A.
The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are one of the most important
and productive estuarine systems in the world, providing economic
and social benefits to the citizens of Mathews County and the Commonwealth
of Virginia. The health of the Bay is vital to maintaining Mathews
County's economy and the welfare of its citizens. Healthy state and
local economies and a healthy Chesapeake Bay are integrally related,
and balanced economic development and water quality protection are
beneficial to the County and are not mutually exclusive.
B.
The Chesapeake Bay's waters, as well as the Piankatank, North and
East Rivers, and Mobjack Bay, have been degraded significantly by
many sources of pollution, including non-point source pollution from
land uses and development. Existing high quality waters are worthy
of protection from degradation to guard against further pollution.
Certain lands that are proximate to shorelines have intrinsic water
quality value due to the ecological and biological processes they
perform. Other lands have severe development constraints from flooding,
erosion, and soil limitations. With proper management, they offer
significant ecological benefits by providing water quality maintenance
and pollution control, as well as flood and shoreline erosion control.
These lands together, designated by the Board of Supervisors of Mathews
County as the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Overlay District, need
to be protected from destruction and damage in order to protect the
quality of water in the Bay and, consequently, the quality of life
in Mathews County and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The purpose of The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Overlay
District (the "Overlay District") is to implement the requirements
of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act ("the Act"), §§ 10.1-2100
and 15.2-2283, et seq., Code of Virginia,[1] and its implementing regulations, 9VAC 10-20 et seq.,
and to provide for the preservation of lands of significance for the
protection of the natural environment and to protect in a manner consistent
with applicable state water quality standards, surface water and groundwater
as defined in Section 62.1-255, Code of Virginia, and is intended
to:
A.
Protect existing high quality state waters;
B.
Restore all other state waters to a condition or quality that will
permit all reasonable public uses and will support the propagation
and growth of all aquatic life, including game fish, which might reasonably
be expected to inhabit them;
C.
Safeguard the clean waters of the commonwealth from pollution;
D.
Prevent any increase in pollution;
E.
Reduce existing pollution; and
F.
Promote water resource conservation in order to provide for the health,
safety, and welfare of the present and future citizens of Mathews
County and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
[1]
Editor's Note: Section 10.1-2100 of the Code of Virginia was
repealed by Acts 2013, cc. 756 and 793, cl. 2.
This Article is enacted pursuant to the authority of Section
10.1-2100, et seq. ("the Act") and § 15.2-2283, Code of
Virginia.
The Overlay District shall be in addition to and shall overlay
all other zoning districts established by this chapter and shown on
the Official Zoning Map, which other districts shall be known as underlying
districts. Every parcel of land lying within the Overlay District
shall also lie within one or more of the underlying districts established
by this chapter.
The words and terms used in this article shall be given the
meanings set forth in Article 2 of this chapter with the following
additions. The words and terms, whether defined in Article 2 or in
Article 22, shall be interpreted as having such meaning as set forth,
unless a specific meaning to the contrary is indicated elsewhere in
this chapter. Words and terms not defined in Article 2 or in this
Article 22 shall be interpreted in accordance with such normal dictionary
meaning or customary usage as is appropriate to the context.
Those lands used for the planting and harvesting of crops
or plant growth of any kind in the open, pasture, horticulture, dairying,
floriculture, or raising of poultry and/or livestock.
A practice, or a combination of practices, that is determined
by a state or designated area-wide planning agency to be the most
effective, practical means of preventing or reducing the amount of
pollution generated by non-point sources to a level compatible with
water quality goals.
An area of natural or established vegetation managed to protect
other components of a resource protection area and state waters from
significant degradation due to land disturbances.
Any land designated by the Board of Supervisors of Mathews
County pursuant to Part III of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area
Designation and Management Regulations, 9VAC10-20 et seq., and Section
10.1-2107 of the Code of Virginia, as amended.[1] A Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area shall consist of a
resource protection area and resource management area.
The area of all impervious surface, including but not limited
to buildings, roads and drives, parking areas and sidewalks and the
area necessary for construction of such improvements.
The construction, or substantial alteration, of residential,
commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational, transportation,
or utility facilities or structures or other uses or structures.
