A text amendment that will allow recreational storage buildings on agricultural land will advance to the Worcester County Commissioners for consideration.
File photo
By Charlene Sharpe, Associate Editor
A text amendment that will allow recreational storage buildings on agricultural land will advance to the Worcester County Commissioners for consideration.
The Worcester County Planning Commission voted 3-1 recently to give a positive recommendation to a text amendment that would allow private, noncommercial storage buildings in the A-1 agricultural district as a special exception use on parcels at least 20 acres. Applicant Jonathan Anders said the change would allow him to use his agricultural property for storage despite the fact there’s not a principal structure there.
“If there’s an opportunity to think outside the box that’s what I would ask of the committee,” he said.
Anders told the commission he and two friends had purchased a 30-acre agricultural parcel to build a storage building for their classic cars and boats. It wasn’t until the building was under construction that they realized the current code limits accessory buildings like theirs to 500 square feet when there’s not a principal structure on site. Only agricultural storage buildings are allowed to exceed 500 square feet on agricultural land.
“The million-dollar question to us becomes is a principal structure really necessary,” Anders said.
The proposed text amendment would allow a building of any size for storage of personal property without a principal residence on A-1 parcels larger than 20 acres with special exception approval by the Worcester County Board of Zoning Appeals.
“Keep in mind this would be county-wide,” said Jerry Barbierri, chair of the commission.
Staff noted that there were 1,716 parcels throughout the county that would be impacted by the change.
“I just have concerns about the precedent it sets,” said commission member Phyllis Wimbrow. “If this is passed it’s applicable to every other agriculturally zoned parcel.”
Anders said that if the text amendment wasn’t approved, he’d likely put up a double wide on the farm to serve as the principal residence so his storage building would be code compliant.
“None of the neighbors are going to like that,” he said.
Commission member Mary Knight said that because it was proposed as a special exception use the buildings would still have to each be reviewed by the board of zoning appeals.
“It’s not just a blanket,” she said. “I think that protects the county.”
A motion to forward the text amendment to the commissioners with a favorable recommendation passed 3-1, with Barbierri opposed and commission members Ken Church and Marlene Ott abstaining.