No action on rural "protections"

There was a big decision made by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in the early morning of October 11—or rather a big nondecision—that probably doesn’t sound like a big decision unless you’re one of the 300-plus people who showed up to the meeting that started October 10 in the County Office Building, one of the largest crowds you’ll see at a supes meeting.

The Board was looking at three different ordinances: one that would create 100′ stream buffers throughout the county; a second that would limit building on critical slopes, those at 25 percent or more; and a third that would increase the amount of time that a homeowner would have to own land in order to subdivide it for a family member.

The first two ordinances are principally designed to keep dirt out of the streams. Dirt in the streams is bad for a lot of reasons, chief among them that it silts up the reservoirs, isn’t good for the critters living in the rivers and eventually messes with the Chesapeake Bay.

The family subdivision ordinance really doesn’t have much to do with protecting the environment, except that it’s designed to decrease development in the rural area by preventing developers from abusing the option.

In general, they are modest proposals that tweak existing restrictions in place in much of the county. How come they rile people up? The main thing is, it restricts what you can do with your property. It’s the government telling you where you shouldn’t build your house.

Eighty-three people spoke for five hours, about 60 of them opposed to the measures, at least in their current forms. Here’s some of what they said:

"Joe Stalin and Chairman Mao would be proud of you, trying to create the People’s Republic of Albemarle."

"If we want to worry about land-disturbing activities, we need to look at the developers building in Old Trial and Crozet."

"These are fair, balanced provisions that enact needed environmental protections while at the same time providing ample safe guards to land owners."

"We’re trying to kill a mosquito with a sledgehammer."

And so on. The breakdown has been described as property rights vs. the environment, but it really was as much about a divide between those who trust the government to be fair in the use of its power and those who think they’re being punished for the bad actions of developers.

The current Board has often broken down 3-3 on matters involving rural protections that would also place restrictions on property owners. So after the public hearing, and after an hour of sniping between Ken Boyd—who wanted to delay a vote—and Dennis Rooker and David Slutzky, who wanted to get something done that evening, Sally Thomas tried to pass part of the water ordinance. But the vote still split 3-3. They voted again, this time to take back the vote they just cast, and then voted unanimously to adjourn.

Easy, boys: Ken Boyd said it was too late to make a decision, but David Slutzky shot back that Boyd didn’t think it was too late when Biscuit Run was decided at 1am.

After the meeting, Slutzky was furious. "We failed to prevent the bad apples who are in the business of doing things that are very destructive that we need to prevent," he said. "It’s clear that there isn’t a serious commitment by three members of the Board."

But Boyd said after the meeting that he still wants to look at all three ordinances in a work session, possibly as separate issues.

When it all was over, I spoke to one man who is against the measures but who opted not to speak. "I think Slutzky got a lesson tonight. He doesn’t run the county, the people run the county."

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