Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the CBPA26 0079 topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Chesapeake Bay board approves exception for mobile home installation in RPA buffer; mitigation and surety required
Summary
The Chesapeake Bay Board granted an exception for a mobile home and stairs encroaching into a resource protection area on a 0.161-acre lot, requiring a mitigation plan (3 planting units) and a $2,250 surety; staff recommended approval and no public speakers opposed.
The Chesapeake Bay Board on July 8 approved an exception request allowing the installation of a mobile home and associated stairs that would encroach into the resource protection area (RPA) buffer on a 0.161-acre parcel. Emily Grojean, watershed planner, presented the application (case CBPA26-0079) and recommended approval with conditions.
Grojean told the board the parcel—outlined in the staff materials—has 87% of its area inside the RPA and that the application’s work would impact 665 square feet of the landward 100-foot RPA buffer and 544 square feet of the seaward 50-foot buffer, a combined total of 1,209 square feet. She said required mitigation for those impervious impacts equates to three planting units, which staff defined as three canopy trees, six understory trees and nine shrubs, and that the applicant must submit a mitigation plan before a building permit may be issued. Staff also recommended a surety of $2,250 payable in a form acceptable to the James City County attorney’s office and set an effective construction-start deadline of July 8, 2027, after which an extension request must be filed six weeks before expiration.
When asked whether the sandy area shown in site photos represented an earlier structure, Grojean said the area reflected new construction and that work had paused once the applicant was made aware of the RPA. The public hearing produced no speakers.
A board member described the application as “straightforward and reasonable,” and a motion to adopt the staff resolution to grant the exception carried on roll call. The motion was made by a board member and recorded roll-call “yes” votes from the board’s members present; the chair announced the motion passes.
The board’s approval includes the conditions Grojean outlined: submission of the mitigation plan equaling three planting units prior to issuance of permits, procurement of all required federal, state and local permits, and posting of the $2,250 surety. Grojean also noted the approval would lapse if construction has not begun by July 8, 2027, unless an extension is requested by the deadline.
The board did not receive public opposition during the hearing and placed no additional conditions beyond those recommended by staff.
