By Matt de Simone
Fincastle Town Council met last Thursday to make amendments to the town’s Zoning Ordinance.
Two public hearings were held regarding amendments. The first was an appeal from Town Council to the Circuit Court as requested by Fincastle Town Attorney Kathleen Wright. Council unanimously approved the amendment, 6-0 (council member Pam Binns was absent from Thursday’s meeting).
Planning Commission Chairman and Zoning Administrator Scott Critzer explained that language needed to be cleaned up in the ordinance regarding the procedure for citizens to follow if they wanted to make an appeal to a decision of council. He added that the town attorney brought up amending the ordinance following the preparation for the rezoning of The Heritage Market’s much-anticipated new location during the October 2024 council meeting.
“Our attorney, being good at her job, wanted to cover all the bases and she asked, ‘Okay, what happens if council makes a ruling and there are folks who don’t like it or don’t agree with it?’’’ Critzer explained. “That was when we went hunting and we realized that (the language) is in the ordinances but not really easy to find… It’s not that we see something coming on the horizon. We just want to get our ducks in a row (in case of an appeal).”
The appeals would need to be made within 30 days of council’s ruling. The process of appealing has not changed, but Mayor Mary Bess Smith explained that this now allows the town to have an “Appeals” section to the index of the Zoning Ordinance to make the process easier, if an appeal were to be made to the court.
“We aren’t making any kind of change to the process or the language,” Mayor Smith pointed out. “We are just putting the documentation on how you do it in its own separate section of the ordinance.”
The second council ruling saw the unanimous approval of the interchangeability of the terms “Public” and “Community” as they relate to Fincastle in the Zoning Ordinance. Town Manager Melanie McFadyen explained that there are locations throughout the ordinance that use differing terms “Public” and “Community” and the town wanted to clarify that those are interchangeable and they all still refer to the Town of Fincastle. This ruling was to “clean up” the language in the Zoning Ordinance and also in the Subdivision Ordinance. Critzer added that these terms are seen in various places, but not clear on if they were interchangeable prior to Thursday’s ruling on the matter.
Council approved the rezoning portion of the tax map from “Residential” to “Trade” for Flagship Properties at the old location of Leonardo’s on Route 220. This change to the adjacent lot to “Trade” will vacate the current lot to expand the parking lot of a proposed business at the location. Council shared that there is nothing final about exactly what future business will be located there, but the property is currently owned by Erryn Barkett, who spoke with the Planning Commission last week.
In other news and notes from last Thursday’s meeting, council revealed that North Roanoke Street from Main to Back Streets will be closed beginning at the end of the month and will be closed for one year while construction continues of the Botetourt County Circuit Courthouse.
The RVARC Hazard Mitigation Plan survey is still available to citizens and can be found online at engage.rvarc.org/hazard-mitigation-plan. RVARC is updating the existing hazard mitigation plan to assure that the changes in hazards and vulnerabilities within the region are identified and addressed.
Plans for having a farmers’ market at the Fincastle Volunteer Fire Department are currently on hold.
McFadyen talked about the contract negotiations for the Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Treatment Plan. The current permit expires on November 30.
The town will retain Crowder Lawn Care to maintain town-owned properties for another year. The company’s fee is less than the previous provider. This will be Crowder’s second year servicing lawns in Fincastle.
Council unanimously agreed to incorporating the entire town into the Roanoke Valley Transportation Planning Organization’s (RVTPO) study area. Last September, Jonathan Stanton of RVTPO gave a presentation about a recent RVTPO study area boundary adjustment and how it may affect Fincastle and the implications involved in this adjustment.
Council member Paige Ware suggested adding a rail along Main Street in front of the old blacksmith shop due concerns of the steep drop off to the road. Council agreed this was a matter the town can look into.
