Decision on Beleaguered Alwington Development could come soon

Fauquier County

“A Warrenton-area residential developer's land use lawsuit against Fauquier County is still up in the air— for now. After an hour-and-a-half demurrer hearing Monday morning, Fauquier County Circuit Court judge Jeffrey Parker said he would issue an opinion on the matter in four of the five counts brought forth by The Alwington Farms Developers LLC.

Parker said he would like to issue that opinion by the end of the year. A demurrer hearing asks a judge to consider if there is a legally sufficient claim for a lawsuit to continue. The end result of Monday's legal proceedings means that four of the counts can still go to trial at a yet-to-be-determined date. The lone count Parker dismissed was the plaintiff's claim that Fauquier County's land use regulations were arbitrary and capricious based on exclusionary zoning.”

~Writes Kipp Hanley of Fauquier.com

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County Asks Legislators for Ability to Compel Residents to Tie into Utilities

Gloucester County

“Gloucester County is once again asking the Virginia General Assembly to allow it to have the ability to require its residents to connect to county water and sewer if hookups are available. The request was listed as the top priority to be sent to Del. Keith Hodges (R-Middlesex) and State Sen. Tommy Norment (R-Williamsburg) to be considered for legislation in the coming session. The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in March 2012, requesting consideration of the matter by the General Assembly.

This year, Gloucester went a step further. The board took a different approach, asking the General Assembly to allow all localities in the commonwealth which own and maintain their own water and sewer systems to have the ability to require residents to connect to the system where it is available and where the elected governing body is in control of the utilities system.”

~Writes Quinton Sheppard of the Gazette-Journal

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BZA Denies Appeal on Single Family Home in Resort District

Colonial Beach

“On Nov. 19, Colonial Beach property owner Sharron Fortier appealed the decision of Colonial Beach Building and Zoning Director Gary Mitchell, who had determined that, according to Article 7 of the zoning ordinance, her property, located in the town’s resort commercial district, could not be used as a single-family dwelling. Coincidentally, in September of this year, amendments to Article 7 were put on hold at the town’s council level by now-former council member Tim Curtin, and three other council members. The changes proposed to Article 7 did not affect the section of the ordinance that covers the disallowance of single-family dwellings within the Commercial Resort District.

At the Nov. 14 regular town council meeting, the council unanimously passed Ordinance 635, approving amendments to Article 7 of the building and zoning ordinance, after it had been tabled back in September.”

~Writes Linda Farneth of The Journal

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City’s Planning Head Seeks to Overturn City Zoning Administrator’s Order

City of Falls Church

“It seemed likely to be a contentious meeting of Falls Church City’s Zoning Board of Appeals. On the agenda for tonight’s meeting was the rare situation of one City official asking the board to overturn another City official’s order. Jim Snyder, the City’s planning director, had filed a motion seeking to overturn an order by City Zoning Administrator John Boyle. Mr. Boyle’s ruling would have allowed the new owners of an historic house at 311 Grove Avenue to demolish the home.

But the meeting was abruptly canceled Thursday afternoon, just hours after the Falls Church Times wrote about the issue. City Attorney John Foster informed Mr. Snyder that, in his opinion, Mr. Snyder lacked standing to file the appeal. At this juncture, it is unclear why, making an already bizarre situation even more so.”

~Writes Stephen Siegel of the Falls Church Times

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