Nelson County officials set key thresholds in zoning and subdivision update work session

Rebecca Cobb, deputy director of the planning department for Berkeley Group, and Cecille Gaines, senior planner with Berkeley Group, led a joint Nelson County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission work session on Aug. 27 to review draft updates to the county’s zoning and subdivision ordinances.

Gaines said Article 8 is “mostly new, except for parking and loading and signs,” and walked officials through proposed lighting standards that draw on recommendations from the International Dark-Sky Association. The draft would require shielding to reduce glare and light trespass, limit hours of illumination, and cap fixture heights at 30 feet in industrial districts and 20 feet in other districts; exemptions would include FAA and other state or federal lighting, agricultural and temporary or holiday lighting, official flags and athletic fields. Gaines said lighting plans would be required for site plans and zoning use permits for new developments and subdivisions.

The draft also creates new landscaping and screening standards intended to protect visual character, preserve existing trees where feasible, provide buffers between districts of differing intensity, and help mitigate stormwater runoff. Gaines read language that materials “should be sustainable, biologically diverse, and tolerant of an urban environment with emphasis on trees and plants native to Virginia and the region.” Board and commission members debated whether that language should be mandatory. Jesse N. Rutherford, East District Supervisor, and others raised concerns about enforcing nonnative or invasive plantings; Ernie Q. Reed, Central District Supervisor, recommended a “shall” for non-invasive species while others worried about county resources for enforcement. After discussion, staff recommended keeping the general policy as guidance and making more specific requirements within landscape plans.

Members also negotiated the threshold that triggers required landscaping for parking lots. Staff noted many localities use 10 spaces as a standard; board members argued small-business lots are often smaller. Dylan M. Bishop, director of planning and zoning, said she had reviewed site plans and “I think 30 is fair,” and the Board and Commission agreed to adopt 30 spaces as the triggering mechanism.

On streets and private-road provisions, Gaines said the draft consolidates public and private street standards in Article 8 and presented an option to require private streets to be constructed to Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) standards to simplify future acceptance. Supervisors and commissioners discussed inspection and long-term maintenance: who would inspect, whether VDOT would take roads over, and how to ensure drainage and sediment controls are maintained over time. Several members supported requiring VDOT-standard construction for major subdivisions and requiring applicants to submit a maintenance plan to accompany road construction approvals.

The draft bikeway and sidewalk standard, drawn from the county’s comprehensive plan, would require subdivisions located within mapped bikeway areas to construct either bicycle lanes on collector or arterial streets or off-road shared-use paths or sidewalks; members discussed making this mandatory for major subdivisions. Gaines noted the option as currently reads “may” and the group favored requiring bikeway elements for larger subdivisions, while acknowledging topography and traffic-safety constraints in some locations.

Article 10 consolidates subdivision rules into the zoning ordinance. The draft defines major subdivisions as 12 or more lots, minor subdivisions as 3–11 lots, and single subdivisions as splitting a parcel into two lots; preliminary plats would be optional for subdivisions under 50 lots and required for 50 or more, consistent with recent state code changes that shift some approvals to administrative review.

The draft also addresses family subdivisions and an ownership-holding period. Staff explained the proposal that a grantor own land five years before gifting to an immediate family member and that the grantee hold the lot for five years before selling; staff said jurisdictions vary on the holding period and Berkley had seen periods from three to 15 years. The Board and Commission discussed appeal routes for administrative determinations; staff noted that owners or neighbors may appeal decisions to the board or to the Board of Zoning Appeals under existing processes.

Sign standards were updated to reflect the Code of Virginia and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Reed v. Gilbert decision. Gaines reviewed changes to allowable sizes by district, overlay superseding underlying district standards, and a list of prohibited sign types with specific exemptions for small signs, certain flags and government signs, and temporary political signage.

The Board and Commission discussed boundaries for a new Route 151 corridor overlay intended to provide frontage landscaping, buffers and other design controls in key agritourism and corridor areas. Several members proposed setting Rue Hollow to Afton (the Albemarle County line) as the overlay extent for now; the group agreed that Rue Hollow to Afton was a sensible initial boundary and asked staff to map it into internal GIS for review before further refinement.

Berkley Group will revise the draft ordinance text to reflect the direction given, with staff collecting comments through the end of October and scheduling additional Planning Commission work sessions, an open house, and public hearings. No ordinance was adopted at the Aug. 27 meeting; the Planning Commission was continued to Sept. 24, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. and the Board adjourned for the evening.

What happens next: staff will integrate the changes discussed, circulate revised drafts for public comment, and return with scheduled public-engagement sessions and hearings ahead of any formal adoption vote.