Not ready for prime time

 

"Courtesy" signs indicating proposed land use change 

Goochland supervisors work hard to find solutions acceptable to all involved and “get to yes” on decisions. Sometimes, they want more information before taking a final vote. At their February 7 meeting Goochland Supervisors deferred decisions on several agenda items.

Community meeting policy

A vote to downgrade a code section on community meetings from a requirement to a policy decision was deferred to the Board’s April 18 meeting. Elimination of meetings for non-controversial land use change applications would streamline the process and better use staff time, which is a valuable resource, was stated as rationale for the proposed change.

The community weighed in on this, with lots of communications to supervisors.

As presented, criteria for deeming applications exempt from the community meeting requirement, and more importantly, who makes the decision, seemed vague.

As other localities step back from transparency in the name of efficiency, Goochland must be different so we can see what’s going on in our government.

The goal of eliminating unnecessary tasks for a busy staff is sound. Indeed, reports on noncontroversial land use change applications often state that few, if any, citizens attend the meetings, which require a good bit of staff time in preparation and attendance. Criteria for deciding what is “non-controversial,” however, was somewhat ill-defined.

Comments at some recent public hearings indicate that residents who should be made aware of pending land use change applications, did not know about community meetings. Public engagement tactics on land use change applications need some work.

Currently, only adjacent landowners receive letters about the proposed changes and notice of the community meeting. In a recent case, notice about a community meeting for an application to allow an event venue was sent to one adjoining landowner, whose property is part of a subdivision. Others in the subdivision, which would also be affected, learned of the matter by word of mouth.

Staff contended that mailings to people other than adjacent landowners is costly and time consuming. There is also the question of where “the line”  of who should be notified is drawn. As a “courtesy”, staff said, the county deploys yellow “rezoning signs” on subject properties, to alert citizens of the pending action.

Unless you recognize these signs and know go to the county website for details, you have no idea what’s going on. These signs are hard to read while zipping along—even at 45 mph, harder on busier roads like 250—and can get lost in visual clutter of signs, especially during an election season. One speaker contended that these signs “fall short” of effective communication. He advocated  taking further steps to figure out how to make people aware of issues while achieving efficiencies that are sensitive to staff’s time.

Perhaps putting a flyer, with a picture of a rezoning sign and instructions to go to the county website for details, in personal property tax bills that go to most residents would be a start.

Unlike public hearings, which allow each speaker three minutes to state their case, community meetings are less formal, with back-and-forth discussion. Public hearing presentations tend to be at a relatively high level, difficult to understand for those less acquainted with the subject under discussion. Rezoning applications are “advertised” but the reach of those notices is unknown.

Scheduling and securing suitable locations for community meetings is also a challenge. Last March, a community meeting about a proposed rezoning application for land at the southeast “corner” of Rt. 6 and River Road was held in Henrico. It was attended by 28 intrepid citizens who voiced concerns about the impact of the proposed high density  community of their neighborhoods. Perhaps attendance at that meeting would have been greater had it been held closer to the subject property.

One speaker during the public hearing observed that we “needed a community meeting about the community meeting policy”. He also contended that the county needs to “push” information about land use changes to the citizens instead of assuming that they will find out about them. How that could be accomplished, and at what cost, is also an issue. You can’t make people pay attention.

Community meetings serve to educate residents about what’s going on near their homes. This is especially important for newcomers who believe that open land will remain undeveloped forever, or never  bother to investigate possible land use changes near their new homes.

The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the change at its January meeting

 

 

Other deferrals

A public hearing on a rezoning application for land on Fairground Road filed by Truett Real Estate Investments, LLC was deferred to the Board’s July 3 meeting. This will allow the recently completed safety study for Fairground Road to be factored into the proposal.

The hearing on a conditional use permit application filed by Capital Broad, LLC to operate a place of public assembly and short-term rental unhosted for land just west of the Centerville Village on Broad Street Road, was deferred until March 7.

A decision to accept and appropriate $1,185,000 from the Federal Infrastructure and Jobs act to purchase three electric school buses was deferred to the Board’s February 21 meeting.