COMMENTARY: Give County Zoning Proposals a Chance

By WAYNE CREED

March 10, 2014

It was reported in an opinion piece last week in the Wave that the 501(c)(3) Eastern Shorekeeper has decided to enter the fray over proposed Northampton County zoning issues, essentially using a petition and a veiled legal threat to force County Supervisors to follow the “intent” of the Comprehensive Plan. I understand the trepidation, but attempting to tie officials to a document that is outmoded the day it is completed does not seem like an effective approach.

Although required, Comprehensive Plans are only a guide, and the State does not require land use and zoning decisions to be based on, or even consistent with them (they carry no legal intent). They are inherently too old, too ignored, or too irrelevant to ever be of any practical use — attempting to apply them to dynamic systems is the ultimate exercise in futility.

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At a base level, I agree that engaging multiple stakeholders in a collaborative process to define problems and find solutions is critical. Yet, the proposed zoning has been available since October, and there have been several public hearings. There has been plenty of time for public comment (as well as private jawboning).

The fact of the matter is that the current zoning map is a rat’s nest that needs serious attention. It seems any time the County attempts to do anything that might possibly disturb the status quo in terms of development, the barbarians storm the gate, insisting that the County remain frozen in 1955.

Has the “proposed” new zoning code gone so far off into the weeds that protests are fully warranted? What is this really about: the environment, stopping sprawl, stopping development? If we could choose, where would we start? Playing devil’s advocate, we have to ask, “What do we really want?”

Let’s start with maintaining our rural character, promoting smart, sustainable growth, while doing all we can to keep air and water quality as high as possible. I know it’s the same old boring trope, but clean air and clean water are our most essential natural resources, and economically fundamental to our aquaculture industry, and those that still work on the water.

Given our proximity and effect on the two waters, neither is guaranteed. We have to work at it. If new zoning increases population and development activity (as seems intended), the threats to these resources increase; if there is a concern, it is the appearance that the County is taking a laise-faire approach to mitigating it.

It appears there could be some curbing such as trimming four additional Residential Districts to two — but the devil is always in the details. There should be as much as 70% reserved for open space and the homes clustered on smaller lots on the remaining 30%. The open space would be a permanent easement that could be retained in farming or kept in its natural state or used for recreation.

Historically, farming has been the traditional economic lifeblood of the Virginia Eastern Shore. Many families trace their farming heritage back over 150 years or more, and others, especially from the Latino culture, have moved here to continue that tradition. For New Ruralists, parts of the new zoning appear to address the trend of an eroding agricultural orientation seen statewide. Since 1980 larger counties have seen a 21% reduction in farm employment. At the same time, housing subdivisions being built in rural areas are accelerating.

The new zoning hopefully will encourage farmers owning land in the rural areas of the county to stay in farming, as well as making it more attractive for young farmers to start up operations in aquaculture, agritech, packing, and agriculture production. This, along with conservation easements, agricultural and forestal districts, purchase of development rights, and tax incentives are tools the county can use to maintain its rural character.

Obviously, a huge part of this pushback has to do with poultry. The new agricultural setbacks, as well as larger structures and towers, have become a cause célèbre for the anti-chicken contingent. The reality is that egg production is an $8 billion a year industry, and historically agriculturally based areas, especially seasonal growers, eventually will tap into it. The fear, again, is the appearance of a laise-faire approach to management.

Large scale, industrial egg or broiler operations (using large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs) are hardly appropriate in Northampton, but there are highly profitable alternatives. My dad and I used to chuckle when we’d read about “Organic Pastured Free Range Chicken Farming,” as if it was the latest new thing. “Dirt poor Alabama chicken farmers down here been doing it that way since forever,” he would say — “all we could afford to do.”

A niche market like pastured eggs would fit; there is an increased consumer demand for natural and humanely raised eggs, and those that care about it are willing to pay more for it. From a startup, production standpoint, pastured poultry production generally has lower entry costs and is attractive to newer, smaller, or limited resource farmers. The environmental issues surrounding large scale CAFOs are also mitigated.

This always highlights certain dilemmas. We say we want more development, yet when anything is proffered, the knee-jerk reaction is to build a wall. The rebellion against Bob Panek and the PSA is a perfect example. Most sustainable development plans would include directing new growth in and around the towns where water and sewer and other public services are available, where the capacities of the towns’ water and sewer treatment plants will determine the upper limits on growth. Many in the county that are screaming the most about zoning changes also fought the PSA’s Cape Charles pipeline the hardest.

Ecological and rural dynamics are always affected by socioeconomic factors that influence land-use decision-making. Unless we can truly model this influence, I’m not sure we’re doing any side any favors. The difficulty can be that land-use decisions at the local level may seem innocuous, yet the cumulative effect impacts landscape structure and function.

Awareness of our county’s spatial patterns derived from adequate modeling is critical to any attempts to re-zone, or even complete the Comprehensive Plan. The Eastern Shore, at its most base level, is an interaction between various ecosystems. Where do herons live? How critical is bull frog habitat, and how will impervious surfaces affect it? What effect will removing a stand of Broom or Tussock sedge have on erosion and habitat, or migratory bird patterns?

The reason the new zoning needs to be taken so seriously is that human interaction with these ecosystems can be the most invasive, altering wetlands and coastal marine ecosystems. Any changes to zoning should not be based solely on political boundaries or where to put that new Rite Aid or Holiday Inn Express, but should instead be part of an Ecosystem-Based Management approach that integrates ecological, social, and economic goals. It should be understood that humans are key components of the ecosystem.

Zoning, like all things, can become stale and irrelevant, and needs to be periodically revisited. As one of the poorest places in Virginia, it is important that Northampton be given some space to try and do things that can increase the tax base, as well as try to improve the lives of our most underserved populations. Hopefully, they will also be concerned with the ecological integrity of coastal-marine systems and fully account for the complexity of natural processes and social systems. Land use planning is probably one of the hardest, most thankless jobs in the world, and no matter what they decide, almost no one is going to approve.

Submissions to COMMENTARY are welcome on any subject relevant to Cape Charles (and sometimes that’s a stretch). Opinions expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily of this publication.