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Culpeper supervisors approve PUD zoning changes that lower acreage threshold to 20 acres, 5‑1
Summary
The board approved Zoning Text Amendment ZTA‑1224‑1 to replace Article 8B (Planned Unit Development), lowering the PUD minimum from 200 to 20 acres, setting an initial density of 12 dwelling units per acre (with incentives up to 16), removing minimum lot sizes and adding incentives for buffers, nutrient credits and solar canopies; the vote was 5‑1 with Miss Ellis opposed.
The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors approved a zoning text amendment (ZTA‑1224‑1) that would repeal and replace Article 8B of the county code governing Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), lowering the district minimum acreage and creating new density and incentive structures.
Zoning staff, identified in the record as Veil Drummiller, told the board the draft ordinance reduces the PUD minimum acreage from 200 to 20 acres and sets initial residential density at 12 dwelling units per acre, with incentives that could raise density to 16 units per acre. The draft removes minimum lot sizes, sets a maximum building height of 45 feet, and includes incentives such as buffer restoration, nutrient‑credit approaches for stormwater, parking structures with solar canopies, and other measures intended to increase quality and environmental protections.
"The current draft that you're looking at tonight that's been posted would allow someone that has 20 acres, potentially to apply for a PUD," Drummiller said. He described the PUD as a flexible master‑plan community tool intended to channel higher density into growth areas identified in the comprehensive plan.
Public comment at the hearing was mixed. Supporters said mixed‑use development could centralize services near town edges, while opponents warned that reducing the acreage threshold would favor large builders over local "mom and pop" landowners and could erode property rights. Jack Frazier (Cedar Mountain District) told the board, "You're reducing the 200 acres to 20 ... Y'all tryin' to take away the property rights."
After discussion — including a board member who said he would decline to support the measure for now because it gives the board authority to approve higher densities while the county is also limiting density elsewhere — a motion to approve the draft ordinance carried. The clerk announced the vote as 5 to 1, with Miss Ellis recorded as opposing.
The ordinance change is a county zoning text amendment; any specific PUD would still require a rezoning application, public hearings and proffers. Board members and staff said the amendment aims to concentrate mixed‑use growth near town edges and relieve pressure on rural areas, but the transcript shows several public commenters and one supervisor raised concerns about potential impacts on small landowners and housing affordability.
