Perhaps one reason that planning is not very popular is the sheer amount of jargon required to understand the rules of what can be built and where.
Albemarle County is making an attempt to change that with what planning staff call a “zoning modernization” to bring building rules in line with the recently adopted Comprehensive Plan.
On May 12, the Planning Commission reviewed some of the potential alterations and pondered whether to change usage of the phrase “by-right,” which is used to describe a project that can be built without approval from the Board of Supervisors. Senior Planner Lea Brumfield said this can cause confusion when businesses are ready to locate in a new place.
“Our current ordinance uses the term by-right to describe uses that need a zoning clearance,” she said. “This has led to some confusion with some applicants thinking they don’t need a clearance.”
Only agricultural and residential uses are exempt from zoning clearances.
The Commission suggested changing that to “administratively approved,” which had the support of at least one member.
“When I explain by-right to regular people, I just say it means that they have the right to develop that land use, but they still have as long as they follow all the county’s rules and requirements and building codes,” said Planning Commission Vice Chair Karen Firehock.
Commissioner Nathan Moore said he felt the selected phrase might add to confusion.
“In a way, ‘administratively approved’ may be the most accurate, but it’s also eight syllables and just a mouthful,” Moore said. “I’m wondering if we might consider something like ‘staff review.’”
Another option would be “permitted use,” which Commissioner Lonnie Murray worried about because an application could exceed requirements.
“Let’s say they’re proposing a farm stand that is in excess of our standards for farm stands,” Murray said. “Staff is not going to approve that as presented.”
The newest member of the Planning Commission had a suggestion.
“What about ‘allowable’ or ‘allowable by-right?’” asked Catherine Brown.
That met with approval and the group moved on to other changes such as flattening the names of various uses to eliminate the need for interpretations by the zoning administrator. For instance, the current uses of “manufacturing, processing, assembly, fabrication, and recycling” would be changed to “light industrial.”
“It allows for future industry and technological changes to continue to evolve without doing a zoning text amendment again,” Brumfield said.
Another proposed change is the collapsing of “day camp” and “boarding camp” into a single “campground” use category. Firehock expressed concern.
“They definitely have different impacts,” Firehock said. “The impact of a whole lot of kids at a camp up until 5 o’ clock is not the same as kids 24 hours a day.”
These changes are part of the second phase of the modernization, and staff expects them to be adopted by this November. A third phase is also underway that will involve more substantive changes, such as allowing multifamily structures in single-family neighborhoods.
For more information, the county recently released an episode of their “Let’s Talk Albemarle” podcast, which features Brumfield giving a presentation on Zoning 101.
