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By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The vexing question of how to address lots which are divided by the Town of Washington’s corporate limits seems closer to resolution after a meeting July 8 between members of the town’s Planning Commission and the county’s Board of Supervisors.
The question has haunted town resident Claybert Smoot, who wants to subdivide a parcel he owns on the north end of town, but which is cut in two by the town boundary. Consequently, Mr. Smoot doesn’t have enough land in either the town or the county to meet either jurisdiction’s zoning and subdivision requirements.
The problem arose when the town was rechartered some years ago, and the General Assembly directed that the town be resurveyed since the old “metes and bounds” plat was deemed to be insufficient. The lines were redrawn to conform to the present corporate limit signs, which shifted some property on the north end of town outside the boundary, and tucked some on the south side within the town limit.
Mr. Smoot was one of several landowners who lost town property to the county, leaving a residue too small to meet the town’s minimum lot size for subdivision.
While expressing sympathy for Mr. Smoot’s predicament, the Town Council has stated that it wishes to find a comprehensive solution to the problem of such “straddle lots,” rather than attempting to address each case individually.
The county is also sympathetic, County Administrator John McCarthy said during the Saturday moprning meeting, but is concerned about the question of precedent in addressing jurisdictional boundary problems. He pointed to the Culpeper-Rappahannock County border,
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