By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON

By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON

Rappahannock News Staff Writer

Rappahannock’s Board of Zoning Appeals tabled action on an application for a religious retreat center in the F.T. Valley, finding that the ordinance requires a site visit as a prerequisite to a decision.

In the four-hour hearing on April 23, the BZA members tried to play peacemaker, attempting to allay concerns of neighboring landowners by adding restrictions to the permit sought by Renate and Ted Chapman. In the process, they resolved questions concerning the zoning oi0 the property and secured an offer oi a market study on the demand for a small retreat center here.

The Chapmahs want to build a 12-bedroom retreat center on two adjoining parcels of 17.25 and 77.5 acres on Route 231 at Buckner’s Corner. They are asking to serve groups of no more than 20 on 30-35 weekends during the year. “Primarily, it will be our house five days a week,” Mr. Chapman told the BZA. He said that the design will leave 99 percent of the land “open and unspoiled”, in character with the residential/agricultural neighborhood. “Visitors will be coming for quiet study and meditation. They will hardly be noticed,” he said.

Mr. Chapman said he is Episcopalian and his wife Catholic but that the retreat center would not be church affilliated and would not seek tax exempt status.

He described the zoning on the property as agricultural (which it was advertized as in the public hearing notice) and pointed out that the actual building site is on a flat ridge where slope is well below 14 percent.

Renate Chapman acknowledged that the county’s planning commission had recommended denial of the special use permit application on the grounds that the retreat center constituted a commercial venture. “We’re not making a profit on this operation. We won’t be making ourselves known to the public,” she said, repeating that she and her husband have the financial resources to buy the land and build the retreat center without taking out a mortgage or loan and therefore will not