Approved Article for LACA July 2006 Newsletter

EXTENDING SHORELINE STANDARDS TO ALL THREE COUNTIES

by Tom Nyman, Chairman Land use Committee

July 2006

One of LACA’s goals is to see Dominion Virginia Power and the local county governments establish a minimum set of policies to guide future shoreline development – smart development that would emphasize public safety, water quality, and good neighbor practices that safeguard the public’s general welfare and quality of life. A companion goal is to achieve a degree of uniformity and consistency for all of Lake Anna’s shoreline. This second goal implies that all three counties that have jurisdiction on Lake Anna shoreline establish similar (or at least not inconsistent) policies for future development.

Several years ago, LACA’s Land Use Committee, under the leadership of Joe Weatherton, worked diligently with various LACA constituencies to produce a set of “suggested” shoreline development guidelines. The committee worked hard to identify the most important features, find the middle ground, and not be overly imposing on “by rights” development. Louisa County used these, along with a number of other guidelines, to establish what is now Louisa’s Shoreline Development Standards - part of the Louisa County Zoning Ordinance. What got adopted went well beyond the “minimum” set of policies that LACA suggested. But, Lake Anna now has a detailed set of standards on the books to guide future lake-shore subdivision and commercial development in Louisa County, and in the judgment of many, that is good.

Louisa County’s Director of Community Development, Mr. Darren Coffey, recognizing that Spotsylvania and Orange Counties were not represented on the team that produced Louisa’s recommended standards, wished to meet with these sister counties to describe what Louisa had done, and why. Mr. Coffey turned to LACA to organize a Tri-County meeting. The meeting occurred on 8 May 2006 arranged by LACA’s Land Use Committee. The planning directors from the three counties -- Darren Coffey from Louisa, Ric Goss from Spotsylvania, and Deborah Kendall from Orange -- spent 90 minutes together while Mr. Coffey described the rationale and background for each of Louisa’s Lake Anna Shoreline Development Standards. There was much interaction, lots of questions about how enforcement works, and general agreement that standards of this type are useful. While neither Orange nor Spotsylvania County directors committed to taking any immediate action, the meeting served to make them aware of why Louisa had moved out. Mr. Goss did observe that decisions in shoreline build-out were producing issues more often, and agreed that Louisa’s work could be a point of departure for Spotsylvania sometime in the future. In fact, in separate actions , many of the principles behind the Louisa standards are being introduced via the Spotsylvania Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (COMPAC) which is working now on proposed updates to the Spotsy Comprehensive Plan, and this will set the stage for creating future enforcement code. Joe Bailey is representing LACA in that activity.

Orange County has just finished updating their Comprehensive Plan and the revisions are near final adoption. They have only a few miles of Lake Anna shoreline within their jurisdiction, so shoreline development standards have not become a highly visible topic with county residents.

The Tri-County meeting was very successful in a) bringing the three peers together to talk about topics of common concern, b) serving as a congenial opportunity to build rapport with each other, and c) ensuring that Spotsy and Orange are aware of what Louisa has done and why. In time, Lake Anna may have a set of common and uniform policies on future shoreline subdivisions and commercial development. The stage has now been set!

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