The diameter of a tree measured outside the bark at a point
4.5 feet above ground.
A vertical projection to the ground surface from the furthest
lateral extent of a tree's leafy canopy.
All lands that would be inundated by flood water as a result
of a storm event of a one-hundred-year return interval.
Soils (excluding vegetation) with an erodibility index (El)
from sheet and rill erosion equal to or greater than eight. The erodibility
index for any soil is defined as the product of the formula RKLS/T,
where K is the soil susceptibility to water erosion in the surface
layer; R is the rainfall and runoff; LS is the combined effects of
slope length and steepness; and T is the soil loss tolerance.
Soils with a given potential to transmit water through the
soil profile. Highly permeable soils are identified as any soil having
a permeability equal to or greater than six inches of water movement
per hour in any part of the soil profile to a depth of 72 inches (permeability
groups "rapid" and "very rapid") as found in the National Soils Survey
Handbook of November 1996 in the Field Office Technical Guide of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service.
A surface composed of any material that significantly impedes
or prevents natural infiltration of water into soil. Impervious surfaces
include, but are not limited to, roofs, buildings, streets, parking
areas, and any concrete, asphalt, or compacted gravel surface.
In addition to the definition contained in Article 2, shall
include the terms "water" and "marsh."
Pollution consisting of constituents such as sediment, nutrients,
and organic and toxic substances from diffuse sources, such as runoff
from agriculture and urban land development and use.
Those wetlands other than tidal wetlands that are inundated
or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration
sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support,
a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated
soil conditions, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
pursuant to Section 404 of the Federal Clean Water Act, in 33 CFR
328.3(b).
Weeds that are difficult to control effectively, such as
Johnson Grass, Kudzu and multiflora rose.
The process for site plan or subdivision plat review and
including other related plans and studies described in Division IV
of this article to ensure compliance with Section 10.1-2109 of the
Code of Virginia and this article, prior to any clearing or grading
of a site or the issuance of a building permit.
A publicly owned road designed and constructed in accordance
with water quality protection criteria at least as stringent as requirements
applicable to the Virginia Department of Transportation, including
regulations promulgated pursuant to (i) The Erosion and Sediment Control
Law (§ 10.1-560 et seq. of the Code of Virginia) and (ii)
the Virginia Stormwater Management Act (Section 10.1-603.1 et seq.
of the Code of Virginia). This definition includes those roads where
the Virginia Department of Transportation exercises direct supervision
over the design or construction activities, or both, and cases where
secondary roads are constructed or maintained, or both, by Mathews
County in accordance with the County standards.
The process of developing land that is or has been previously
developed.
That component of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area that
is not classified as the resource protection area. RMAs include land
types that, if improperly used or developed, have the potential for
causing significant water quality degradation or for diminishing the
functional value of the resource protection area.
That component of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area comprised
of lands adjacent to water bodies with perennial flow that have an
intrinsic water quality value due to the ecological and biological
processes they perform or are sensitive to impacts which may result
in significant degradation to the quality of state waters.
Forest management activities, including but not limited to
the harvesting of timber, the construction of roads and trails for
forest management purposes, and the preparation of property for reforestation
that are conducted in accordance with the silvicultural best management
practices developed and enforced by the State Forester pursuant to
§ 10.1-1105 of the Code of Virginia and are located on property
defined as real estate devoted to forest use under § 58.1-3230
of the Code of Virginia.
Land contiguous to a tidal body of water between the mean
low water level and the mean high water level.
Vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands as defined in § 28.2-1300
of the Code of Virginia.
In the application of this chapter, a reasonable deviation
from those provisions regulating the size or area of a lot or parcel
of land, or the size, area, bulk or location of a building or structure
when the strict application of the ordinance would result in unnecessary
or unreasonable hardship to the property owner, and such need for
a variance would not be shared generally by other properties, and
provided such variance is not contrary to the intended spirit and
purpose of this chapter, and would result in substantial justice being
done. It shall not include a change in use, which shall be accomplished
by a rezoning or a conditional zoning.
