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With changes to the Agricultural and Forestal District Act, the 1987 session of the Virginia General Assembly took a step toward stronger protection for the Commonwealth’s farm and forest land.
The effort began 18 months ago at a conference in Charlottesville when local officials and landowners offered a range of suggestions for improving the enabling legislation contained in the Virginia Code.
Then a committee, which included representatives from the Warrenton-based Piedmont Environmental Council, other environmental groups and state agencies, drafted a bill aimed primarily at “clearing up the ambiguities in the previous legislation,” according to PEC president Bob Dennis.
Introduced by Senator Frank Nolan from Augusta County, the original package passed the Senate with only one dissenting vote, but in the House it met stiff opposition orUapized by the Home Builders’ lobby.
Resistance from developer interests led to scrapping two important provisions. The committee had recommended a 20-year maximum term for an Agricultural and Forestal District; that was cut back to 10 years. Also deleted were standards for local governments to consider before approving a landowner’s withdrawal from a district prior to its expiration.
But with those changes, the AFD amendments passed in the House, as in the Senate, with just one dissenting vote.
The amended amendments also make it clear that a new board of su
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