When the Madison County Planning Commission held its monthly workshop on Feb. 7, the first order of business was to elect a chair and vice chair for this term. The meeting is typically a joint meeting with the Madison County Board of Supervisors, but due to elections and policy discussions, no public hearings were scheduled and no public hearings were held.
Steve Carpenter arrived at the meeting just in time to be re-elected chair, Pete Elliott will serve as vice chair and Janet Henshaw will once again serve as general secretary.
County Planner Ligon Webb again proposed changes to City Planning Ordinance Section 14-9-13.
Webb is working with County Attorney Hannon Wright to bring the clinic's parking ordinance closer to other surrounding areas.
The group debated whether to change the number of parking spaces to three spaces per exam room in medical and dental clinics, rather than requiring parking based solely on square footage. Questions arose as to whether veterinary clinics would be included in standard office and medical/dental facility regulations, and whether personal service facilities would be subject to the same standards.
There was a lively discussion about the definition of a car cemetery.
Webb has been trying to define the term as clusters of disabled vehicles occur in agricultural and residential areas of Madison County.
Supervisor R. Clay Jackson reminded the group that junked cars are a common part of the rural landscape.
He warned that farmers are likely to violate the proposed ordinance because they commonly own older, uninspected and unregistered vehicles.
Webb explained that the term “inoperable” is problematic, as some owners of these junk car collections claim their cars are operational because they can start and run. Several criteria were proposed, including titled, inoperable, and inspected.
The definition of a motor vehicle cemetery is expected to be the first step toward creating an enforceable ordinance and parameters for its operation.
Mr. Carpenter questioned the need for a definition.
“Why define it?” Carpenter said. “Does this mean we can't put it in A1 in the future, or can we put three cards in it?”
Mr Elliott questioned the size of the site and the number of vehicles.
“Are we talking about large lots with hundreds of cars, or are we talking about lots of lots less than an acre with five or six junk cars parked on them? ” Elliot asked.
Wright warned the group about possible violations of state law.
“I'm concerned that the state is going to change the definition that they already have in place. We need to make sure that it doesn't violate state law,” Wright said. Four of his terms stand out here. Junkyard, car graveyard, working cars, non-working cars. We need to define these according to Virginia law. ”
