The Town Council may, from time to time, amend, supplement, or change, by ordinance, the boundaries of the districts, the regulations herein established or a change to the zoning map. Any such zoning map amendment may be initiated by resolution of the Town Council, or by motion of the Planning Commission, or by petition of the owner, contract purchaser with the owner's written consent, or the owner's agent therefor, of the property which is the subject of the proposed zoning map amendment, addressed to the Town Council. Petitions for change or amendment shall be on forms and filed in a manner prescribed by the Town. Zoning Text Amendments shall only be initiated by resolution of the Town Council.

Before taking any action on any proposed amendment, supplement, or change, the Town Council shall submit the same to the Planning Commission for its recommendations and report. The Town Council may set a deadline for which the failure of the Commission to report on the proposal which has been referred to the Planning Commission shall be deemed recommended for approval, unless the Town Council grants an extension to this time period by majority vote.

3.1.

The Planning Commission shall hold a public hearing thereon, before submitting its report to the Town Council. Notice of public hearings before the Commission shall be given by publishing the time, place, and nature of the hearing once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper published or having general circulation in the Town, provided that such notice for both the Planning Commission and the Town Council may be published concurrently. The public hearing shall be held not less than five or more than twenty-one days after final publication. In addition, the Commission shall cause the date, time, place, and nature of the hearing to be posted conspicuously on the property for 21 consecutive days prior to the hearing and a certificate of posting shall become a part of the record of the hearing. The published and posted notices shall comply with all of the requirements of the Code of Virginia.

3.2.

Before approving any proposed change or amendment, the Town Council shall hold a public hearing thereon, notice of said hearing to be accomplished by publication in a newspaper as prescribed above. The Planning Commission and the Town Council may hold a joint public hearing after public notice as set forth hereinabove. If such joint hearing is held, then public notice, as set forth above, need be given only by the Town Council. If an advertised hearing is continued or deferred, notice shall be repeated for the new hearing. In the case of a proposed amendment to the zoning map, such public notice shall state the general usage and density range of such proposed amendment and the general usage and density range of the applicable part of the comprehensive plan.

3.3.

When a proposed amendment involves a change in the zoning classification then, in addition to the advertising as above required, written notice shall be given at least five days before the hearing to the owner or owners, their agent or the occupant, of each parcel involved, and to the owners, their agent or the occupant of all abutting property and property immediately across the street or road from the property affected; including those properties which lie in an adjoining jurisdiction. Notice sent by certified mail to the last known address of such owner as shown on the current real estate tax assessment books shall be deemed adequate compliance with this requirement. If the hearing is continued, notice shall be re-mailed. Costs of any notice hereunder shall be charged to the applicant.

3.4.

Whenever the notices required hereby are sent by an agency, department or division of the Town such notices may be sent by first class mail, provided, however, a representative of such agency, department or division shall make affidavit that such mailings have been made and file such affidavit with the papers in the case.

(Ord. of 12-14-2015(1))

Applications for a change in zoning may be withdrawn from consideration before the first notice of a public hearing thereon has been published and fees refunded if no publication cost is incurred. Applications for a change in zoning which are withdrawn after first publication shall be considered as denied for the purpose of the one-year limitation on reconsideration as provided in Section 7 below.

5.1.

The Town Council shall take action on a request for amendment within one year of the date of filing. If any, amendments to this Ordinance are to be adopted, the Town Council shall give due consideration to the proper relationship of such amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, the entire Zoning Plan and integrity and validity of the zoning districts herein described, and to avoid isolated unplanned spot-zoning changes in the Zoning Map. Any amendments adopted by the Town Council may be modified from the form in which they were advertised within the limits necessary to relate properly such amendment or amendments to the zoning plan and Ordinance; provided, however, that no land may be zoned to a more intensive use classification than was contained in the public notice without an additional public hearing after notice as required in Section 3 above.

5.2.

In determining what, if any, amendments to the text of this Ordinance or the Zoning Map are to be adopted, the Town Council shall recognize that a certain element of stability is desirable in land use controls and that all citizens have the right to be treated reasonably; at the same time the Council recognizes in adopting this Ordinance that conditions and standards will change, and that no citizen, whether a general resident of the Town, a neighbor, or an affected property owner, has the right to indefinite continuation of any zoning regulation or classification.

(Ord. of 12-14-2015(1))

6.1.

Purpose. Where competing and incompatible uses conflict, traditional zoning methods and procedures are sometimes inadequate. In such cases, more flexible and adaptable zoning methods may be needed to permit differing land uses and at the same time to recognize effects of change. It is the purpose of this section to provide a zoning method as authorized under Sec. 15.2-2296 through 15.2-2302, Code of Virginia 1950, as amended, whereby a zoning reclassification may be allowed subject to certain conditions proffered by the zoning applicant for the protection of the community even though said conditions may not be generally applicable to land similarly zoned. While the conditions may vary from property to property by reason of the nature of the use and different circumstances at a particular location, it is not the intention of this section to authorize conditions limited to a particular individual or group, owner or operator, and the provisions of this section shall not be used for the purpose of discrimination in housing.