A body of water that flows in a natural or manmade channel
year-round during a year of normal precipitation. This includes, but
is not limited to, streams, estuaries, and tidal embayments and may
include drainage ditches or channels constructed in wetlands or from
former natural drainageways, which convey perennial flow. Lakes and
ponds, through which a perennial stream flows, are a part of the perennial
stream. Generally, the water table is located above the streambed
for most of the year and groundwater is the primary source for stream
flow.
A development of land that cannot exist outside of the resource
protection area and must be located on the shoreline by reason of
the intrinsic nature of its operation. These facilities include, but
are not limited to:
[1]
Editor's Note: Section 10.1-2107 of the Code of Virginia was
repealed by Acts 2013, cc. 756 and 793, cl. 2.
A.
Unless otherwise stated in this article or specifically modified
by the requirements of this article, the permitted uses, conditional
use, area, bulk, yard, height and other regulations and requirements,
including the review and approval processes, applicable within the
underlying district(s) and set forth elsewhere in this chapter or
in other ordinances of Mathews County shall be applicable to all development,
redevelopment and use of land or structures in the Overlay District,
provided that sufficient lot area, lot width, setbacks, yards and
other spaces shall be provided to enable compliance with all of the
requirements of this article.
B.
In any case where the requirements of this article conflict with
any other provision of this chapter or other applicable regulation
or requirement, whichever imposes the more stringent restrictions
shall apply.
A.
The Overlay District shall include all lands described in this section as lying within either the resource protection area (RPA) or the resource management area (RMA). The Overlay District and its RPA and RMA components are delineated on the map entitled "Mathews County Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Map" dated September 7, 1993, and which is hereby adopted by reference and declared to be part of this article. As noted in § 175-22.8, the actual boundaries of a resource protection area shall be determined on a case-by-case basis.
B.
C.
The resource management area shown on the Chesapeake Bay Preservation
Area Map includes the land types listed below and certain land areas
entirely surrounded by such land types which, if improperly used or
developed, have a potential for causing significant water quality
degradation or for diminishing the functional value of the resource
protection area. The listed land types are included within the RMA
to the extent they lie contiguous to the inland boundary of the resource
protection area:
D.
For purposes of delineating the boundaries of the RMA, land areas consisting of less than five acres entirely surrounded by any of the land types identified in Subsection C above are shown on the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Map as lying within the RMA. In any case where it can be shown to the satisfaction of the Administrator in accordance with provisions of §§ 175-22.36 and 22.37 of this article that any such land area does not contain any of the land types identified in Subsection C above, the Administrator shall exempt such land area from the requirements of this article.
E.
On lands where none of the land types listed in Subsection C of this section lie contiguous to the inland boundary of the RPA, or where those land types are less than a total of 150 feet in width, the RMA shall consist of an area 150 feet in width located contiguous to and landward of the RPA. The RMA shall never be less than 150 feet in width landward of the inland boundary of the RPA.
A.
The boundaries of the RPA shown on the Mathews County Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Map shall be construed as approximate due to the scale of such map and the nature of the information used in establishing such boundaries. The boundaries of the RPA shall be interpreted on a site-specific basis based on the submission of a water quality impact assessment as required under § 175-22.10K or through the review of an environmental site assessment as required in § 175-22.8D below.
B.
The Mathews County Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Map should be
consulted by persons contemplating development activity prior to seeking
necessary permits for such activities or engaging in an activity regulated
by the provisions of this article.
C.
The applicant shall be required to submit an environmental site assessment as provided in §§ 175-22.36 through 175-22.38 of this article. The environmental site assessment shall, subject to review and approval by the Administrator and any adjustment deemed necessary by the Administrator, be the basis for interpreting the boundary of the RPA.
D.
When the applicant provides site-specific information identifying
the boundary of the RPA, the Administrator shall review and verify
the accuracy of such information, and shall render a final interpretation
in accordance with the criteria set forth by the provisions of this
article. In the event the final interpretation by the Administrator
is contested by the applicant or by any other party who has a legal
standing to do so, the decision of the Administrator may be appealed
to the Board of Zoning Appeals pursuant to the applicable provisions
of Article 19 of this chapter.
