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(Continued from Page 1) agriculture zones,” Mr. McCarthy explained. “Density is the primary, all-consuming concern for agriculture and conservation zones.”
“And the density refers to the land, not to the person who owns the land,” the zoning administrator continued. Accordingly, if Mrs. Brown had purchased parcel C from Mr. Smith and that piece had been cut from parcel A since 1973 (when the old ordinance took effect), then one of Mr. Smith’s by-right subdivisions is already gone. And if Mrs. Brown has further subdivided parcel C into two lots, then all of Mr. Smith’s byright cuts have been taken, the zoning administrator noted.
So to qualify for administrative approval, a proposed subdivision must pass tests for (1) contiguous parcels under the same ownership, (2) resubdivision of any lot created since 1973 and (3) density restrictions.
“Except for family subdivision exemptions mandated by state law, all I can approve administratively is a lot 25 acres or greater in size,” Mr. McCarthy noted.
But suppose Mr. Jones has a 100acre family farm. He doesn’t farm any more but he wants to keep the old homeplace so that brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa will still have a place to gather. He can cut four lots from it and still meet density regulations, but the zoning administrator can okay only three. Mr. Jones has the option of applying to the Board of Supervisors for a special exception permit that will allow him to keep the family’s homeplace on a 50-acre lot while subdividing the remaining 50 acres into, say, two 10-acre lots and one 30-acre lot, providing other regulations such as requirements on setback, road frontage and road access can be met.
The Board of Supervisors may allow this modified cluster approach to development under the new' ordinance, Mr. McCarthy said. “But again, the guiding principle is the density. They’ve kept the density of one dwelling unit per 25 acres for that 100 acres . . . And we’re not left in a situation where people must buy a 25-acre lot or they can’t live in Rappahannock County.”
But large lots still get the edge under the new ordinance. “I take hands-off on lots 50 acres or greater,” Mr. McCarthy noted. He may give administrative approval without restriction for the subdivision of those parcels, provided they have frontage on a state-maintained road or access to such a road via
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