An arbitrary Albemarle County bill

Um, who exactly would be determining this?

Any such overlay zone may be established upon any area in the county where it is determined that the visual impacts of buildings and structures within such area may have a significant adverse impact upon the county’s scenic resources or on tourism. (Bolding mine)

This seems that an arbitrary panel of citizens(?) could decide that any new development could be shut down using this extraordinarily vague language.

Don’t just take my word for it, read the whole thing at Richmond Sunlight. I like Sen. Deeds, but this bill seems dangerous.

Update 01-24-2007:

From an email exchange with Sen. Deeds, this is his response to my inquiry, posted with his position.

My question:

Will you please provide more information on how SB 988 will work in practice?

Who determines what is or is not a “significant adverse impact upon the county’s scenic resources or on tourism”?

His response:

This bill comes at the request of the Albemarle BOS. It is supported by the local chamber. This would be a pilot project for Virginia, so I would suggest you contact Sally Thomas, a member of the Albemarle Board. She is a better source for exactly how they expect the bill to work.

Update 2: Due to a miscommunication between a member of the local Tourism board and Sen. Deeds, it was thought that the local Chamber supported this bill. This is not correct. Again, I thank Sen. Deeds and his office for their communication. Despite my disagreement with their bill, I sincerely appreciate their taking the time to communicate.