Powhatan planning staff recommends counting floodplain acreage toward minimum lot area; commission backs referral to supervisors

The Powhatan County Planning Commission on June 2 reviewed a staff-referred zoning amendment that would change how minimum lot area is calculated by counting acreage within the floodplain toward the gross lot area for newly created lots.

Planning Director Lian Webb told the commission the Board of Supervisors referred Resolution R 2026-29 requesting the amendment. Webb explained the proposed change would apply only to newly created lots and would not alter the legal status, development rights or floodplain permitting for existing lots or any floodplain construction regulations. "The amendment changes how minimum lot area is calculated for future lots, not the legal status or development rights of existing parcels," Webb said.

Webb reviewed technical distinctions between FEMA flood maps, wetlands mapping, and local riparian-buffer protections, emphasizing that floodplain acreage is separate from wetland jurisdiction and that subdivision/buildability review standards already require identification of suitable building sites outside high-risk areas. She described two options: Option 1 (the board referral) would remove the countywide exclusion and count floodplain acreage toward lot area while continuing subdivision buildability review; Option 2 would narrow inclusion to large rural districts only (A20, A10, RR, RR5) and continue the exclusion in more intensive zones.

Webb recommended Option 1 to restore a historical gross-acreage approach used prior to the 2014 zoning rewrite and to align Powhatan with many peer localities that count floodplain acreage but rely on buildability and subdivision standards to ensure safe building sites.

After brief discussion and questions about why the issue arose (family divisions and inconsistent past practice), commissioners generally supported forwarding Option 1 to the Board of Supervisors; one commissioner stated a preference for Option 2 limited to larger rural lots. The commission agreed to move Option 1 forward for a hearing before the Board; no final ordinance was adopted at the Planning Commission meeting.

What happens next: staff will prepare referral materials for the Board of Supervisors and the ordinance language will be scheduled for public hearing with accompanying maps and buildability standards. The Planning Commission request to the Board was procedural — the Board will take the next action on any ordinance amendment.

Notes: Quotations and technical references are drawn from the planning director's presentation and the commission’s discussion at the June 2 meeting.