Stafford leaders accused of rushing to repeal a development tool credited with preserving acres of open space

STAFFORD — There are nearly 8,200 approved homes that have yet to be built in Stafford County.

Work on them has been slow to start — the sluggish economy is often to blame.

The planned homes come in all shapes and sizes — single-family, townhomes, duplexes, and apartments.

And when they are built these new homes will dot the landscape, attracting new homebuyers looking for a piece of the suburban pie, and with them bringing children to fill county schools, more cars on county roads, more demand public utilities and other county services.

County leaders are now focused on doing what they can to slow growth of homes that haven’t already been approved.

They aim to do so by repealing the county’s cluster ordinance — a tool that allows developers to preserve open land by clustering single-family homes together on smaller, 1.5 acre lots instead of three-acre lots.

Proponents of the county’s cluster ordinance say it allows for more environmentally-conscious, more cost-effective development.

For instance, if you have 100 acres of land to build a subdivision, you’d have about 33 single family homes each built on three-acre lots. Here, developers essentially use all of the 100 acres to develop the subdivision, and must also build multiple streets to connect to all of these homes.

In a cluster development, half the land is left untouched and preserved, while the same number of homes would be built on smaller 1.5 acre lots. Fewer streets are needed, and development costs are lower.

Stafford’s cluster ordinance has been around since 2012. If the ordinance is repealed and replaced, as elected county leaders say they want, it would have no impact on the more than 8,000 homes waiting to be built.

“We’ve got to get control of development in Stafford County”

Over the years, Stafford residents have urged politicians to limit growth and to curb traffic congestion. The way to do that, leaders say, is to repeal the cluster ordinance that they say has loopholes that allow developers to build more homes that should be allowed on cluster developments.

“What has happened, because of the way cluster ordinance is written, developers are now able to use unbuildable land and then calculate that unbuildable land and get ‘bonus’ density,” said Stafford County Rock Hill District Supervisor Wendy Maurer.

Essentially, leaders say developers are claiming to preserve land that they couldn’t otherwise develop, to include steep slopes, water, sewer, and power easements, and stormwater retention ponds. This would allow them to increase the number of homes and overall profits of a housing development.

The Stafford County Planning Commission will consider repealing the ordinance at its 6:30 p.m. meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, at the Stafford County Government Center.

The members who sit on the Planning Commission contacted for comment on this issue were mum. Members of the Board of Supervisors, a separate council and the county’s highest governing board that could ultimately repeal the ordinance, had lots to say.

“We’ve got to get control of development in Stafford County, and this is the first step,” said Stafford Board of Supervisors Garrisonville District Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer.

In a press release, county officials state the ordinance, and all other county conservation programs like the purchase of Crows Nest Natural Area Preserve, have been successful.

They also want public input on its possible repeal:

Currently, [the cluster ordinance] has saved more than 10,000 acres of open space while directing development to the areas with the infrastructure support already in place. Initially adopted in 2012, Policy 1.6.5 of the County’s Comprehensive Plan identifies cluster development practices as a means of supporting land preservation and rural character. Since the adoption of the cluster development regulations, some new subdivisions have been approved, and some are actively under construction.

“It’s very important to our Board of Supervisors to examine and re-examine our planning efforts to make sure we are doing all we can do to direct our growth and the right kind of growth in the appropriate areas,” said Director of Planning and Zoning Jeffrey Harvey. “Our current cluster development ordinance does not seem to be furthering that aim, so we are taking a closer look at it as well as asking for community input.”

The repeal would affect those who own property that is zoned A-1, Agricultural, A-2, Rural Residential and R-1 Suburban Residential. Much of the affected land is in the county’s Hartwood and Rock Hill districts, and Stafford County officials mailed letters last week to affected property owners.

Legal issues 

State law requires localities like Stafford to have cluster ordinances on the books. If after the Planning Commission hearing the separate Stafford Board of Supervisors decides to repeal the cluster ordinance, and the county doesn’t yet have one written to replace it, that, says attorney Clark Lemming, is illegal.

“This becomes such a significant legal issue because state law requires you have a cluster ordinance. And if you repeal the one you’ve got, and then take months or years to write a new one, and you put it in place before a court hearing can be held, then the point would be moot, and that’s not how government should be run,” said Lemming.

Lemming and others said the move to repeal and replace the ordinance came about after a Board of Supervisors retreat in January. Afterward, it threw the development community into a panic.

“They got together and wrung their hands over the issue and decided this is what they were going to to do,” said Lemming.

In recent days, signs urging the public to get involved and to attend the planning commission meeting, warning of declining property values if the ordinance is repealed, popped up along county roadways.

Proponents of the cluster ordinance say it helps to keep development costs low.

“Development cost goes up, the cost to provide infrastructure goes up, and property owners are not going to get as much money for their land, said Lemming.

Rushed to approval 

The Fredericksburg Area Builders Association (FABA) has also gotten involved and developed a new website, urging county leaders not to rush the repeal of the ordinance.

FABA President Gene Brown said his trade association and developers have been excluded from the repeal and replace conversation, and are asking for a seat at the table to work with the county on preserving the ordinance or to help with crafting one.

“We believe that they’re rushing through this, so we’re asking them to slow down, listen to all stakeholders because this is something that can’t be done ina public hearing where people only get three minutes each to speak at a podium,” said Brown.

Also rushing are the eight to 10 developers who in recent weeks scrambled to submit plans to the Stafford County Planning Office for their cluster developments in hopes to get them approved and vested before any changes are made.

Developers who propose to build on 50 lots or fewer are eligible for a faster review process with the county’s planning office. Those developments aren’t required to go before the county’s Planning Commission, said Lemming.

Now, many developers are pulling back on plans to build a large number homes and instead are opting to build fewer in hopes their plans are reviewed and approved sooner than later, he added.

This story has been corrected: An earlier version stated Stafford County’s cluster ordinance preserved 10,000 acres of open space. The county’s overall conservation efforts are credited with preserving 10,000 acres of open space, to include its cluster ordinance.