After almost three-dozen people opined on Spotsylvania County Supervisor Emmitt Marshall's proposal to allow 3-acre agricultural lots, he had the vote tabled for 30 days.
More than 100 people were present at the public hearing last night, with a slim majority in support of Marshall's plan to allow landowners with agricultural land to create a 3-acre lot once a year, with a maximum of 10 in a lifetime. Currently, agricultural land is zoned for 5- and 10-acre lots.
That many people haven't been to a county board meeting since supervisors in November 2006 voted to preserve portions of the Chancellorsville Battlefield.
Marshall said he had some legal matters he wanted the county attorney to review with the ordinance before the entire board voted. He proposed this plan because, he said, rural landowners are struggling, and selling off smaller acreage will help preserve family farms.
Planning staff said it is impossible to predict how many people would take advantage of dividing a 3-acre lot, but there is the unlikely potential to almost double the growth in rural Spotsylvania.
Opinions varied greatly from those strongly in support of allowing the smaller lots because of property rights to those against the measure because it could lead to rural sprawl and cost all taxpayers millions in new infrastructure needs.
Some landowners argued that a lot of land would not be fit for a drain field, so homes could not be built on it. They doubted there would be a rush of applications.
Alfred King, a Fawn Lake resident, told supervisors that this vote may be the most important one of their terms. He said the proposal has the potential to open the county's rural land to almost 9,000 more home lots.
"There is no reason to pass an ordinance that will more than double our growth rate in order to help a few families in this time of economic crisis," he said.
Bill Broaddus, who owns a 352-acre farm on Partlow Road, said he didn't think the proposal went far enough. He said if he and his brother were to have medical problems, the entire farm would have to be sold if this proposal was not approved.
"The only people who will buy the 352 acres will be a developer," he said.
Leslie Dickerson said landowners should have the opportunity to sell smaller lots. "This is our hallowed ground. This is our heritage. We are not trying to get rid of it. But times change and you do what you have to do to survive," he said.
But some farmers opposed the proposal.
Tom Beals, a co-owner of the 3,864-acre Oakley Farm, which is one of the county's largest, turned to the crowd and said no one in this room 40 years ago would have ever thought the county would look like it does today.
"If something like this passes, I would hate to see what this county could possibly look like in the Livingston and Berkeley districts 30 years from now. And I plan to be here," he said.
Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
Email: dtelvock@freelancestar.com