RESOLUTION  

A RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE OCTOBER 21, 2002, BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PROFFER POLIC Y TO PERMIT THE ACCEPTANCE OF CONSERVATION EASEMENTS  

            WHEREAS, on October 21, 2002, the Board of Supervisors adopted a proffer policy detailing the nature and type of proffers which may be accepted by the Board of Supervisors in order to offset or alleviate the impact of a proposed rezoning; and

            WHEREAS, that proffer policy permits the Board of Supervisors to accept donations of cash and land where the donations are reasonably related to or arise out of the impact of a proposed rezoning; and

            WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors wishes to clarify its proffer policy by adding provisions which expressly permit the acceptance of conservation easements restricting development of land outside of service districts as a means of alleviating the impact of a proposed rezoning within a service district; now, therefore, be it

            RESOLVED by the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors this 21^st day of April 2003, That the following revisions to the October 21, 2002 Board of Supervisor's Proffer Policy be, and are hereby, are referred to the Planning Commission for its review and comment:

A.1.     Pursuant to this policy, staff will (i) calculate the annual net cost of public facilities, (ii) calculate the fiscal impact of a rezoning request that permits residential uses, and (iii) administer the collection and expenditure of proffered funds.  The Board will accept cash proffers for rezoning requests that permit residential uses in accordance with this policy.  However, the Board may also accept cash, land, conservation easements or in-kind improvements in accordance with county and state law.  Staff will provide a recommendation for a maximum proffer based upon this policy.

B.3.      In some instances, a rezoning applicant may wish to diminish the development's calculated impact on public facilities by dedicating property, or doing in kind improvements or dedicating conservation easements limiting development on other properties within the rezoning's impact area, in lieu of all or a portion of the cash proffer.  The value of the donated land generally will be based on the current assessed value of the property, not to exceed the cost per acre used in the calculation of the proffer (not the estimated value after rezoning).  The value of a dedication conservation easement will generally be the total number of development units lost to easement times the value of a development unit as set by the County's Purchase of Development Rights Program.  The form and content of any deed or conservation easement along with the entity to which the easement will be transferred will be subject to the approval of staff and final acceptance by the Board of Superviors.   [remainder of Subsection 3 not modified]

B.5.      Payment of the cash proffer for residential development must occur prior to release of a building permit.  Timing for dedication of property, conservation easements, or in-kind improvements should be specified in the proffer statement.