HomeMy WebLinkAboutLOD199900008 Letter of Determination 1999-11-22November 22, 1999
Joe A. or Georgia W. Black
P. O. Box 735
Scottsville, Virginia 24590
RE: OFFICIAL DETERMINATION OF DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS
Tax Map 115, Parcel 11 G (Scottsville Magisterial District)
Dear Mr. Black:
In reviewing your recent building permit application, I found that your residential use of the above
noted property is currently in excess of that allowed under your current zoning designation, RA,
Rural Areas. Therefore, the purpose of this letter is to make a written determination to clarify for
you and the county record, what you were allowed to do by right and note the status of your
property currently.
what needs further approval before expansion can be allowed. In researching this determination, I
first toured your facility and then reviewed as much information in the county records as possible,
including but not limited to the following:
the file of Building Permit 98-1272AC, including the application and building plans;
the files of your prior site plans;
the minutes of various Planning Commission meetings regarding your site plans;
the minutes of various Board of Supervisors' meetings;
your two requests for expansion of the Service Authority Jurisdictional Area for sewer service;
the prior zoning ordinance; and,
the Reading files in this department.
After consideration of all this information, I have determined that you currently have a combination
of three uses on the property. Those uses are: church, offices, and private boarding school. Of these
uses, the church and offices are allowed by right; the private boarding school is allowed only by
special use permit in the Commercial Office zoning district.
This letter takes a position and offers a written determination from which you and other parties in
interest will either be satisfied, or if aggrieved, may seek an appeal. It is my opinion that the
expansion of your "guest house" use requires a special use permit (SP) approved by the
Board of Supervisors. Because the building permit was issued more than 60 days ago, the permit
must stand. However, the permitted guest house use in what had been the "administrative office"
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Use Determination, Christian Aid Mission Page 2 8/21/2015
building is limited to the eight guest rooms and thirteen bathrooms shown on the plans with
Building Permit 98-1272AC. The County is in no way authorizing the expansion of your
nonconforming guest house use and will require an approved SP for any additional guest rooms and
bathrooms in any existing or new structures.
In my research for this determination, I found that in 1976 when Christian Mission originally
occupied this property, the zoning was B1, General Business. That zoning category allowed offices,
churches and hotels by right. My opinion is that any zoning administrator who would have reviewed
the use at that time would have determined that the Christian Mission uses were similar to those
allowed uses and would have permitted this combination of uses by right. However, when the
County adopted its current zoning ordinance December 10, 1980, the CO, Commercial Office
district was applied to the property. This district allows the church and the office uses by right, but
any residential use, transient lodging use (hotels, motels and inns) or other use involving any type of
boarding (school of special instruction, private school) requires a special use permit to be approved
by the Board of Supervisors. Therefore, the "guest house" which had already been approved by the
County became a legal, nonconforming use which can exist for as long as desired, but cannot
expand. Your use as you described it to me, involves having three churches as a part of your
mission. They all meet in the former theater building for religious purposes. You also have guests
from countries all over the world who come to your mission to study Christianity and to receive
training so they can help others in their own countries to hear and learn about Christ. My opinion is
that the service you perform for these guests is similar to any private school that boards its students
while they receive instruction.
If you are aggrieved by this determination, you have the right to appeal it within thirty (30) days of
the date notice of this determination is given, in accordance with Section 15.2-2311 of the Code of
Virginia. If you do not file a timely appeal, this determination shall be final and unappealable. An
appeal shall be taken only by filing with the Zoning Administrator and the Board of Zoning Appeals
a notice of appeal which specifies the grounds for the appeal. In order for an appeal to be
considered complete, it shall include a completed application and $95 fee. The date notice of this
determination was given is the same as the date of this letter.
Sincerely,
Jan Sprinkle
Deputy Zoning Administrator
Cc: Greg Kamptner, County Attorney
Wayne Cilimberg, Planning Department
Sally Thomas, Board of Supervisors
Reading, TMP 59-23G1
Dwayne Roadcap, Thomas Jefferson Health District
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