(Chatham) — The first-ever overhaul of Pittsylvania County’s Zoning Code will take longer than first thought.
Community Development Director Emily Ragsdale updated the Board of Zoning Appeals Monday on the final steps in the two-year long process. Consultants with the Berkley Group have fine-tuned the language in several categories.
“The remaining issues are campgrounds and the maximum length of stays, whether or not to regulate flags as a sign, and the number of parking spaces that can be allowed in a lot before the owner has to include trees and islands,” Ragsdale told the BZA.
Consultants are recommending increasing the number of nights someone can stay at a campground from 120 to 180 days. But there is still debate over new proposed zoning rules that address the use of flags in business districts. “The Board was comfortable with everything except the flag regulations,” Ragsdale said. “They asked the Berkley Group to do some additional work on that to better clarify those regulations.”
The Berkley Group was ready to finalize the draft for the Planning Commission to vote on in September with an October vote before the Board of Supervisors and the BZA. But new state advertising requirements will delay them by a month. “Staff would be unable to adequately advertise for a September Planning Commission public hearing,” Ragsdale explained. “So we have pushed that back to October and November so we have time to adequately advertise and get the Board’s input on the flag sign issue before we move to advertisement.”
The original projected adoption date for the revamped Zoning Code was this past April.