Another Rezoning Request
Here goes Gloucester County, Virginia down the rezoning road again. Gloucester resident and
businessman, C.W. Davis is asking our local government to rezone 5.4 acres of
land on Short Lane
so he can build five, four unit, apartment buildings; for a total of 20
apartments. Mr. Davis’ land and the land surrounding his are currently zoned
for single family homes only. Our county government is recommending the
Planning Commission deny Mr. Davis request which will be deliberated during a Public
Hearing at the Planning Commission meeting on February 2, 2017.
Over the last couple or three
years there have been numerous requests submitted to our local government to
have land rezoned to allow the construction of approximately 440 apartments or
apartment like units. (i.e. condos, town homes, etc) Of those requests only one
has been denied by our Board of Supervisors; the request of Gloucester resident and businessman, Tabb Bridges. Mr. Bridges
requested that a single lot located in an established single family dwelling
neighborhood in the courthouse area be rezoned so he could build one duplex
rental unit (two apartments). One of our elected supervisors had this to say
about the Board of Supervisors decision to deny Mr. Bridges rezoning request.
“First, the proposed
development was right in the center of a cluster of single family homes. A duplex would look out of place in that subdivision,
would you not agree? It would have
caused a slippery slope of events going forward, and I am opposed to
"micro zoning".”
“Second, we believe the
Comprehensive Plan incorrectly classified this subdivision as multi family use
(we will be correcting that).”
“Thirdly, while not all of
the residents appeared at our meeting, we were inundated with an overwhelming
number of residents opposed to the proposed development.”
The following was my reply.
As I understand it; micro
zoning is the detailed preparation of land use maps by local bodies and public
authorities, fixing specific land uses for each site (such as residential,
educational, commercial, etc.). Micro zoning also details the density of land
uses at particular sites. In other words; micro zoning establishes a detailed
land use pattern.
I too, am against micro
zoning, but it appears we may interpret the words “micro zoning” somewhat
differently. In my simple mind I believe Gloucester County is micro zoned and such zoning is further micro
managed when requests like Mr. Bridges’ are denied and others are approved.
Basing decisions on “how
something looks” is micro managing micro zoning to the extreme. What you find
acceptable from a “how it looks” standpoint may not be acceptable to others and
vise versa. As I shared in my article on GVLN, there are duplex units within
multiple neighborhoods here at Gloucester Point that cause no negative impacts
on any of the surrounding single family dwellings. Most people don’t even
notice they are duplexes. So I guess my answer would be; no to your question
about the duplexes “looking out of place” within the courthouse area
neighborhood.
As for potential errors in
the comprehensive plan; I don’t know what to tell you other than it is the
BOS’s plan. I am of the opinion that local and other government involvement in
how a landowner uses their property should be strictly limited to protecting
the health, welfare and safety of the citizenry. Nothing more, nothing less. No
level of government within the United States should have the power to prevent any land use based
on how something will look or whether or not it will aesthetically fit in with
surrounding properties. I also believe no level of government should have the
power to restrict growth to predetermined areas as is the case with the
“Village Plan” and “Development District” concepts our local government has
adopted without consent of the people.
It is great the people of
the neighborhood at the courthouse successfully rallied together to exercise
their 1st Amendment rights, but they are not the only ones to speak against
such rezoning requests. I would be willing to confidently bet that if the
voices of every person in the Gloucester Point, Hayes, Guinea and Wicomico areas (primary users of the shopping
center) were heard, there would be overwhelming opposition to the 120
apartments that will now be constructed as part of the York River Crossing
Shopping Center. I would also be willing to bet that if all of the
responses the BOS received, in one form or another, pertaining to the YRCS
rezoning were tallied, we would find there were more voices who spoke in
opposition of the rezoning than who spoke in favor of it. We just were not as
organized and public about it as the folks in the courthouse area neighborhood
were.
Personally, I believe we have more than
enough existing apartments and apartments approved for future construction,
but who am I to say what Mr. Davis or any other land owner may or may not do
with their property? How will our Board of Supervisors “Rule” on Mr. Davis’
rezoning request? Will the “good ole boy” system come into play? Will they
continue to support United Nations land use agendas on American soil? Or will
they begin to return Gloucester to the Republic land of freedom that it once was? At
this point, your guess is as good as mine. We will continue to follow this story and provide you with updates as necessary.
Email your comments to
Kennysr61@gmail.com
Kenny Hogge, Sr.
Gloucester Point, Virginia
