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Board removes livestock-confinement exclusion from Agricultural Transitional zoning
Summary
Supervisors approved a zoning text amendment to remove language that explicitly excluded livestock confinement facilities from the Agricultural Transitional (AT) zoning district, aligning permitted uses across agricultural districts.
The Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Oct. 14 to amend county land-development regulations by removing language that excluded livestock confinement facilities from the Agricultural Transitional (AT) zoning district.
County staff and the county attorney said the phrase “not including livestock confinement facilities” in the AT district created uncertainty because the term “agriculture” is used across multiple agricultural zoning districts. Staff and counsel recommended removing the exclusion so that agricultural uses are treated consistently across A‑1, A‑2 and AT zones.
The planning commission held a public hearing on Sept. 10 and recommended approval; no public comments were received during the county’s public hearing on Oct. 14. A zoning administrator noted that retaining the exclusion could have led to conflicting interpretations and that removing the language brings the AT district into alignment with other agricultural districts.
A motion to approve the zoning text amendment carried unanimously (5–0). The amendment deletes the phrase that had read, in effect, “agriculture (not including livestock confinement facilities),” from the AT zoning description and will be codified in the county’s land-development regulations.
Staff said final drafting will be published in the land-development regulations and the amendment will clarify zoning-permit review for future agricultural projects in the AT district.
