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Culpeper residents urge halt to zoning changes and stress property rights at Jan. 7 citizens forum
Summary
At the Jan. 7 Culpeper County Board of Supervisors meeting, several residents urged the board to stop further zoning changes, defended property rights and called for more public engagement after an earlier vote on a minor subdivision ordinance.
At the Jan. 7, 2024 meeting of the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors, three residents used the citizens forum to urge the board to stop additional zoning changes and to increase public engagement following other recent actions by the board.
David Martin, of the Stevensburg magisterial district, told the board that the board earlier that day voted to make no changes to the county's A1RA Minor Subdivision Ordinance and urged the board to pause further zoning revisions until candidates and voters have had a chance to weigh in. "Your needs to move a combine up and down the roads should not trump my kids' needs for affordable housing," Martin said, framing the dispute as competing interests between farming operations and housing needs.
Kurt Christiansen of the Stevensburg district (Richardsville area) and Don (Donald) Hay Jr./Don Haight, also of Stevensburg, praised the board for the morning vote and for following the Planning Commission's recommendations. Christiansen described town-hall meetings he attended as genuine opportunities for residents to express property-rights concerns and objected to characterizations that those meetings were "railroaded" or full of misinformation. Don Haight said the board demonstrated it can listen to residents and urged continued professional, civil public engagement.
Speakers repeatedly asked the board to avoid making further zoning or ordinance changes until broader public input is gathered and both incumbents and challengers can present their positions to voters. Martin also criticized a supervisor he said mocked an affordable-housing project by referring to it, in Martin's words, as "trailer parks," saying the remark undermined confidence in that supervisor's impartiality.
The citizens forum is governed by a three-minute comment limit; the board chair closed the forum after public remarks and moved on to the posted agenda.
Why it matters: The comments reflect active local concern over land-use policy decisions — including the A1RA Minor Subdivision Ordinance and the treatment of multifamily entitlements in CS commercial service districts — and a demand for more town-hall–style outreach before the board makes additional zoning changes.
Meeting context and next steps: The board opened but did not act on additional zoning changes during the citizens forum; subsequent agenda items included Planning Commission rezoning requests (discussed separately). Residents asked supervisors to hold more town halls and ensure staff attend public engagement sessions to answer technical questions about codes, roads and utilities.
