Dufty Posts Letter on Zoning Issue in Northampton County

Chairman Dixon Leatherbury
Northampton County BOS
13294 Lankford Highway
Eastville, Virginia 23347

Dear Dr. Chairman Leatherbury and Northampton County Supervisors:
I am writing to submit comments into the record of the proceeding known as
2026-001 which is to consider a draft Zoning Text Amendment to begin a process
of rezoning the lands around each incorporated town in Northampton County to
high density development including condos, high rise apartments, multi-family
and duplex housing, along with recreational and commercial uses. Note that as
I have argued repeatedly throughout this review, the goal is inarguably an attempt
to create Planned Unit Developments in every Town Edge District which is a land
use that is explicitly not allowed by our current and preceding Comprehensive
Plans.

Specifically, I am submitting comments on the June 16, 2026 meeting of the
Northampton County Planning Commission (herein referred to as “the
Commission”), a monthly meeting that was attended by over 75 people in a
standing-room only open forum. Note that out of the nineteen (19) speakers who
addressed the Commission on this Zoning Text Amendment during the public
hearing, only one person- a council person from Cape Charles-spoke in favor of
this proposal.

First, I am certainly not alone in appreciating and therefore commending
Commissioners Wiggins, Weaver, Morgan, Rader, and Holland for voting to table
the measure until and unless the towns that will be affected by any subsequent
rezoning of the lands around their towns are included in a formal manner and
involved in seminars, workshops, and forums so that they can fully understand
and add their input to this unprecedented zoning change. Special bow to
Commissioner Wiggins who had the class and decency to admit that he had
missed the language in 2the 2020-40 Comprehensive Plan on pages 39-41 which
explicitly states that the county “will” work with the towns on any zoning proposal

that will or could affect changes in the types and manner of development in the
Town Edge Districts. His admission set the tone for the other Commissioners to
pause the forward progress of the consideration of this matter until all
stakeholders have been fully engaged and involved in crafting and finalizing the
language in this text amendment.

Second, and on the other side of this complementary remark, after 14 years of
nearly full time involvement in land use issues in Northampton County and
working with your Board and the Commission, I was disheartened and indeed
shocked by statements made by Chairman Sturgis during the public hearing as
she seemingly desperately tried to convince her fellow Commissioners to just
approve the ZTA and hand it over to your Board of Supervisors. As you know, and
as I have argued in the two legal challenges I have filed against your Board on land
use decisions with the Northampton County Circuit Court, all final decisions by
the Commission and the Board must not be arbitrary and capricious and must be
fully cemented in a procedural record that contains a full and comprehensive
record of evidence, testimony, and reasoning supporting that decision or
recommendation. Leaving the towns on the sidelines during the consideration
of a zoning change (text or action) that could literally destroy their financial
solvency while wiping away their cherished rural quality of life and subsequently
driving out the workforce and the lower income residents (gentrification, an
example of which can be found in Cape Charles) is the poster child of an arbitrary
and capricious act, rendering any final recommendation with out that
involvement null and void and without full force and effect.

Specifically, while responding to the admission by her fellow Commissioners
that the towns have indeed been on the sidelines of this ZTA proposal and
consideration, Chairman Sturgis stated that Virginia Builders have been afforded
an audience at the Commission’s table…in a manner that seemed to say..”isn’t
that enough??”. Murmurs from the crowd during that and other similarly
outlandish statements by the Chairman that signaled her full and unchecked
support for developing the lands around the town into Planned Unit
Developments resulted in an angry outburst from the Chairman, and the citizens
were met by a loud and rather angry bang of the gavel, and a threat to “clear the
room”..which I note is apparently what happened to the towns which have been
left out in the halls during this unprecedented assault on their (and our)
sustainable land use future.

After that admission that the construction company that has been building
multi-million dollar homes nearly monthly in the Cape Charles HOA

developments has been at the table when the towns were not so privileged to
enjoy that “luxury”, the Chairman railed on the fact that Northampton County has
the audacity to be subject to a density restriction of “one house per 20 acres”.
The Chairman animatedly followed that up with a seemingly “can you believe
it?” tirade exclaiming “ONE HOUSE PER 20 ACRES!!”.

While those of us involved in zoning and the crafting of our Comprehensive
Plans have heard that refrain from developers such as Virginia Builders for
decades, I have NEVER witnessed or heard a member of the Northampton County
Planning Commission-let alone a Chairman of that governmental body- say that
out loud, even if they had been wanting to.

The density of 1 dwelling unit per 20 acres on land zoned agricultural has been
on Northampton County’s land use books and established by multiple iterations
of four Comprehensive Plans and amendments thereto for over 26 years. The
hallowed density is what the thousands of people who participated in drafting our
Comprehensive Plans by attending workshops, focus groups, public forums and
answering surveys and commenting during public hearings demanded in order
to support and protect our agriculture….this county’s major industry as well as

the very underpinnings of our rural quality of life that is unique and indeed hyper-
fragile. That protective density protects our farm fields and open space

environs, the lifeblood of this county. Note that Northampton County is named
the most valuable and irreplaceable migratory bird habitat in the world by the
United Nations and changing the density that supports that award so that Virginia
Builders or some other developer wishing to exploit our open spaces can do to
the rest of the county what they have done to Cape Charles cannot and should
not be tolerated..especially when promoted by the Chairman of our Planning
Commission.

Simply put, the behavior and antics of the Chairman of the Commission,
telegraphing her spirited support for ZTA 2026-001 without having the evidentiary
basis necessary to defend her position is not only arbitrary and capricious and
troubling, it bears on malfeasance of duty and slices into the charge of the
Commission to reject personal bias and feelings and to base all
recommendations on fact, law, and record evidence…extant of personal bias.
I will not waste my time..or yours…asking you to invoke the removal powers
secured by the governing body over Planning Commissioners pursuant to
“Section 15.2-2212 . Qualifications, appointments, removal, terms, and
compensation of members of local planning commissions” (emphasis

added). That section of code instructs the governing body that “Members can be
removed for malfeasance”. However, I will ask that you instruct Chairman
Sturgis to recuse herself from all further comment, participation, and decision
making in the ZTA 2026-001 process as she is clearly biased and has tainted this
process beyond repair and will continue to do so unless she steps aside and lets
her fellow Commissioners move on with respect and dignity as they did during the
remainder of the night during the public hearing phase of 2026-001 ZTA process.
Vice Chair Wiggins has demonstrated that he is humble, well suited, and
respects his impartial duty to serve the residents and businesses in this County
by basing his position on clearly defensible evidence including input by all the
stakeholders that will either suffer or benefit from a final decision by the BOS
which must have as its core an impartial and bias-free recommendation by the
Commission. He is more than capable of assuming the role of Chair while the
current Chairman is sidelined and barred from inserting her personal opinions in
the Matter of ZTA 2026-001 and I am asking you to effect that change.
In closing, it is my belief and well-founded opinion that Chairman Sturgis has
belied the trust and confidence we all have placed in the Commission and we
need to restore that sacred trust by ensuring that the future deliberations on this
existential land use proposal is pure, unbiased and based on research, evidence,
and full involvement by those who are not running a personal agenda at the
expense of everyone living in this wonderful….as it is now and shall remain…rural
and unique lower peninsula on the ESVA.
Sincerely,
Kenneth Dufty
nothamptonissues@aol.com