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County drafts agritourism policy, reports rising permits and new permit technician hire
Summary
Community development staff said they are drafting an agritourism policy to standardize treatment of farm-based events; the department reported rising permit activity since 2020 and introduced new permit technician Gina Morrison.
Community development staff told the commission the department is finalizing an agritourism policy meant to define what qualifies as agritourism activity, what will be permitted, and which events require permits or festival permits.
Unidentified Speaker 2 said the goal is to ensure consistent treatment across different planning directors, noting prior inconsistency where some properties had been informally exempted in earlier years. "We are in the final stages of this policy," staff said, and emphasized the proposal is an internal departmental policy (not a Board-enforced measure) that staff will share with the commission once finalized.
Staff also presented permit statistics for August and discussed longer-term trends: since 2020, the county has seen an increase in residential and other development, with staff saying permit counts have grown each year. The August building-inspection report listed 109 building permits, $15,482.68 in fees collected, 13 certificates of occupancy and an estimated construction value of $3,342,778.92.
Staff announced the community development department filled its full-time permit technician role with Gina Morrison, who started recently and brings experience with land records and construction-related experience from Powhatan County.
