By Sarah Richardson
The Greenbrier County Commission hosted two public hearings this week, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday, to hear community feedback regarding the proposed updates to the Greenbrier County Zoning Ordinance. Both meetings brought out large crowds to the State Fairgrounds, and numerous community members signed up to speak on the record about the proposed changes, many of whom are farmers in the area.
The original zoning ordinance was adopted in 1978 and currently sits at 82 pages. The proposed updated ordinance is just over 130 pages and has added language about telecommunication overlay districts, Planned Use Development District (PUDs), and other items that were not relevant at the time the original document was adopted. It has been proposed to repeal the old ordinance and replace it with the new one.
Both the old and new versions of the ordinance include verbiage defining zoning districts including residential, open space conservation, forest recreation, commercial, industrial, and others.
County Commissioner Richie Holliday opened the hearings on both days with a statement explaining the background of the Planning Commission’s recommendation to the County Commission to consider the zoning updates. He explained that the Planning Commission had voted to approve the recommendation of adoption of the ordinance following a public hearing held in January, including changes that were made following that hearing.
“The Planning Commission’s recommendation represents the culmination of a multi-year effort that included the development of the public participation plan, study of land within the county’s jurisdiction, a review of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan, and evaluation of the existing development conditions and future growth needs.” He also noted that less than 10 percent of the county’s land is currently zoned, which wouldn’t be altered in the new ordinance. The Lewisburg and Fort Springs areas are the only two regions affected by the zoning ordinance.
Holliday also clarified that, “We do not have the authority to substantially rewrite or alter the ordinance prior to these required public hearings, therefore, what is put before the public tonight is how the ordinance is recommended by the Planning Commission. However, I want to be very clear, several changes will be made following the conclusions of these public hearings.”
Of the 20 speakers signed up during the first hearing, and 12 at the second hearing, none voiced support for the updated ordinance. Several compared the regulations to an HOA, and a handful of speakers explained that they had moved out of other areas or states due to over-regulation and decided to relocate to Greenbrier County.
Joshua Bennett, owner of Hawk Knob Cidery and Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company, said that if the new ordinances are enacted the way they are currently written, they will be “way more restrictive” than state laws for his cider business, and will make him unable to continue operations.
Taso Stravakis, owner of Hollow Hills Farm where the West Virginia Renaissance Festival is held, said he considers Greenbrier County “openly hostile” to small businesses, and has told potential investors in the area as such. Taso and Susan Graham, who owns Fair Haven Equine and Event Center on Fairview road, both mentioned that horses and horse farms are not specially listed in the index of definitions regarding types of farms.
Local real estate agent Alinda Perrine asserted that more regulations in the county would be a turn-off to potential buyers, and that area representatives should be focused on making housing less restrictive, not more.
Several speakers voiced opposition for regulations that prohibit inhabiting RVs and campers, and others asked how the “grandfathering in” process would work should a new owner purchase or inherit affected real estate.
Quite a few of the public speakers asked the Commission to simply “throw it out” rather than approve a modified version. Commission President Lowell Rose stated that they plan to amend sections of the language but did not elaborate on what specific areas they plan to modify. He explained that a “red line version” will be available in roughly a month or so, with another hearing to be held on that version of the document after it becomes available. Rose stated that there will be newspaper notices, Facebook posts from the Greenbrier County Courthouse page, and online notifications on when the next hearing will be held.
