Nelson County Supervisors holding eight public hearings, two on vacation homes

The five member Board of Supervisors in Nelson County meets at 1 p.m. in the General District Courtroom in the Courthouse in Lovingston. (meeting packet)

There will be a presentation from the Virginia Department of Transportation and an update from Firefly Fiber Broadband on their efforts to bring the internet to all homes in the county.  

There will also be an update from PMA Architecture on the Callohill Building Project. Specifically this is a report on geotechnical borings for a future office building to house Social Services and Planning and Zoning. 

After that there will be a work session on the proposed cluster zoning. A developer approached the county last fall with a specific proposal and the Board of Supervisors directed the Planning Commission to review potential changes to allow for higher residential density. That group held a work session on May 16. 

“The Planning Commission addressed the fact that much of the information that is and will be needed to make a complete and informed analysis and recommendation, is currently being worked through in the Comprehensive Plan Update process, and subsequent recommendations for Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance updates,” reads the staff report. “They determined that they are not recommending any changes to the current ordinance at this time.” 

Under new business, there will be a request from the Nelson County Service Authority to amend their article of incorporation. This would officially recognize that there is one Authority’s board members from each election district. 

There will also be a reimbursement request from the Lovingston Volunteer Fire Department for a generator at the Wingina Fire Station. 

There is also a request from the Commonwealth’s Attorney for an extension of funding for a part time employee.

The final two action items in the afternoon session are the adoption of the FY24 budget of $93,052,486 as well as related appropriations. 

The evening session begins at 7 p.m. There are eight public hearings:

• There’s a request for a special use permit for a vacation house on property at 795 Afton Mountain Road with split zoning of Residential and Agricultural. The house has been abandoned for some time and the new owners hope to fix it up for their eventual long-term use. Until then, they’d like to earn some revenue. 
• There’s a request for a special use permit for an outdoor entertainment venue at 3578 South Powells Island Road in Arrington. This would be for a 5,000 square foot wedding venue. 
• There’s a request for a special use permit to allow for an addition to a single family dwelling on property zoned Business-1 at 117 Center Hill Lane. The structure is non-confirming and the addition requires the property to become compliant. 
• There’s a request for a special use permit for a brewery at 2188 Rockfish Valley Highway in Nellysford. This request was granted in 2020 for a previous owner who died before starting operations. 
• There’s a request for a special use permit for a vacation home at 333 Sunrise Drive in Afton. The property owners are from Maryland and want to earn revenue when they are not using their second home. 
• There’s a request for a rezoning from Agricultural-1 to M-2 Industrial at 1890 River Road in Faber for a six-unit storage warehouse in an existing building. 
• There’s a zoning ordinance amendment to increase the minimum lot size for family subdivision from one acre to two acres.
• There’s a proposed amendment to the subdivision ordinance that would also alter the dynamics for family subdivision. 

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