ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9609030110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
SOME BEDFORD COUNTY residents say the county's system of zoning is cumbersome and unfair to rural landowners. County officials agree, but they differ on what needs to be done.
Henry and Helen Bramlett are still in the same bind.
They want to sell their Bedford County cattle farm and retire, but they haven't been able to.
That's not because they don't have a buyer. A developer wants to turn their farm into an 80-lot subdivision, but county zoning laws won't allow it because the farm isn't in one of the growth zones designated in the county's comprehensive plan.
A couple of years ago, Ed Owen had similar problems.
First, Owen wanted to build a 57-lot subdivision on vacant land near U.S. 460.
He was initially turned down because, like the Bramletts' farm, the land parcels he wanted to build on were not in regions where the county encourages growth. Only later - when the county extended growth areas to include his land - did he have luck with his projects.
Owen and the Bramletts place at least some of the blame for their problems on the county's unique zoning ordinances, called the Land Use Guidance System (LUGS). Owen's experiences with LUGS frustrated him so much that he distributed a countywide petition in 1994 to have LUGS replaced with conventional zoning.
"It's a bad thing all the way around. It's really held up the growth in Bedford County," Owen said recently. "A lot of builders hate to come here because of all the [problems] they have to go through."
Though Owen's petition didn't get much attention from the Board of Supervisors at the time, the idea of changing or abolishing LUGS has been gaining steam lately. Many residents have voiced concerns at various times to government officials that LUGS is too expensive and that it takes too long to gain approval of such simple projects as building a house or opening a new shop in an old building. Some say it impedes good growth by making it too difficult for developers to get approval for projects.
When the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission met at a joint conference in July to discuss the county's rapid growth, they ended up talking about how zoning might need to be changed.
"Everybody's agreeing that something needs to be done," County Administrator Bill Rolfe said. "I don't think everybody agrees on what to do."
Within the next year, during which the county comprehensive plan must be updated, some significant changes could be made to zoning laws, Rolfe said.
At the July meeting, supervisors and planning commissioners made various suggestions about zoning, including keeping LUGS, replacing LUGS with conventional zoning, having a mixture of conventional zoning and LUGS, and no zoning at all.
`Punished for where they live'
Before LUGS was enacted in 1989, Bedford County had no zoning. The county, which is the fastest-growing Virginia locality west of Interstate 95, needed some controls on growth, planners thought, or all the rural beauty that made it such an attractive place to live would be lost in a sea of uncontrolled development.
Unlike conventional zoning, which divides property into zoning-use categories such as agricultural, residential and commercial, LUGS allows mixed-use development, such as houses next to businesses, if the proposed project scores high enough on criteria such as its compatibility with surrounding properties and the county comprehensive plan.
In most forms of conventional zoning, if someone wants to open a business on property that's zoned for that sort of business, they just fill out the forms, pay the fees, and they're done, more or less.
But in LUGS, which doesn't have land-use designations, the developer must essentially go through a process of hearings similar to a rezoning every time a new use is proposed for a property or a new structure is to be built. Public compatibility hearings must be held to give neighboring property owners a chance to voice their opinions on the project.
The average LUGS application costs $250 or more. And sometimes, because of all the required meetings and hearings, it can take two to three months or even longer before a homeowner or developer gets a decision on the project from the planning commission and the supervisors.
The varying sentiments county residents have for LUGS were vividly reflected last week when Helen Bramlett went before the Board of Supervisors.
The Bramletts had argued that the proposed subdivision on their farm should be allowed because their land is surrounded by new development and sits on Virginia 24, one of the county's busiest roads, just a mile or so from the county's biggest high school, Staunton River. They asked the Planning Commission to enlarge nearby county growth areas to include their farm.
But the commission - reflecting the county's desire to preserve green spaces and rural land as well as concerns among the Bramletts' neighbors about how a subdivision would affect the quality of life - turned the Bramletts down.
Helen Bramlett said she doesn't want to see her corner of Bedford County turned into a suburban jungle of mini-malls and subdivisions like the Forest area, but she also thinks one more subdivision won't make much of a difference in the residential corridor near her farm.
She asked the supervisors to reconsider the planning commission's decision and include her farm in the growth area, or to buy her farm if the county wants to save it so badly. The supervisors made no decisions, but they showed a unified interest in reviewing, changing or reforming county zoning.
"This is just a good example of why I don't like the LUGS system," Supervisor Roger Cheek told the Bramletts. "It seems like a lot of people in the county are punished for where they live."
Supervisor Bob Crouch said LUGS limits the amount for which people can sell their property, and "it is clearly time we address, amend LUGS or do whatever is necessary to get a more equitable system."
