Bedford County zoning ordinances under review

Bedford County is “smack in the middle” of updating its zoning ordinances, said Mary Zirkle, the county’s chief of planning.

The process, which should be completed this year, began in 2007 to ensure the ordinances were in line with the county’s newly adopted comprehensive plan.

“One of the big things we’re trying to do with the new ordinance is not to over-regulate,” said Zirkle. “We’re taking a step back … to make sure everything has a purpose.”

She said the planning department has questioned every ordinance, trying to identify why each was created and determining its impact .

Zirkle said they’ve added a few things to the new ordinances, including the state mandate for cluster housing, which has restrictions on density.

She said the department has been careful to walk the fine line between preserving the historically rural county while allowing for new development that doesn’t create sprawl.

Other additions to the ordinances include provisions for small, one-household wind turbines and an overlay district for Smith Mountain Lake waterfront.

Zirkle said the overlay was created to help protect commercial interests, such as marinas, and to preserve recreational community access to the water.

For retail, the department wrote ordinances allowing businesses in select areas so they’re “in scale with the surrounding property,” said Zirkle. The ordinances would ensure big-box stores aren’t placed next to subdivisions and mom-and-pop stores aren’t dwarfed in concentrated commercial areas.

This is the first ordinance update since 1998, when Bedford County borrowed Roanoke County’s ordinances, said Zirkle. She said it was time to make them its  own.

The updated ordinances are being reviewed by the county’s Planning Commission on first and third Mondays. The work sessions are open to the public. The ordinances will be passed to the Board of Supervisors later this year for final approval before implementation.