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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1995
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Comprehensive
Planning in 7 996
Perhaps 1996 will bring an end to the seemingly endless process of reviewing the county’s Comprehensive Plan.
To get there, however, the county’s people and government need to decide what approach to take to the concept of allowing growth around the villages.
Nothing has so dramatically challenged this notion as the proposal for a major development on land owned by the Miller family in Sperryville. The prospect of 100 houses suddenly cropping up on the edge of the current village has alarmed many.
J. Clifford Miller III has said he does not imagine this development will be sudden. Rather he pictures it taking place gradually over a 20-year period. This has not silenced any critics.
The present Comprehensive Plan calls for development around the villages as a means of accommodating growth while preserving agriculture. If growth cannot occur around Sperryville, a village with a sewer system, where can it occur? The alternative is likely to be a court challenge to the zoning ordinance’s requirement that agriculturally zoned land be developed no more densely than an average of one residence per 25 acres. Past history indicates courts will consider this requirement elitist, designed to keep out all but very wealthy people, if growth is not accommodated elsewhere.
There are legitimate concerns about the market for housing such as Mr. Miller proposes. There are questions about the ability of the sewer plant to handle the increased use. There are questions about whether this development will be occurring in a flood plain. There are questions about the adequacy of Sperryville’s underground water supply to accommodate such growth. All of these questions need answers.
The first of the specific public forums on the revised plan brought forth a request for a senior center and/or more recreational facilities for the youth of the county. Mr. Miller has indicated willingness to consider such facilities as part of the overall plan for the village. This seems the only likely route to providing a building for such purposes since the tax base cannot support building it.
If Rappahannock County is to avoid the suburban sprawl seen in all the surrounding counties, there is no substitute for careful planning. A sentimental desire to have everything remain just as it is will never prevent this fate from overtaking the county.
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