Subdivision ordinance input wanted

By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer
Published: October 23, 2008

County officials expect a maximum capacity crowd at a public hearing for revisions to the county’s subdivision ordinance. So many are anticipated to attend, in fact, that the Oct. 28 hearing will be held at Prospect Heights Middle School rather than the regular Gordon Building meeting room.
Proposed divisions include new definitions for minor and major subdivisions, and requirements for roads into those subdivisions have already spurred discontent from some county residents. Other revisions in the draft that have spurred opposition are a change in the allowable number of divisions that can be made from a parent tract within a specific period of time.
The county’s current subdivision ordinance operates with a “four in four” policy in agriculturally zoned districts, where the minimum lot size is two acres. But the proposed changes to the ordinance would reduce the number of divisions permitted from four divisions in four years, to one division in four years.
The residue, or what’s left after the first division, may be divided in year four. And language in the ordinance states that any lot divided from the parent tract can continue to be subdivided at the rate of one lot every four years; the parent tract shall not be divided into tracts smaller than 50 acres.
Last month, landowners assembled for an information session about the proposed changes to the county’s subdivision ordinance. They also met Wednesday night (after presstime).
Manassas attorney Paul Gauthier, whose specialty is land development, real estate, subdivision and zoning law, provided his interpretation of proposed changes to the subdivision ordinance to a full room at the Holiday Inn Express Sept. 10.
In Feb. 2007, a similarly revised subdivision ordinance draft failed to gain the support of the Orange County Board of Supervisors. But at that 2007 public hearing, nearly 100 residents of Orange and other localities made their opinions known either by speaking, or submitting written comments to the county officials.
Orange County Administrator Bill Rolfe said he expects to see a similarly-sized amount of public interest at this year’s public hearing representing both opposition and support of the proposed changes.
“I think we’re going to have a mixed bag,“ Rolfe said, “but there are two main focuses.“
Rolfe said some who attend the hearing will express their concern for property rights, while others will advocate controlled and managed growth.
A copy of the Orange County subdivision draft revision is available on the county’s website: http://www.orangecountyva.gov. The public hearing to receive comments on the draft subdivision ordinance is scheduled for Oct. 28, and will be held at Prospect Heights Middle School starting at 7:30 p.m.