"New Town has one... hurdle to jump before building the largest section of homes slated for... mixed-use development.
The James City County Planning Commission's 4-3 vote Monday night sent the project to the Board of Supervisors for a final decision on Tuesday. As part of the approval, commissioners agreed to allow the developers to shrink a required buffer... The natural barrier - suggested in planning documents to be at least 150 feet wide - had to be an average of 110 feet because of encroachment from an eight-acre preserve of an endangered orchid known as the small whorled pogonia [Isotria medeoloides (Pursh) Raf.,]. The preserve sits on the southeastern edge of the site... where developers want to build 334 homes.... With the orchids on one side of the homes and Route 199 on the other, the choice for developers was to build 16 fewer single-family homes or offer a smaller buffer along the highway. Developers asked to shrink the buffer. Planning staff had recommended the permit request be rejected because the smaller buffer did not meet the suggested standards of the county's master building plan. Ultimately, the commission decided it was not the size of the buffer that mattered but the quality of the protection." article URL : http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/williamsburg/dp-73551sy0nov08,0,1563869.story?track=rss ************ Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
