house in October of 1983.
The application for Lot G was for the construction of a dwelling similar in design to the house on Lot F. The board considered the applications during its meeting on November 28, but did not make a decision at that time because all of the members had not made a required on-site inspection,
Roger Kidwell spoke in opposition to the applications. He told the board that he did not understand why Saltonstall needed a special use permit application for the house on Lot F since the house was to be maintained as a single family dwelling. Kidwell was referring to the September 26 decision which the Board of Supervisors had acted on by requiring the house on Lot F to be used for single family purposes.
Kidwell also stated that granting the applications would set a precedence that would allow the building of multifamily dwellings in the county, and that the duplex nature of the buildings would adversely affect the property values of the area.
In response to these concerns, Doug Baumgardner, legal counsel for Saltonstall, called on Walter A. Robinson. Robinson, a real estate appraiser and land use consultant from Fauquier County, gave testimony on the applications at the November 28 meeting, also. He began his testimony on Thursday with information on the effect duplexes have had on land value.
Robinson told the BZA members that he had information on four properties along Route 622 in Castleton that have recently been sold. One of the houses has an apartment in the house. Hie other three houses are near the house with the apartment, and all of the houses have recently been sold at increased values. “From every property that I’ve looked at, and there were six of i these that I studied, none of them had gone down in value,” said Robinson.
Baumgardner told Robinson that one of the findings the board would have to make would be whether or not the proposed use of the land for duplexes would be detrimental to the public welfare. Baumgardner then asked Robinson about rental costs in the county.
“For the subject property, one bedroom would be $175 to $200, and this is without utilities with a typical lease for residential property...for the two bedroom the typical rent would be $225 to $275...for a typical house the rental would be $325 to $375,” said Robinson. Robinson told the board that to be able to afford to rent a typical house with 900 to 1000 square feet of living space in Rappahannock, a person would have to make at least $15,000 to $18,000 a year.
To pay rent on a one bedroom property, Robinson said that a person would have to make $8,400 to $9,600 a year. An income of $10,800 to $13,200
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