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

Orange County has, aware or not, been enticing local and out-of-county developers to get rich and leave citizens to face increased taxes and the problems of suburbia.

They are doing this by using an old zoning ordinance called “by right.”

BY RIGHT CURRENTLY

Any land zoned agriculture can be divided into 2 acre lots and turned into a subdivision almost overnight. No rezoning process. No citizen input.

Originally “by right” was meant for a land poor farmer to cut off a few acres to sell when he needed money, i.e., to pay medical expenses. But that was before a developer could easily get rich, very rich.

Now developers populate our pastureland at an accelerated pace, abusing “by right” zoning. They are the greatest threat to keeping Orange rural. Every one of our neighboring counties had the foresight to prevent this accelerated development years ago by updating their “by right” zoning while continuing to protect their farmers.

Now the Planning Commission (PC) is working on ”by right” updates. The next PC meeting is August 15 (no agenda as of this writing; please check https://orangecova.portal.civicclerk.com/ for updates).

But they are hearing only from developers, greedy for profits, who are burning their ears off.  One developer actually called TWO Planning Commissioners in the middle of a PUBLIC meeting and told them to keep hands off.

The first draft language:

Editor's note: See this link for a county brief reviewing the state of by right in Orange County and overview of by right policies in neighboring counties: https://www.orangecountyva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6553/ZTA-24-02---240502-ByRight-Brief---Final?bidId=

If you want to keep rural life –  with our pasture land, hunting, fishing, wildlife, country roads, low taxes -- the Planning Commission, and later, the Board of Supervisors MUST hear from you.

PLEASE START NOW CONTACTING ONE OR ALL OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS AND ASKING THEM TO FIX THE BY RIGHT.    

This is just the beginning of the process and we need help from YOU to win.

PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS

District 1, Jason Cappelle, jcapelleorangecounty@gmail.com, 540-227-4589 (Commission Chair)

District 2: Brandon Van Hoven, bvanhoven@orangecountyva.gov, 540-229-2116

District 3, Jordan Marshall, jmarshall@orangecountyva.gov, 540-223-0617

District 4: Adam Bryington, abryington@yahoo.com, 540-661-7222 (Commission Vice Chair)

District 5: Frank DiPasquale, fdispasquale@orangecountyva.gov, 703-507-0485