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that they could destroy the present equilibrium in development practices in Northern Virginia.”
Foote contended that the new restrictions would slow down the planning and rezoning process. The changes, said Foote, would also eliminate proffers of property for public facilities such as school sites and fire stations.
The direct link between the development and the impact may be difficult to prove. For example, Foote said, “While any given rezoning may be a major factor in the need for new schools, there will rarely be a rezoning so large that it alone generates the need for a new school.”
Dicks said that there is a precedent of abuse in the current system. “Sometimes extractions turn into extortion,” said Dicks, adding that the existing system “lends itself to wheeling and dealing.”
Foote argued that the “amendments assume what has never been, and cannot be proven, that the development community is incapable of protecting its interests in the rezoning process, and that the localities use invidious means to overreach. The record is without evidence.”
Sen. Kevin Miller, R-26th District, a member of the Committee on Local Government and Clinton Miller’s brother, supported the amendments, and voted twice against stripping the amendments from the bill. Sen. Miller’s district includes Rappahannock, Culpeper and part of Fauquier counties.
“I’m philosophically opposed to extortion,” said the senator from Harrisonburg.
“With the guidelines placed on conditional zoning, there would be a fairer bargaining position for each party,” he said.
The conditional zoning bill is now headed for the Senate floor.
Ben Jones, president of the Fauquier County chapter on the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association, said he plans to have the amendments reinserted on the Senate floor, according to Kristin Umstattd, an aide to Del. Rollins.
Possibly to help limit the opposition, Jones is proposing a grandfather clause that would exempt the Northern Virginian counties currently entitled to conditional zoning, said Umstattd.
“If he succeeds, conditional zoning in Fauquier would be severely limited,” she said.
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