Supervisor Dale Wheeler said he's been convinced all along that LUGS would eventually give way to conventional zoning, at least in parts of the county.
But he also said he wasn't sure conventional zoning would help the Bramletts, who are essentially asking for a rezoning of their property.
"Can you allow total usage of all property, even as it exists in traditional zoning? You'd have to basically open all the properties for all types of development, which is the same as no zoning...."I think the real question is, 'Do you want to have governmental control over land use?' And I think that was handled by the Virginia Supreme Court 70 years ago, and they said it was legal.
"It's not so much a question of LUGS vs. traditional zoning as it's a question of zoning - period. When you are the fastest-growing county west of Richmond, I don't see how you can't have some controls."
Supervisor Calvin Updike said: "I can sympathize with Henry and Helen [Bramlett] because I own a little farm myself. We need controls, but I still think it's unfair for them not to get all they can for their land. I am a country boy and I like to see Bedford County stay country, but it's not staying that way."
In a recent letter to The Roanoke Times, former county planning commissioner Glenn Ayers said he wanted "to go on the record as one of the authors [of LUGS] who admits that the most vulnerable weakness of the ordinance has been revealed" by the Bramletts' troubles selling their farm.
"LUGS' upsides were always that the growth areas encouraged development where there was compatible infrastructure [such as sewer and water hook-ups], and that contiguous citizens had a voice in development. The downsides were lands outside the growth areas which no longer retained their traditional use in the short-term at margin" and people who did not live nearby not having a voice in the decision.
"I am confirmed, if not vindicated, in my opinion that the best zoning for rural areas is no zoning," Ayers said. "We have this in Alamance County, N.C. [where Ayers now lives]. A private foundation has been formed to buy up farm land threatened with development, and does so with regularity.
"They prefer to 'put up' rather than 'shut up,' a far different scenario from Bedford County, where a farm couple no longer able to farm has their ticket written by county planners like me."
No longer afraid of zoning?
Countywide, at least, doing away with all zoning isn't an option if the county is to follow its comprehensive plan, said the county's chief planning director, Garland Page.
Page believes most people like Owen and the Bramletts don't have a problem with LUGS; they have a problem with the comprehensive plan.
The comprehensive plan identifies certain areas of the county where people want growth and services such as sewer and water, and other areas that county residents want to remain rural. All LUGS does is implement the comprehensive plan.
Unless the county changes the priorities for growth it has outlined in the plan, people will have the same problems with zoning no matter what form it takes, Page said.
Ultimately, if the public wants substantive changes made to the comprehensive plan or LUGS, it has to ask for them. To change LUGS, for example, residents must go to the Board of Supervisors. If the board thought there was enough public desire to change LUGS, it would probably ask the Planning Commission to propose a different or revised set of land-use ordinances for the county.
The Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors would then hold public hearings to discuss the changes to zoning, and the supervisors would vote on it.
Supervisor Lucille Boggess said she thinks there are some problems with LUGS that need to be discussed, but that she and the other supervisors also receive calls every week from people who want land controls, such as stricter rules to prevent mobile homes from moving next door to more expensive houses.
"There seems to be some sentiment that people in Bedford County aren't as fearful of zoning as they used to be," Rolfe said.
Rolfe thinks the answer might be a combination of LUGS and conventional zoning, or a streamlining of LUGS that would eliminate some of the one-on-one meetings with developers in favor of a one-time public hearing.
Or, maybe just conventional zoning by itself. That would take away a lot of the insecurities of LUGS because people then would know what the land is zoned for before they propose a project, Rolfe said. No matter what type of zoning is selected, it probably wouldn't help the Bramletts because of the comprehensive plan's emphasis on keeping their area agricultural.
"Unfortunately, farmers are the hardest hit by zoning," Rolfe said. "They've put their life and livelihood in their land, and if they reach a point where they're ready to retire and cash in their investment in the land and put their farm on the market, that's when the government gets involved with what can and can't be done on their land, and sometimes that may conflict with the best offer they get."
How to deliver your opinion
If you live in Bedford County and have some thoughts about changes in zoning or growth areas, here are ways to make your voice heard:
The Bedford County Board of Supervisors meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month in the county administration building at 122 E. Main St., Bedford.
The county planning commission meets at 7:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday and fourth Monday of the month, also in the county administration building.
To speak at either meeting, or to obtain phone numbers for your local supervisor or planning commissioner, contact the county administration office at (540) 586-7601.
You can write your supervisor or planning commissioner at 122 E. Main St., Bedford 24523.
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