Monday, March 01, 2010
Editorial: A letter isn't enough
Lawmakers would make it easier for developers to sneak projects past public scrutiny.
From the RoundTable blog
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While guns, abortion and state spending distract the public, the General Assembly quietly advances a bill that serves developers to the detriment of the public. House Bill 1250 would lower the threshold for property owners to receive vested rights. It is an arcane change, but Virginians who care about their communities should take notice before it is too late.
Vested rights guarantee a property owner the right to build something without hassle from the government. It is a sensible protection for developers who advance a project in good faith. Localities should not pull the rug out after saying a project is all right.
One acquires vested rights after the local government signs off on a project in some concrete way. Typically, that means rezoning the property, approving a site plan, granting a special use permit or some other legislative act.
Such acts often require notifying neighbors, a public hearing and a vote by a town council, planning commission or other appropriate body. Everything occurs in the open and residents know what might go up next door.
H.B. 1250 would upend the system by deeming a letter from a zoning administrator sufficient to establish vested rights. No public involvement, no public accountability, no fuss.
The bill easily passed the House of Delegates on a 92-4 vote and now awaits action in the Senate. House candidates, by the way, received $2.5 million in campaign contributions from real estate and construction industries last year.
The incident that appears to have instigated the legislation illustrates the danger of such a weak standard.
In Stafford County a few years ago, a developer asked a zoning official if he could build a school on agricultural land. The "school" in this case sounded more like a paramilitary facility. It would include training in firearms, anti-terrorist evasive driving lessons and unarmed combative defensive tactics.
Nevertheless, a Stafford official concluded it counted as a school and issued a letter saying as much.
When the board of supervisors got wind of the project, it changed the rules to require a conditional permit for schools in agricultural areas. The developer challenged in court saying the letter granted vested rights, but the Virginia Supreme Court disagreed because a letter was not a "significant affirmative governmental act" as the law requires.
If H.B. 1250 had been the law, Stafford County residents would have a new neighbor never envisioned by the code.
Likewise, if this law had been in place a couple of years ago, Blacksburg almost certainly would have never been able to block a big-box store in town.
It is the sort of rule only developers could love -- developers who prefer to sneak projects past elected officials without genuine public oversight.
