WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1999

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1999

Our View

Lost option?

An important rezoning tool will be lost

if HB 2324 is passed by the senate

A fight over growth controls that started last year

in neighboring Fauquier County has spread

statewide, bringing with it serious implications for Rappahannock.

Just yesterday, House Bill 2324 — a piece of legislation that would eliminate all special exception requirements for commercial rezonings statewide — passed the Virginia House of Delegates, 67 to 32. The bill is now on its way to the State Senate.

HB 2324 is a developers’ bill, aimed squarely at jurisdictions that wish to maintain a measure of control over development, and their quality of life.

Let’s hope our 40 senators are not as easily swayed as some of our delegates have been.

HB 2324 is championed by Del. Thomas Jackson Jr., of Hillsville, who apparently has no clue what the special exception process is all about, or why it may be desirable for a jurisdiction to adopt such a measure. How could he know? Hillsville has no zoning ordinances.

While the bill was slightly amended in committee to allow restrictions for areas “designated for steep slope mountain development,” we’ve already addressed that issue here. But there will be other challenges in the future, and if we find that a special exception process is the way to go, we should be able to use it.

By characterizing HB 2324 as a “matter of protecting property rights,” proponents have grossly oversimplified the issue, and further misled the legislators. Actually, the special exception process can be Used to protect the property rights of the citizens already living in an area, and those who might chose to move to an area in the future.

But as we’ve seen so far, the majority of the members of the House don’t understand that. Let’s hope Our state senators know just what to do with this bill.