Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 10, 1993 TAG: 9306090429
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bedford County officials appear ready to trash - or at least rethink - the unique and controversial zoning system that was adopted three years ago.
In its place, the county might implement a more traditional form of zoning or a mix of traditional zoning and LUGS, which stands for Land-Use Guidance System.
LUGS alone, it seems, has proved too complicated, too unpopular and too much trouble.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to schedule a retreat soon to discuss changing LUGS, which was designed to be a fast, flexible, more objective and less political method of zoning.
Under LUGS, landowners who want to build on their property have to first apply to the county for a special permit.
Under traditional zoning - where certain areas are designated for certain uses, such as commercial or residential - landowners are not required to seek a special permit if what they want to build is in line with their zoning designation.
Community Planner Jeff Burdett said traditional zoning allows for more certainty, where LUGS leaves landowners wondering if any changes to their property will get county approval.
Critics of LUGS say this uncertainty has hurt development in Bedford County because developers are unwilling to buy property before knowing whether their project will fly.
Burdett contends that isn't true. He said the county has averaged 36 LUGS applications a year since it began, and it hasn't hurt growth in the county at all.
LUGS critics also say its point system of judging whether a project is compatible with surrounding land use is complicated and confusing.
A majority of the county supervisors wants to rethink LUGS. Of the seven supervisors who were on the board when LUGS was adopted, four remain.
Supervisor Gus Saarnijoki said the county probably should go with a mix of LUGS and traditional zoning, although he believes that will hurt the public input process.
"Traditional zoning is cut and dried," he said, but LUGS gives people more of an opportunity to voice their opinions. All LUGS applications go through a public hearing process, unlike with traditional zoning.
Supervisor Dale Wheeler said it puzzles him why LUGS isn't more popular. "The public should love it," he said.
But the public doesn't. Wheeler, Saarnijoki, Burdett and other county officials have fielded their share of complaints about LUGS.
"People don't understand it. It's a very complex set of regulations," Saarnijoki said.
Wheeler said moving toward more traditional zoning would be easier on the Board of Supervisors, too.
Rather than having to make decisions on each zoning application, the supervisors could draw the zoning lines once and be done with it, with a few exceptions, he said.
It would be a difficult job up front, he said, but easier in the long run. "It would be less work on the board."
Other supervisors agreed.
Most of them seem to favor a combination of traditional zoning in the high-growth areas, such as Forest and Chamblissburg and around Smith Mountain Lake, and LUGS in the rural sections of the county.
Either way, Supervisor Henry Creasy, a developer and builder in the county, said it is time for a change.
"I think the more you can eliminate the unknown, that's good," he said.
by CNB