Neighborhood transitions work group outlines multiple housing bills; no consensus on ham radio measure

Delegate Kathryn J. (Kathy) Bulova, chairing the neighborhood transitions, local land use and community living work group, told the Virginia Housing Commission on Oct. 24 that the group has held two meetings and scheduled a third for Oct. 23 to continue work on multiple bills affecting residential communities. The work group discussed a measure to prevent homeowners associations from banning amateur (ham) radio antennas, a long-running declarant-control dispute on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, a proposed workforce housing incentive, rules for assumable mortgages, tree canopy protections tied to critical root zones, right-of-first-refusal models, and zoning changes for manufactured homes.

The discussion over Delegate Seibold’s house bill on amateur radio antennas raised the classic question of whether the General Assembly…