County holds work session on mountaintop protection

Reader comments (0)

On December 13, 2006, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors met jointly with the Planning Commission in a work session to further discuss the Mountain Overlay District (MOD) Committee's recommendations to "protect the economic, cultural, and natural resources of Albemarle County's mountains."  After a little more than an hour of staff presentations and discussion, the Supervisors agreed to continue the work session on January 10, 2007.  No substantive decisions were made. [Link to agenda item]

When the Supervisors last considered mountaintop protection proposals in September, it was the surviving initiative of the threesome that included rural area phasing and clustering.  The next work session is expected to include: 1) discussion of building height restrictions and ordinance waiver provisions; 2) a decision by the Board as to whether a mountaintop protection ordinance should even be drafted for public and Board review; and 3) if an ordinance is supported, a decision about applying some of the mountaintop protection standards throughout Albemarle's rural areas (i.e. also off the mountaintops).

Brian Wheeler