Proposed York County Zoning Ordinance changes spurred by a petition from York Point residents could prohibit any future farming activities — on land or underwater — on more than 5,500 pieces of property in the county.
The petition, which has 61 signatures, has prompted York County Supervisor Donald Wiggins to back their cause. He asked county staff to draft a series of potential amendments to the county’s zoning ordinance that would prohibit farming activities in places with small lots like York Point and in other areas zoned similarly to that neighborhood, according to a memorandum from York County Administrator James McReynolds.
The proposed changes focus on agriculture and aquaculture, which is the harvesting of a variety of seafood from the water. It can also encompass the offloading of that seafood onto land and the subsequent packaging of it to be sold. Agriculture and aquaculture operations that are operating legally on the land would be allowed to continue.
“We, the undersigned property owners, request that the York County Board of Supervisors consider adoption of Zoning Ordinance amendments that would protect the character of our residential subdivision (York Point) from potentially adverse impacts that could be experienced if agriculture, livestock-keeping, aquaculture, and/or seafood receiving, processing, shipping operations were to be established on one or more of the relatively small lots within our neighborhood,” the petition reads.
York Point is the home of Anthony Bavuso, a York County oyster farmer who has been locked in a battle with the county for years over whether he may use his property in the course of his farm’s operations. Bavuso, along with Greg Garrett, another oyster farmer in the county, were taken to the Supreme Court of Virginia by the county last year in the latest chapter of their protracted legal battle. The court sided with the county, leaving a bill passed by the General Assembly earlier this month as the next best hope for the two farmers.
Potential changes to the zoning ordinance that concern farming on land or underwater may conflict with that bill, which is currently on the desk of Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The bill would bar municipalities from requiring special-use permits to engage in certain activities, including aquaculture, on land zoned for agriculture. The special-use permit requirement has been one of the major sticking points in the battle between the county and the farmers.
The land in question falls under two zoning designations: resource conservation and rural residential. Resource conservation — which York Point is zoned — is listed in the county code as being permitted for “very low density single-family” homes, agriculture and more. Rural residential is listed as permitted for “low density single-family” homes and farming.
Staff has recommended an approach that would maintain current zoning designations while inserting a requirement in those two zones of a minimum of 2 acres of usable land for a property to be used for agriculture or for the land-based components of aquaculture, such as storing and cleaning cages, bagging or boxing the product for sale and offloading seafood at a pier. The usable land would not include any space occupied by a house or its surrounding yards.
That change would affect about 80 percent of the properties that fall under those two zoning designations. In York County, there are 146 properties that are 2 acres or less of land zoned resource conservation and 5,490 rural residential properties that are 2 acres or less. A total of 7,685 properties in the county have the two zoning designations, with more than 5,000 of them falling in subdivisions.
The changes would affect uses in the two zones including the production of plants, animals and agricultural products for sale and for the land- and pier-based elements of aquaculture, including the docking of workboats and the on-land storage of equipment used in aquaculture.
“I knew that the county board of supervisors would not give up on their attacks to eliminate oyster farms in York County even though the state legislature voted 128 to 5 to say that aquaculture should be protected like any other form of agriculture,” Garrett said, referencing the General Assembly’s bill.
“They’re not doing it based on good policy,” he continued. “They’re doing it for political payback and they’re doing it based on their continued pattern of abuse of their power. What this proposal shows is that they’re so determined to not allow two oyster farms in York County, they’re willing to punish hundreds or thousands of other York County residents and remove property rights from them, and that’s what this proposal does.”
The recommended 2-acre requirement was one of three options presented by county staff. The other two, which were not recommended, are as follows:
- Agriculture and aquaculture would be removed as permitted uses in all resource conservation and rural residential lands. The recommended change would allow the practices to continue on land that is more than two acres.
- A new low density single-family residential zoning designation would be created, and selected areas would be rezoned to that new designation, which would not permit agriculture or aquaculture. Agriculture would remain as a permitted use in rural residential and resource conservation land and aquaculture would remain as a permitted use in resource conservation land.
The supervisors will vote at their Tuesday work session to decide if they want to pursue the matter further. Should they vote yes, the issue will be sent to the York County Planning Commission for review — at which point there will be a public hearing — before it returns to the supervisors for final approval. A second public hearing will be held at that point.
York Point is a subdivision located in coastal Seaford, beginning at the end of Seaford Road and jutting out into Chisman Creek.
Related Coverage:
- Ag Bill Lessens Local Control of Aquaculture; Regulatory Options Remain for York County
- House Bill Could Mean Big Changes for York County Oyster Farming
- Supreme Court of Virginia Sides with York County Against Oyster Farmers
- Supreme Court of Virginia Hears York Oyster Appeals
- Virginia Supreme Court Agrees to Hear York Oyster Farming Case
- York County Files Petition with Virginia Supreme Court Over Residential Oyster Farming
- York County to Appeal Rulings in Oyster Cases
- Judge Rules in Favor of York Oyster Farmers
- Circuit Court Hears Garrett Oyster Case
- Judge Delays Ruling in Bavuso Oyster Case
- Circuit Court to Decide Oyster Cases This Week
- Garrett Says Oyster Business is Legal, Takes York County to Court
