|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Rural economy flexes its muscles under new zoning
A little less than two years ago, Loudoun's Board of Supervisors rewrote the zoning map for the western two-thirds of the county, with one goal in mind: Keep the county open for agriculture and for rural business. Even in the midst of an economic downturn, the plan may be working.The phone seems to be ringing more often in the county's Office of Economic Development, said Warren Howell, whose job is to encourage and support innovation in economic growth.
"We don't have the numbers yet," Howell said, "but there is interest out there. People are interested in finding out what they can do [with rural land under the new zoning], even if they are doing a subdivision."
Any rural subdivision that creates houses, Howell said, must include a rural economy lot (either 15 or 25 acres, depending on where the land is) that will reserve space that can be used for rural enterprise.
Intent of the rezoning
Critics and supporters of the December 2006 zoning amendments have focused on the cuts made in the number of houses that can be built.
The intent of the new zoning, stated in its first paragraph , is to "support the use of land for rural economy uses, with residential uses allowed at densities consistent with the general open and rural character of the rural economy uses."
Houses, in other words, are OK if they don't interfere with rural enterprise.
The previous A-3 zoning allowed one house every 3 acres and did not address commercial uses of the land – it was houses or farms, not both. The zoning adopted in December 2006 lists more than 100 commercial uses that are allowed, most of them by right (no permission from the county needed, although site plans are still a necessity for most). The uses allowed by right – assuming the owner has the minimum acreage required – run the gamut from farm machinery repair, feed lots and kennels to camps, antiques shops, art galleries and guest ranches.
How to apply
Anyone planning to set up one of those commercial uses will end up talking to Michelle Lohr, the rural planner with the Office of Zoning Administration in the Department of Building and Development.
"If it's rural and it's enterprise, it will end up here," Lohr said. She sets up a conference for the budding entrepreneur with the Rural Economy Team – representatives from the county's departments of Economic Development, Health, Engineering, Planning and Subdivision.
She and the team try to make the process of getting the required permits – even a by-right use is going to have to get permits – a little smoother, Lohr said.
She has fielded quite a few inquiries, Lohr said, about setting up banquet and conference centers, bed and breakfasts, and rural retreats.
Keeping at least part of Loudoun rural and open for business, Howell pointed out, slows down demands on the county budget. None of Loudoun's 15,400 horses -- or any of its cows and alpacas and llamas -- goes to school or asks for parks and libraries and new roads. As a result, according to an American Farmland Trust study, for every dollar a farm pays in taxes, the county has to spend 30 cents or less in services.
For every dollar a single-family residence pays in taxes, by comparison, the county must spend $1.50 or more for schools and all the other amenities the residents expect and demand.
The result of more farms is less pressure to raise taxes.
The new farmers
The new farming that is appearing in the rural areas, Howell said, is consumer-oriented and requires innovation.
The farmers of not-so-long-ago might have had 1,000 acres in soybeans and banked $250 an acre after paying for labor and materials and machinery and gas and taxes.
"You really need to be able to make $30,000 an acre to make any money from it,” he said. “The new farming is high cost, and it's labor intensive, but you can make money if you are a good farmer and good salesman."
Endless Summer Harvest, in Round Hill, exemplifies the new rural enterprise, Howell said: Two hydroponic greenhouses on a quarter acre bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales of lettuce and herbs.
Wheatland and Potomac Vegetable farms generate a full-time income on about 8 acres each of vegetables. Most produce goes straight to the consumer at metropolitan-area farmers markets, while some goes to local restaurants.
Howell in mid-July delivered to the Board of Supervisors an update on "The 200,000 Acre Solution," a 1997 task force report that mapped out why Loudoun should save its rural areas and ways to do that.
The acreage in farms has declined, Howell reported, from 185,000 acres in 1997 to 144,000 in 2007. But total agricultural sales increased in that same decade from $26 million to just under $70 million.
In the same decade, the county's now-defunct Purchase of Development Rights program put 2,435 acres of land in permanent conservation easement, and another 44,000 acres were put in easement by their owners.
The combined effect of the zoning and preservation of open space through easements could guarantee a future for farming in Loudoun.
Contact the reporter at ssollinger@timespapers.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.