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Highland land use plan still under review by supervisors
BY M.K. LUTHER • STAFF WRITER
MONTEREY — The Highland County Board of Supervisors continued reviewing the county's comprehensive plan last Thursday, make proposed changes to the section on natural and cultural resources and history for clarity and accuracy.
State law requires each Virginia locality to adopt and/ or revise a comprehensive plan every five years to guide overall future development and act as a roadmap for landuse decisions and zoning regulations.
In September 2007, Highland's comprehensive plan review committee submitted suggested revisions to the 1999 comprehensive plan for supervisors' approval.
Supervisors revised the natural resources subsections by deleting the definition of "viewshed" from natural resources, agreeing the word is vague and cannot be easily classified or quantified. The original plan defined a viewshed as the area between ridges, which is visible from a known viewpoint.
"Viewshed has no legal standing, basically," county attorney Melisssa Dowd said, "and it is defined based on whatever topic you are discussing. There is no thing that is unilaterally adopted as a viewshed definition."
Supervisor David Blanchard agreed with the deletion, but suggested retaining the last two sentences in that paragraph: "Highland County is widely known for the scenic beauty of its physical environment. Both the natural and agricultural landscapes contribute to this scenic beauty."
The board agreed to keep these original sentences as an overview or summary to highlight the county's scenic beauty in the natural resources section.
County administrator Roberta Lambert recommended removing the first two paragraphs of the natural resource section overview that propose to answer the question posed in the plan overview, "Where are we?" and states that Highland County will face an increasingly aging population.
The board agreed the paragraphs did not offer an overview of the natural resource section and the aging population is a topic covered in the demographics section.
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