Weigh in to prevent continued "by right" loss of rural land - part 2

Helping to spread the word by sharing the following message we received.

The Orange County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on October 3 at 6:00 pm in the Public Safety Building (next to the Orange Airport) at 11282 Government Center Drive in Orange.  The hearing concerns the Commission’s new initiative to limit subdivisions of land in the Agricultural (A-1) zoning district to 4 lots of 2 or more acres for every 10 years of ownership.  See https://orangecountyva.gov/1143/ZTA-24-02-Agricultural-district-division for detailed information.  It is imperative that people show up and sign up to speak in favor of the initiative to limit by-right subdivisions.  A simple, 2-sentence statement is enough.  A vote might occur that evening, so it’s now or never.

Background

Under current law, landowners can chop agricultural land into lots of 2 (or more) acres as a matter of right.  So, if a developer acquires 100 acres, it might build up to 50 homes on it.  This result defeats the “vision statement” of the Comprehensive Plan:  “To sustain the rural character of Orange County while enhancing and improving the quality of life for all its citizens.”  By way of background, some 500 residential building permits issued in Orange County this year, of which 30% or more were by-right—and none of the 500 had proffers attached.  Orange is being nibbled to death by haphazard zoning, and more development always means higher taxes.

The notion of 2-acre, by-right subdivision originally intended just to allow farm owners to establish family homesteads or sell outlying parcels to support their livelihoods.  Nobody intended, however, that developers would twist this “exception” to become the “rule”—and turn farms into subdivisions.  Indeed, Orange County stands alone—among Albemarle, Culpeper, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Spotsylvania and others—as the only county without limits on by-right developments.

Some might defend unlimited subdivisions as inherent to “property rights.”  Developers, of course, belie their economic self-interest with this viewpoint.  But, ironically, many just-plain-citizens defend developers’ interests—even though taxpayers suffer the quality-of-life fallout and runaway tax increases to support the schools, infrastructure, and services attendant to unbridled growth.  Most people choose to live in Orange rather than (say) Loudoun County because we want “this” instead of “that.”  Subdivision limits can ensure “the quality of life for all [Orange County] citizens” over the profits of a few absentee developers. 

Call to Action

Please show up and sign up to speak and voice your support for keeping Orange County rural.  At the risk of redundancy, pass this message along to others in your network and ask them to come to the meeting. 

Read an earlier post on this topic from August 7, 2024: https://www.protectorangeva.org/post/weigh-in-to-prevent-continued-by-right-loss-of-rural-land