A New York limited liability real estate investment company has created three unlawful subdivisions on 450 acres of the scenic Goose Creek Mountains just northwest of Delaplane in Northern Fauquier County, Virginia. The Virginia Supreme Court in 2015 ruled that the subdivisions violated the County's Subdivision Ordinance. Circuit Court Judge Parker has decreed that the company must vacate the unlawfully created lots unless it complies with the subdivision ordinance by December 9, 2016. The company is asking the County to waive the ordinance instead. The County's Board of Supervisors will consider the waiver request at a meeting on October 13. The company is seeking a waiver of the requirement that a private street connect directly to a state maintained road to enable it to build a 2-mile long road through heavily wooded areas on steep slopes. The additional lots would create traffic on narrow gravel roads that were not meant for such use and create safety issues and costs for neighboring property owners. This land is located in the County's sensitive rural conservation district and is under a conservation easement by which public tax benefits were given in exchange for protecting the property for posterity. No waiver should be granted! A waiver would allow clearing and destruction of hundreds of trees to build roads, buildings, and overhead utilities on these scenic mountains visible for miles around. A waiver would undermine the County's ordinances and weaken its commitment to the preservation of its unique environmental assets. The unlawful subdivisions must be vacated in accordance with Judge Parker's decree. The waiver reference is WAIV-16-005690.