6.2.

Proffer in Writing. As a part of a petition for a special exception, rezoning or amendment of the zoning district map the owner or owners of the property involved may, prior to a public hearing before the Town Council, voluntarily proffer conditions in writing, that are in addition to the regulations provided for the zoning district or districts as herein set forth, as the owner/owners deem appropriate for the particular case; as per Section 15.2-2297(a) of the Code of Virginia (1950). Such proffers shall be so noted (Prof) on the Zoning map.

For the purpose of this Ordinance, proffered conditions shall be interpreted to include written statements, development plans, profiles, elevations, and/or other demonstrative materials. Materials of whatever nature and intended as conditions shall be annotated with the following statement signed by the owner or owners of the subject property: "I (we) hereby proffer that the development of the subject property of this application shall be in strict accordance with the conditions set forth in this submission."

Once proffered and accepted as part of an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance, such conditions shall continue in full force and effect until a subsequent amendment affects the zoning on the property covered by such conditions; provided, however, that such conditions shall continue if the subsequent amendment is part of a comprehensive implementation of a new or substantially revised Zoning Ordinance.

6.3.

Review and Revision of Proffered Conditions. Additional conditions or modified conditions may be proffered by the applicant during or subsequent to the public hearing before the Planning Commission, provided however that after proffered conditions are signed and made available for public review and the public hearing before the Town Council has been advertised (whether or not jointly held with the Planning Commission) no change or modification to any condition shall be approved without a second advertised public hearing thereon.

After the Town Council public hearing has been advertised or commenced, and additional or modified conditions are proffered by the applicant, which conditions were discussed at the public hearing before the Planning Commission, then a second public hearing need be held only before the Town Council before the application and the modified conditions can be approved.

Should additional conditions be proffered by the applicant at the time of the public hearing before the Town Council, which conditions were not addressed at the public hearing before the Planning Commission, or if the proffered conditions are modified beyond the scope of any conditions considered at the public hearing before the Planning Commission, the application shall be the subject of a second public hearing before both the Planning Commission and the Town Council, which hearing may be either separately or jointly held.

6.4.

Annotation of Zoning Map. The zoning map shall show by an appropriate symbol on the map (Prof) the existence of proffered conditions attaching to the zoning on the map. The Administrator shall keep in his/her office and make available for public inspection a Conditional Zoning Record. The Record shall provide ready access to the ordinance creating conditions in addition to the regulations provided for in a particular zoning district. Such conditions shall become a part of the zoning regulations applicable to the property in question, regardless of changes in ownership or operation, unless subsequently changed by an amendment to the zoning map, and such conditions shall be in addition to the specific regulations set forth in this Ordinance for the zoning district in question.

6.5.

Enforcement of Conditions. The Administrator shall be vested with all necessary authority on behalf of the Town Council to administer and enforce conditions attached to such rezoning or amendment to the zoning district map, including: (a) the ordering in writing of the remedy of any noncompliance with such conditions; (b) the bringing of legal action to insure compliance with such conditions, including injunction, abatement, or other appropriate action or proceeding; and (c) requiring a guarantee, satisfactory to the Town Council, in an amount sufficient for and conditioned upon the construction of any physical improvements required by the conditions, or a contract for the construction of such improvements and the contractor's guarantee, in like amount and so conditioned, which guarantee shall be reduced or released by the Town Council, or agent thereof, upon the submission of satisfactory evidence that construction of such improvements has been completed in whole or in part. Provided, further, that failure to meet all conditions shall constitute cause to deny the issuance of any of the required use, occupancy, or building permits, as may be appropriate.

6.6.

Conformity of Development Plans. Upon approval, any site plan, subdivision plat or development plan thereafter submitted for the development of the property in question shall be in substantial conformity with all proffered statements, plans, profiles, elevations, or other demonstrative materials, and no development shall be approved by any Town official in the absence of said substantial conformity. For the purpose of this Section, substantial conformity shall mean that conformity which leaves a reasonable margin for adjustment to final engineering data but conforms with the general nature of the development, the specific uses, and the general layout depicted by the plans, profiles, elevations and other demonstrative materials presented by the applicant.

6.7.

Change of Approved Conditions. Once conditions have been approved, and there is cause for an amendment that would not be in substantial conformity with the proffered conditions, then an application shall be filed for an amendment. If the amendment concerns an approved site plan, such application shall include the submission requirements for a site plan set forth in Article 11, except that the Zoning Administrator may waive any submission requirement if such requirement is not necessary for an adequate review of the site plan amendment application. Such amendment shall be the subject of public hearing in accordance with the requirements for a new application.

6.8.

Review of the Administrator's Decision. Any zoning applicant who is aggrieved by the decision of the Administrator pursuant to the provisions of Section 6.5 above may petition the Town Council for the review of the decision of the Administrator.

Whenever a petition requesting an amendment, supplement, or change has been denied by the Town Council, such petition, or one substantially similar, shall not be reconsidered sooner than one year after the previous denial.