Planners quickly approve Amissville couple’s plan for second house
The Rappahannock County Planning Commission gave quick approval Wednesday evening to an Amissville couple’s application for permit to build a second house on their 93 acres of land.
Lyndon and Pamela Pittinger applied for special exception permit to build a new second house on their farm and convert the existing house to a guest house. The property at 72 Weaver Road near the county landfill is more than adequate in size for a second house by right, but the size of the existing house–more than 2,000 square feet–exceeded the county’s guidelines for a guest house and thus a permit was required.
Lyndon Pittinger told the commission that the old house is very expensive to heat, lacks modern electrical wiring and has had “a mishmash of additions” over the years. Rather than tear it down, he said he preferred to restore it as a guest house and build a new, energy-efficient family home of 3,000 square feet about 110 feet away from the old house.
There was no comment from the public and few questions from the commissioners, who quickly voted unanimously to recommend approval of the permit to the Board of Supervisors, who will hold their public hearing on the application on June 2.
In the planners’ only other action, the commission approved a set of technical zoning amendments that redefine the terms “public street,” and “private street” and others in an attempt to clarify perceived ambiguity in the language of current zoning ordinance. That lack of clarity gave rise to a dispute among neighbors in Gid Brown Hollow over the issue of whether a barn had been built too close to a right-of-way, in violation setback requirements from roads.
That dispute remains pending before the Board of Zoning Appeals, and the Board of Supervisors wishes to clarify the language to avoid similar cases in the future, said County Administrator John McCarthy. The supervisors will take up the amendments at their June 2 meeting.
-- James P. Gannon
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